5. The curriculum helps all students understand the unique historical and contemporary experiences of different racial and ethnic groups.
6. The prescribed curriculum engages students in learning through interactions with students of different races and ethnicities.
One of the challenges facing educators who develop and use multicultural curricula that seek to foster understanding of different cultures student bring to school is to avoid over-generalizing about the culture of students typically categorized by common racial and ethnic identities. For example, while many Latino students may share certain common values and beliefs, there are enormous differences among students who are described as Latino. This is true, of course, for all students, perhaps especially students who are of Native American or Asian descent. Thus, educators confront the difficult task of understanding an extraordinary range of cultural differences.
A multicultural curriculum is important to being a well-educated person but, in itself, is not a powerful influence on students’ beliefs about different races and ethnic groups. To have such and effect, a curriculum—and the related instructional practices—need to engage students in inter-group relationships and learning (Stephan & Stephan, 2004).
An Amicus brief filed on behalf of the defendants in the 2007 Supreme Court case dealing with desegregation in Seattle and Jefferson County (Louisville) Kentucky includes a review of research on the effects of racial and ethnic diversity in schools on racial understanding and the reduction of prejudice that was signed by 553 social scientists.
Read about the effects of positive inter-group contact on race relations.
