多元文化思潮之爭議及其對台灣多元文化教育之啟示

[[abstract]]This thesis sheds light on the disputes over multiculturalism and multicultural education, briefly designated as“The Multicultural Current”, and the implications for the advancement of multicultural education in Taiwan. To begin with, this study explores the arising background, the essence, and the variance of the multicultural current. Furthermore, according to the analysis, the multicultural current could be classified into two divergent approaches, which are the monolith theory and the umbrella theory. The succeeding chapter elucidates the controversies of the monolith theory, including the essencialist assumptions, ethical relativism, the constraints of group right, and nationalism in the epoch of globalization. On the contrary, next to go would be the arguments of the umbrella theory, involving the proliferation of minorities, the competition for interests and power, the conflict between gender and ethnic issue, and the limitations of the parallelist model. Based on the aforementioned, the study makes comments on the academic researches, discourses, and the policies concerned, and provides suggestions for the development of multicultural education in the future. The primary conclusions as well as suggestions of this study would be as followed: 1. The multicultural current could be sorted into two categories: the monolith theory and the umbrella theory. 2. No matter the monolith theory or the umbrella theory has its own limitations. 3. Multicultural education in Taiwan leans toward the approach of the umbrella theory. 4. The conflict between gender and ethnic issue within multicultural education is unveiled by the adversity of“Minorities within Minorities”in the controversies of the monolith theory. 5. Concerning the researches on the multicultural current, few connections exist between the two distinquished fields of political philosophy and education. 6. It’s high time for us to deliberate the suitability of the acadamic term, “Multicultural Education.” 7. Little emphasis is placed on the research of the class culture, which is supposed to belong to the domain of multicultural education. 8. The nonsynchrony model could be the promising approach of multicultural education. 9. The implications for multicultural education in prospect include the pendulum of the multicultural current, assuming the dynamic perspective on culture, promoting the research of cultural theory, constructing the communicative machanism between the government and ethnic groups, facing up to the conflict between gender and ethnic issue, and meditating on the adequacy of the acadamic term,“Multicultural Education.” 10. As to the advice on the research method, the method of discourse analysis is recommended. 11. Regarding the research subject, it’s recommended to investigate the complexity of nonsynchrony relationship among dynamics by coping with the interaction of race, gender, and class simultaneously in the specific educational context.