ABSTRACT
Despite the cultural and ethnic diversity of the St. Louis region and the United States more generally, the teaching force is mainly composed of white, middle-class women (Garcia, 1999; King & Howard, 2000; National Center for Education Statistics, 1992; Neuharth-Pritchett, Payne, & Reiff, 2004; Sleeter, 2001) who frequently have limited knowledge about and experiences with people from cultural/ethnic backgrounds different from their own (Chapman, 1996; King & Howard, 2000; McDiarmid, 1992). In my eight years of experience teaching education classes, the majority of my students have been white females. I will have, on average, one or two minority students in a class of 25. Many of my white students were wellintentioned, dedicated teachers, but their cultural experience had been primarily monocultural with limited contact with other ethnic groups. Lawrence and Tatum (1997, p. 162) summarized the source of this type of thinking. They write:
Due to the continuing social segregation of American society, most white teachers in the current teaching force have had limited contact with people of color. Their knowledge of communities of color is often misinformed by stereotypes or distortions communicated in the media and by family and friends. Their own educational experiences have been monocultural rather than multicultural, with major omissions concerning the contributions and achievements of people of color. This limited perspective leaves white educators ill-equipped to prepare their own students, both white and of color, to function effectively in a multicultural society.
