Civic Multicultural Competence: Searching for Common Ground in Democratic Education

Abstract

During the past several decades, multicultural education has become an integral part of the social studies as a means to authentically prepare students for living in an inclusive and democratic society. Topics traditionally omitted, such as race, ethnicity, culture, social class, and gender, are now included. Yet, while multicultural education has helped to bring such topics into the social studies discourse, social studies has generally fallen short of taking a more critical approach to the preparation of citizens. In this work we review the professional literature in multicultural education and social studies education to clarify the distinctions between the fields. Then, we investigate the nexus between the two where we find reason for hope in a time when national political discussion is often polarized. We propose the notion of civic multicultural competence as a concept that challenges scholars and educators to move forward towards better preparing students for life in a multicultural, global society.