Cultural Pluralism in Education

Now and then we hear these wonderful stories about the little old lady who weighs no more than 135 pounds who finds that a large truck has fallen off a jack and is crushing her husband to death. With what appears to be miraculous strength, she moves in and actually lifts the truck, enabling the husband to be rescued. Apparently, she always had the strength; all that was needed was to focus the energies in a determined effort to succeed.

Learning ought to be like that; in fact, in many cases, it is precisely like that. For many years, I have been concerned that we do not see it this way. There is rather a brutal pessimism which permeates the expectations of too many of us; those on the front lines, and those in more remote policy positions - perhaps even those in the general public at large. We have adjusted to very low levels of performance from children in the schools; now it takes very little to satisfy us.

For the past two decades, my writing and research has been focused on pedagogical success in two areas. On the one hand, I continue to be intrigued and exhilarated by educators who are winning magnificently. That is, educators who are able to teach so that the masses of students that they teach have excellent performance. At the same time, I am fascinated and exhilarated when I have the opportunity to observe those magnificent teacher educators, who like excellent teachers, are able to transfer their knowledge of excellent teaching to raw recruits.

In spite of the changes in perception among educators that have come about because of the Effective Schools movement, I believe that we have yet to be captured by a vision of an excellent school movement. For too many, such a goal seems closer to fantasy than reality. As a result, I have tried to highlight many examples of excellence in teaching and teacher education in the hope that they would be noticed by a broad audience, and where possible, that they would be imitated. Teaching and research should begin in most instances from an examination of power teaching.

I have also been concerned about what children are taught. Of course, the way children are taught and the content of their lessons are integral to each other. The content of school course work is never neutral. It has an effect on children, one way or the other. Much of my career, I have been concerned with the problem of low performance of African-American, Hispanic-American, and American Indian students, as well as poor European students. I have had the opportunity to review many types of curricula and materials that support the curriculum. In spite of the fact that the issue of cultural pluralism in the curriculum has been raised as a problem for many years now, fundamental changes have yet to be made. When I think of pluralism in the curriculum, I think first and foremost of a truthful curriculum that paints an accurate picture of the total human experience, no matter what events we choose to examine. A truthful portrayal of human events will force a pluralization of the curriculum instantly.

Children, no matter what their racial or ethnic background, should be presented with pictures of the real world. That is how we can support accurate perception. In addition, this is how we assure that children from every group will find themselves at the center of materials that they study. Motivation and self-esteem are deeply affected by the topics that we choose to present and by the coverage we choose to give those topics from a pluralistic perspective. As it is true that there are many models of teaching that result in excellence in student achievement, there are also many models of excellence in pluralistic curriculum. However, as with pedagogical success, curricular success tends to be out of the awareness of the majority of our educators.

Educational reform must address these two issues. The "miracle" that I cited at the beginning of this article has its counterpart in education. Excellent performance by students and excellence in the curriculum is not a matter of miracles, however; it only appears to be so. There are many living examples of the fact that hard work and clear focus can transform the educational condition of our students, and even the condition of educators that serve them.

In a recent article, Dr. Asa Hilliard notes that for many years he has been "fortunate enough to see first hand individual teachers and whole schools that were consistently successful in producing the highest level of academic excellence with those students who are regarded as the most likely candidates for failure." He notes that African-American, Hispanic, American Indian, and poor children can and do blossom academically and socially under the right school conditions. "These successes destroy forever the whole inventory of excuses for our failure to educate all children at the level that we now call 'excellence'."

Devoting his life to helping all children to learn, he has served on innumerable advisory boards for national, state, and community organizations focused on the education of minority students, young children, and children with special needs, as well as on boards dealing with assessment, teacher education, and mental health.

He has been director for numerous research projects, including Research on Multiethnic Curriculum Issues for New York College Boards, a national research project for the National Education Association on the subject of the declining numbers of black teachers, and a Toddlers and Infants Evaluation Study for Oakland, California.

At the present time, Dr. Hilliard is Fuller E. Callaway Professor of Urban Education, Department of Educational Foundations, Counseling and Psychological Services, and Early Childhood Education at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia. He served as Editorial Consultant for John Garrity's The Story of America, and produced a video program, with Listervelt Middelton, Master Keys to Ancient Kemet.

He was given the Outstanding Scholarship Award by the National Association of Black Psychologists and the Marcus A. Foster Distinguished Educator Award by the National Alliance of Black School Educators.