The curriculum, the students, and the world

The author recommends increased emphasis on interethnic conflict around the world as part of an education in pluralism. Educators have been set the task of overcoming intolerance and heading off conflict in an increasingly diverse society. A widespread response has been to require students to study other cultures and evaluate them in relativist terms to achieve a tolerant pluralism. This ''way of life'' approach tends to essentialize culture and inhibit the consideration of interactions between societies or of conflicts within them. By contrast, an approach focusing on conflict and context rather than, or in addition to, studying ways of life would be more effective in fostering intergroup understanding. Instead of relativizing, students would face difficult issues and make judgments.