The Wrong Kind of Different: Challenging the Meaning of Diversity in American Classrooms

by Antonia Randolph

How can multiculturalism go wrong? Through extensive interviews conducted in a large Midwestern district, Antonia Randolph explores how teachers perceive students from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds and the unintended consequences of a kind of “colorblind multiculturalism.” She unearths a hierarchy of acceptance and legitimacy that excludes most poor Black students and favors certain immigrant minorities. In addition, Randolph discovers how some teachers distinguish their support for certain forms of student diversity from curriculum diversity, such as accommodating bilingual education, which they find burdensome. This provocative book challenges readers to look beyond the surface benefits of diversity and raises issues about American schools that need to be addressed,

144 pages, Paperback

First published November 30, 2012

Reviews

[Elizabeth · Rating 1 out of 5]

It is tedious to read and makes the reader very uncomfortable.