A Study On Multicultural Education In The Context Of U.S. Higher Education In The Late Half Of The20^th Century

Multicultural education appears in a society which contains ethnic and cultural diversity. It is the effort paid by people to preserve the unique qualities of their own culture. The goals of multicultural education are to protect cultural diversity and to respect individual difference through ensuring each individual the rights of getting involved into the society while keeping the very ideas of each cultural identity. The implementation of multicultural education promises the equal development of every culture of the society and enriches the educational system of the country.Due to the diversity of American society, such as the ethnicity, language, religion and culture and the needs of future developments of the country and individual, American government has initiated, encouraged and implemented relative policies to improve educational and employment status of ethnic groups since1960s. Then multicultural education formed and contributed itself to the ethnic equality and social democracy. Nevertheless, with the progress of American ethnic diversity and the internal inadequacy of the educational policies, multicultural education in America faces more challenges.The thesis takes U.S. higher education as the research context to analyze the multicultural education, reviewing its origin and the development, introducing its theories and practices, exploring its relationship and interaction with the social context, and compares the different voices of the society about its policies. Although the multicultural education in U.S. higher educational system has a long way to near its perfection and has to deal with deviants started by social extremists, it brings the overall education in USA vitality and a promising future.