"By the year 2000, one-third of America's total population will
consist of people of color. Education has become a primary site for
struggles to redefine the cultural image of what America has and may
become. The Great Speckled Bird illustrates the importance of redefining
education to be relevant to America's great cultural transformation
which is now occurring."

Manning Marable, Professor of History and Political Science and
Director of The Institute for Research in African-American Studies,
Columbia University

" Catherine Cornbleth and Dexter Waugh have taken a bold step in
exposing the politics of curriculum. Their book is a wonderful mix of
ethnography and journalism providing both insider and outsider per-
spectives on the way that curriculum decisions get made. Especially
important in this volume is the way that the authors demonstrate how
voices of resistance get marginalized, muted, and distorted so that
their participation in the process is minimized. . . . The book is excit-
ing to read as the authors take us from one end of the country to the
other. . . . It has a strong narrative voice that allows the reader to care
about the people and the decisions that are made. . . . At the heart of
their work is a plea for more democratic, equitable, and just education
to create the kind of national character and community that sustains
both our diversity and sense of unity."

Gloria Ladson-Billings, Assistant Professor, Department of Curriculum
and Instruction, University of Wisconsin-Madison

The Great Speckled Bird opens a range of new perspectives on the
meanings of multiculturalism in American schools today, and on the
relation between what is understood to be multiculturalism and the
conception of a national identity. Catherine Cornbleth and Dexter
Waugh examine the debates surrounding curriculum policymaking in
California and New York with uncommon lucidity and candor. Shibbo-
leths and stereotypes both stand exposed . . . and a way is opened for
new modes of communication and the kind of affirmation of our differ-
ences that may infuse the making of a new, dynamic, wondrously
diverse community. This book may disturb some readers, inspire oth-
ers, provoke still others to enter into the conversation. What is impor-
tant is the conversation; these authors have done a great deal to en-
rich and expand what is being said. There is an excitement in their
book and I recommend it enthusiastically."

Maxine Greene, Professor Emerita of Philosophy and Education,
Teachers' College, Columbia University

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