Human Diversity in Education

Book excerpt: Human Diversity in Education: An Integrative Approach is a research-based, comprehensive text designed to provide an introduction to multicultural education and diversity in society. The text prepares future teachers for the wide diversity of students that they are certain to meet in their classrooms, schools, and communities. It provides an updated and broad treatment of the various forms of human diversity found in today's schools including nationality, ethnicity, race, religion, gender, class, language, sexual orientation, and ability levels. The text maintains a unique approach - a research-based cross-cultural psychological emphasis on how people learn about culture. The text is based on the assumption that it is at the level of the individual teacher where the change that must occur with regard to diversity in schools begins. It assumes that teachers must learn to incorporate issues of diversity in all of their teaching, including, but not limited to their interactions with children, parents, other teachers and the community. In the fourth edition new Case Studies are used to introduce major concepts at the start of chapters and Critical Incidents refer back to the Case Studies throughout the chapter. New coverage includes an emphasis on globalization and a new chapter on intercultural development. Important topics covered include: intercultural development of individuals, globalization and international education, religion in society and schools, gender and sexuality, exceptionality, and diversity with respect to early childhood.