ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author poses some profoundly multicultural questions that get at the heart of multicultural education when it is conceptualized in broader and more meaningful ways. She defines multicultural education as an antiracist education that is firmly related to student learning and permeates all areas of schooling. Multicultural education needs to be accompanied by a deep commitment to social justice and equal access to resources. It also needs, in short, to be about much more than ethnic tidbits and cultural sensitivity. The continuing segregation of students on the basis of race and ethnicity is a trend that has been escalating for the past 20 years. For African Americans, the 1990s witnessed the largest backward movement toward segregation since the Brown v. Board of Education decision. Latinos are now the most segregated of all ethnic groups, not just in race and ethnicity, but also poverty. US schools are becoming more separate and unequal than ever.
