Multiculturalism and Science Education

Abstract

Science educators and theoreticians of science education who have embraced multiculturalism proceed as if multiculturalism is a univocal and non-problematic approach that can be fruitfully applied to science education. We believe, however, that neither the existence of a distinctly multiculturalist interpretation of scientific activity nor a consensus about the meaning and the practical consequences of multiculturalism itself can be taken for granted. Multiculturalism is not a single and unproblematically formulated theory or strategy waiting to be applied to science education. A philosophically informed consideration of its implications for science education would have to address both what is valuable about it and its inner tensions and limitations. Before we proceed any further, it will be useful to make a distinction between 'multiculturalism' and 'multicultural education'. Both of these terms have been used in so many different senses that it would be impossible to give an exhaustive list. For example, The International Encyclopaedia of Education defines 'multicultural education' as an educational process or strategy involving more than one culture, as defined by national, linguistic, ethnic or racial criteria. It is supposed to create an awareness, tolerance, understanding and knowledge regarding different cultures as well as the differences and similarities between cultures and their related world views, concepts, values, beliefs and attitudes. It is intended to provide cognitive, verbal, and nonverbal skills in coping with different cultures or cultural groups, and skills in communicating with members of these groups. It is also intended to promote academic and social achievement in intercultural settings (Ekstrand 1994, p. 3963). While this definition emphasizes communication and understanding between cultures, the entry on multicultural education in The Encyclopaedia of Educational Research emphasizes equal opportunity to students with diverse social, racial and ethnic backgrounds: As an idea, multicultural education espouses the notion that male and female students, students from diverse racial, ethnic and social-class groups, and students with disabilities should have an equal opportunity to learn in schools, colleges, and universities. Multicultural education is also a process whose major aim is to change the social structure and culture of schools and other educational institutions, so that students from all cultural, racial, ethnic, gender, and social-class groups will have an equal opportunity to experience academic success (Banks 1992, p. 870). It would be more accurate to say that the ideal of multicultural education incorporates both concerns above, as the following passage emphasizes: Education of diverse cultural groups, through a wide range of culturally impregnated experiences, for life in a multiracial and multiethnic society at both local and global levels. The ultimate goals are the promotion of social cohesion through critical awareness and the establishment and maintenance of a socially just society through the acceptance and celebration of diversity, the enhancement of the self-esteem of all, and the elimination of racism. (Hodson 1993, p. 689; emphasis original) Multicultural education as described in these passages is a need that has emerged because today's modern, complex societies are multicultural societies: they consist of people with different native languages, religions, and ethnic origins. This creates the need for mutual understanding and tolerance regarding different cultural beliefs and practices among the members of a society. Moreover, those cultural groups that form a minority in a given society are often disadvantaged economically, socially and politically due to various reasons. Education is an effective way of creating conditions for equality as well as mutual tolerance and understanding among members of different groups. "Multicultural education' is the name given to the policies of education that address these issues in multicultural societies. It seems obvious to us that education should certainly be available to all regardless of their gender, ethnicity, religious, cultural and class backgrounds, and the aim of critical inquiry which we defend in this book is certainly compatible with creating awareness and understanding regarding different cultures provided that they are not sealed off from criticism. On the other hand, the term "multiculturalism', as it appears in theoretical literature in the social sciences, is used to refer to a certain kind of politics of recognition. What this means will be made clear below. In the science education literature, however, 'multiculturalism' has acquired a meaning of its own; it refers to a certain constellation of epistemic doctrines that form an alternative to the universalist conception of science. To distinguish it from other forms of multiculturalism, we call it epistemic multiculturalism. Since there is little discussion of multiculturalism in a broader theoretical context in the literature on science education, we begin, in Section 13.1, by introducing multiculturalism as it has emerged in the social sciences in the last two decades and relate it to issues in science education. Multiculturalism in this broader context is a kind of politics of recognition. We discuss what is valuable and what is problematic in it both generally and specifically from the viewpoint of science education. In Section 13.2 we present an alternative to multiculturalism, an alternative which avoids what is problematic in multiculturalism as a politics of recognition. We then turn to epistemic multiculturalism and its conception of science in Sections 13.3 and 13.4. We argue that epistemic multiculturalism is even more problematic than multiculturalism as a politics of recognition; we reject it categorically. Many epistemic multiculturalists claim that indigenous and ecological knowledge developed by indigenous peoples (what is sometimes known as "ethnoscience') constitute an alternative science to the standard, mainstream science practiced in the West and that therefore they should be incorporated into science education. We take up this issue in Sections 13.5 and 13.6. Despite the fact that epistemic multiculturalism is put forward as an alternative to the universalistic conception of science, the latter is poorly understood by epistemic multiculturalists. In Section 13.7 we define what we mean by universalism in science and defend it against multiculturalists' attacks. In Section 13.8 we state our view concerning the relationship between science and values, an issue epistemic multiculturalists especially bring up in comparing "ethnoscience' with mainstream science. We conclude this chapter in Section 13.9 by noting that epistemic multiculturalism loses the sight of critical inquiry as the overriding aim of education in the science classroom.