Like this AI-generated geode, the layers of necessary discussion that we need to have in 2024 are both tragic and brilliant. Tragic because our abuse of the natural world is so profound that gems like this are rarely discovered anymore. Brilliant because at some point in human history, we have imagined this beauty…in all of its glory and intention…we can see it. The slow process that creates magnificently large crystals and the fast-pace of change that reveals the stones after a storm.
This piece is a celebration of multicultural education’s past, present and future in the discourse about reform. In 1974, James A. Banks published an editorial in the ASCD journal that admonished educators to uphold a type of cultural pluralism that celebrates diversity as a strength and ideal product of democracy. Fifty years later and only days after a national election that has many people wondering ‘what’s next?’ our commitment as citizens must be to education…learning that empowers us to be better humans. In his editorial, he wrote:
…the school has a responsibility to teach a commitment to and respect for the core values such as justice, equality and human dignity expressed in [American] historical documents…
Written 30 years ago, as a foreword to a brilliantly written book, Scholar John Henrik Clarke, gave us pearl statements about solidarity when he wrote:
What is the relationship between the dominant modes of European thought and the dominant modes of their behavior towards others? If the people in Africa and Asia and the former European colonies are to emerge into full independence, statehood and world responsibility, they will have to answer the above question creatively and in their favor. Then, in a collective sense, they will have to participate with others in a world that can be free, that can recognize European influence without accepting European dominance (p. xvii)
Thirty years is the PEARL ANNIVERSARY. We are Black pearls, unique and special, fabricated and precious.
Written 25 years ago, Geneva Gay first published her treatise on culturally responsive teaching. A guide for the field on theory, research and practice, the seminal work has served as a guide for so many…like flecks of silver embedded in native rock, the material left untouched is taken for granted. Chipping away at the outside though, you can see its simple brilliance, especially if you listen as it is excavated from the noise of rigid structure that only yields in disaster.
Twenty-five years is the SILVER ANNIVERSARY; a hard-fought victory of longevity for those who can achieve it.
How do we, in education, celebrate small milestones: one year or five? Education Week knows how…the PAPER ANNIVERSARY and the SAPPHIRE ANNIVERSARY are great opportunities to be reflective on where we have been and what we have done as teachers. Cultivating Genius (2020) and Unearthing Joy (2023) are right there! Gholdy Muhammad’s works are joining this beautiful mine of gems about multicultural education. Providing frameworks for equity, she challenges us to form cultivating genius and joy collectives…we can do it.
Joy Barnes-Johnson, Ph.D. 