Blog Post #6: Rethinking Schools- Taking Multicultural-Anti-Racist Education Seriously

Rethinking Schools

Taking Multicultural, Anti-Racist Education Seriously

By Enid Lee, interviewed by Barbara Miner

  This week, I read an engaging article from Rethinking Schools that encompasses several of the topics and discussions that our class has been exploring. This article is titled Taking Multicultural, Anti-Racist Education Seriously by educational advocate Enid Lee who was interviewed by  Rethinking Schools editor Barbara Miner. In this article, Enid Lee defines multicultural education as anti-racist education where various racial and cultural differences in the human family are explored t0 examine its fierce impact on the power dynamics that exist in education. She discusses how anti-racist education seeks to equip students, parents, and teachers with the necessary tools to fight racism and discrimination of all kinds in order to rebuild a society where all individuals have equal access and opportunity. 

Enid Lee writes in depth about curriculum in this article and how everything taught in schools possesses some form of racial or cultural bias. She writes, “Most of all, you have to get in touch with the fact that your current education has a cultural bias, that it is an exclusionary, racist bias, and that it needs to be purged. A lot of times people say, “I just need to learn more about those other groups.” And I say, “No, you need to look at how the dominant culture and biases affect your view of non-dominant groups in society” (Rethinking Schools). This part of the text made me reflect back to Lisa Delpit’s work on Other People’s Children. Delpit strongly emphasizes that the dominant culture in society possesses the most power, thus excluding other cultural or racial groups. Those who possess the greatest power are least aware of it, while those who have little power are the most aware of their powerlessness. Enid Lee is providing a modern educational example of this. Becoming more in touch with multicultural of anti-racist education requires a deep personal dive into self-reflection, critical thinking, and realization that the dominant culture, or white culture, primarily dictates what is taught in schools. Whose voices are not heard? Whose stories are untold? Who has a seat at the table to decide educational matters and who does not? 

Enid Lee encourages educators to incorporate the voices of groups who are often left unheard, unseen, and undervalued in society. In a separate paragraph, she writes about selecting high-quality resources and literature for students to bring awareness to those voices. She writes, “I encourage people to look for the voice of people who are frequently silenced, people we haven’t heard from: people of color, women, poor people, working-class people, people with disabilities, and gays and lesbians” (Rethinking Schools). I am inspired by Lee’s passion for bringing attention and light to silenced groups and exposing students to their unique stories. In Patrick Finn’s text Literacy with an Attitude: Educating Working-Class Children in Their Own Self-Interest, he writes about how all students are deserving of high-quality, powerful literacy that will help them to achieve success no matter their racial, cultural, or socioeconomic status. To me, enhancing students' literacy means to do exactly as Lee is encouraging teachers to do. That is to expose students to diverse voices and stories, differing perspectives and realities. In providing high-quality and powerful literacy, anti-racist education calls educators to challenge the status-quo and help students think critically about racial injustice and fight to resolve sociopolitical issues. 

To conclude, I enjoyed reading this article because I made many connections throughout the reading to our class discussions and readings. Enid Lee states, “If you don’t take multicultural education or anti-racist education seriously, you are actually promoting a monocultural or racist education. There is no neutral ground on this issue” (Rethinking Schools). Enid Lee is making the same argument as Armstrong and Wildman in their work "Colorblindness is the New Racism” Raising Awareness about Privilege Using Color Insight. To proclaim a neutral stance on “colorblindness” and on multicultural education means to promote monocultural, monolingual, one-sided and racist education. There must be a unified call to action in place to transform education and curriculum so that a high-quality education is provided to all students with a multicultural, anti-racist and inclusionary approach at the forefront.