The chapters in this book evolved from a Working Group on Multicultural Education that met twice in Washington, D.C., during 1991–92. Several members wrote papers discussed at the two meetings, then revised and rewrote them. Other members of the Working Group who did not write papers were nevertheless valuable interlocutors and commentators and helped improve all the papers. Those members (and their affiliations in 1991–92) were Peggy Altoff, Maryland Department of Education; Samuel Banks, Thomas DeLaine, and Jesse Gladden, Baltimore City School System; Richard Wilson, Montgomery County (Maryland) School System; John Fonte, U.S. Department of Education; John Bremer, The World & I magazine; Louis Harlan, Department of History, University of Maryland; Jorge Klor de Alva, Anthropology, Princeton University; and William Galston, Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy, University of Maryland.

The Working Group discussed multicultural education in the context of the public school, not the college or university. Although there is considerable overlap in the debates about curriculum on our campuses and curriculum in our public schools, the issues are not always the same. The public schools educate children, rather than adults; they possess a distinctive civic mission; and they must be responsive to community and parental interests. The movement for multicultural education in the schools has an earlier origin than the multicultural reforms on the campuses, with a distinct history and supporting literature. Although the chapters in this book are quite pertinent to contemporary controversies in colleges and universities, their starting points are multicultural policies and challenges in the elementary and secondary school.