Sometimes an approach lacks a multicultural understanding because it distorts the views and experiences of peoples outside the mainstream, most often unintentionally. Only rarely is the truth deliberately misrepresented. The remedies for these practices are inclusion, comparison, and correction. The inclusion of new issues and content requires rethinking the original content, and sometimes what is required is an entirely new formulation of the course. The inclusion of alternative perspectives allows for a more integrative and reasoned understanding, especially of those perspectives that exemplify and illuminate differing world views.
Comparisons treat the construction of knowledge as dynamic and changing.
But if the basis for different values remains unexamined and culturally received assumptions continue to be accepted without reasoned thought or argument, comparisons can also create misunderstanding. Instead, comparative models can provide a purposeful dialogue that enhances the understanding of each distinctive perspective and reaches a level of greater awareness by exposure to larger, more comprehensive issues. Obviously, misrepresentations are always to be corrected. One of the most valuable lessons of diversity education is to provide students with the tools to question the foundations and assumptions of the knowledge and information they receive as cultural givens. An excellent example of this is described by George and Straton elsewhere in this issue.