Teaching the Whole Enchilada: Enhancing Multiculturalism Through Children\u27s Literature in the Content Areas

Historically, educators disagree on curriculum goals and as a result the educational process is fragmented. This fragmentation is evident in standards that differ from state to state, district to district, and teacher expectations at kindergarten to teacher expectations at high school. In the report, A Nation At Risk (Gardner, 1983), the National Commission on Excellence in Education found that where there should be a coherent continuum of learning, we have none, but instead an often incoherent outdated, patchwork quilt (p. 14). This fragmented approach is almost impossible to change. In Horace\u27s Compromise: The Dilemma of the American High School, Theodore Sizer (1984) states that a curriculum represented by six or seven autonomous subjects quickly freezes hard... (pp. 216-217)