Evolution of a Multicultural Education Course Offerings to Pre-Service Teachers

This article examines the history of how Multicultural Education has evolved in U.S. universities from the Civil Rights Movement to the twenty first century. Multicultural education is a school reform that emerged during the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s with the goal that “students from all social classes, genders, racial, language, and cultural groups would have an opportunity to learn” (Banks & Banks, 2001, p. 4). Many university courses are informed by multicultural education theory; courses in culture, place-based education, and social justice education prepare undergraduate Liberal Studies’ students with the knowledge, perspectives, and skills to teach cross-culturally. Since Multicultural Education is the lynchpin for today’s Social Justice Programs, several theories are discussed and explored.