Rethinking Multicultural Education: Case Studies in Cultural Transition

Korn and Bursztyn and their contributors examine the cultural transitions that children make as they move between the cultures of home and school. To better understand these transitions, they explore how educators understand their students' shifting experiences and examine how educators also negotiate transitions as they too move from home to school each day. The narratives or case studies reflect this shifting gaze: from child, to teacher, to parents, and take up the various relational configurations that these can form, amongst and between each other. They turn a critical eye toward instances of classroom practice and school life, connecting personal knowledge with school change. In some cases, the authors draw directly on autobiographical material, linking these to a reflective approach to teaching.

Avoiding the celebratory tone that often attends discussions of multiculturalism, the authors address how diverstiy engages us in continual renegotiation of the personal and social. The perspectives of educators and of teacher candidates are presented, and the construction of cultural identity and its impact on schools, explored. In illuminating the complicated nature of cultural transitions and the obligation of schools to create places in which children and families of diverse backgrounds can thrive, they highlight how multiculturalism can play a transformative role in the lives of children and schools. A must reading for educators and graduate students in education, school psychology, guidance and counseling.

CAROL KORN, a psychologist and early childhood educator, is Program Head of the Undergraduate and Graduate Programs in Early Childhood Education and Faculty Director of the Early Childhood Center at Brooklyn College. Professor Korn has conducted research and written on children's experience of cultural transitions, development of narrative in childhood, and the role of the arts in early education, particularly regarding literacy development.

ALBERTO BURSZTYN is Assistant Dean of the School of Education at Brooklyn College and an Associate Professor in Special Education and School Psychology. His writing focuses on how schools and professionals address issues of disability, cultural diversity, and linguistic competence.