Prejudice Reduction through Multicultural Education: Connecting Multiple Literatures

Banks (1994) names prejudice reduction as one of five dimensions of multicultural education. Although children develop prejudicial beliefs, attitudes, and values at young ages, research demonstrates that when multicultural knowledge and values are combined with intergroup contact, prejudice is often reduced. In this article, I connect multiple literatures in order to present an overarching picture of prejudice and its reduction in classrooms. First, I describe some negative impacts of prejudice and how prejudice develops at very young ages. Second, utilizing another of Banks’s dimensions of multicultural education, I describe the knowledge construction process as a necessary factor in prejudice reduction. Finally, intergroup contact theory and complex instruction are described as a guide for reducing prejudice in classrooms.