Key to democratic citizenship is understanding in a basic sense other people and
groups in society. In the United States there has been a lively debate regarding how
educators and students should set about doing this, however—how they should respond
to differences from mainstream norms, inside and outside their classrooms, and the
presence of minorities in society. In this essay, I want to illuminate specific aspects of the
challenges public school educators face in constructively and accurately teaching about
controversial groups in their classrooms by exploring the case of educating about
Muslims since September 11 (9/11). I argue that in this particular instance the ability of
multicultural educators to provide students with accurate, balanced understandings of the
religion and group is hindered by limitations internal to the traditional approaches to
multicultural education in the United States, as well as by expectations set by current educational standards and related constraints set by typical teacher education programs.
I examine the challenges multicultural educators face in this case to clarify within
a concrete context what is involved in and necessary to adequately educating students
about groups considered “different,” or controversial in contemporary society. After
critically exploring common multicultural education theories and practices, I will flesh
out a strategy I discuss here as “critical multiculturalism,” which I argue is more apt for
representing controversial minority groups in a balanced and accurate way in classroom
settings, toward the end of enabling democratic citizenship. In the final section I consider
the training teachers would need to prepare for these practices in pre-service teacher
education programs. My ultimate aim then is to provide a more contextualized
understanding of multicultural education in the United States, students’ needs in learning
about difference and minorities, and the options we face in relation
