ABSTRACT
There are several widespread assumptions about ethnic studies which have adversely affected the development of ethnic studies programs in the schools. We need to examine and challenge these assumptions and related school practices and to formulate new assumptions and goals for ethnic studies if the ethnic studies movement is going to serve as a catalyst for curriculum reform. The greatest promise of ethnic studies is that it will serve as a vehicle for general curriculum reform. If we merely add ethnic content to the traditional curriculum, which is highly dysfunctional, our efforts to modify the curriculum with ethnic content are likely to lead to a dead end. We must radically change the total school curriculum.
Assumptions about ethnic studies One pervasive assumption embraced by many educators is that ethnic studies deals exclusively with non-White minority groups, such as Asian-Americans, Native Americans, and Afro-Americans. This assumption is widespread within the schools, and school programs often reflect it. In many school ethnic studies programs little or no attention is devoted to the experiences of European-American ethnic groups, such as Jewish-Americans, Polish-Americans, and Italian-Americans. This narrow conceptualization of ethnic studies emerged out of the social forces which gave rise to the ethnic studies movement in the 1960s. To conceptualize ethnic studies exclusively as the study of ethnic minorities is inconsistent with the ways in which ethnicity is defined by sociologists1 and prevents the development of broadly conceptualized comparative approaches to ethnic studies. Comparative approaches to ethnic studies are needed to help students to understand fully the complex role of ethnicity in American life and culture. Conceptualizing ethnic studies exclusively as the study of non-White ethnic groups also promotes a kind of “we-they” attitude among many White students and teachers. Many students think that ethnic studies is the study of “them,” while American studies is the study of “us.” A large number of teachers believe that ethnic studies has no place within an all-White classroom.
