ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the broader question of the role of theory in education and argue for a dialectic relationship between educational theory and educational practice. It examines some of the major aspects of the debate between multiculturalism and anti-racism. The chapter provides a possible framework and modus operandi for the deconstruction and combating of institutional racism as it operates in schools. The role of theory in education is a much debated and much maligned phenomenon and there are several positions that can and have been taken on it. Giroux attributes the basis of his thinking largely to the work of the Frankfurt School of Sociology’s conception of theory which he sees in terms of three premises. The relationship between multicultural education and anti-racist teaching is currently viewed in a range of ways and not only seen as a simple contest. Many of the detractors and critics of anti-racism criticize it for being too polemic, too rhetorical or too political.
