Maintaining unity in a diverse society through practices of civic equality, social justice, tolerance, and mutual understanding defines new multiculturalism in the 21st
century (Banks, 2006, 2010; Kim, 2012; May & Sleeter, 2010). Citizenship education should be reviewed and transformed according to cultural, ethnic, religious, racial, and language diversity in most nations in the world (Banks, 2006). Kymlicka (2010) has critically discussed the rise and fall of multiculturalism in the last sixty years, and has suggested that sustainable improvements in multiculturalism can be found by
constructing a set of public policies that supports multiculturalism rather than considering multiculturalism as a cultural sensibility. The knowledge about Islam and its role in the U.S. should be considered by multicultural education to create social justice and tolerance in society (Bennett, 2007). Exposure the accurate information about Islam as theology will lead the US public toward greater tolerance and mutual understanding (Moore, 2009). Unfortunately, the significance of religion in multicultural education was not considered as central as that of race and ethnicity; most teachers in public schools in the U.S. are unprepared to teach material about religious diversity and less able to understand
the needs of religious minority students (Moore, 2009; Nord & Haynes, 1998). Although the number of research is very limited, religion is discussed by multicultural education research in two research lines.
One line of research specifically focuses on why religious education in public schools is important for strengthening a culturally pluralistic democracy in the U.S.; and the other line examines the role of religious schools in educating multicultural citizens. As it is mentioned in previous sections, educational research in Islamic schools is a new area, and finding research studies with a focus on multicultural education is difficult. To have better understanding , I also reviewed the literature on research in other religious schools. One source that helped me understand the role of religious schools in
multicultural education is a book edited by Graham P. McDonough, Nadeem A. Memon, and Avi I. Mintz (2013). The book, Discipline, Devotion, and Dissent: Jewish, Catholic,
and Islamic Schooling in Canada, provides critical perspectives about how faith-based
schools in Canada meet the expectations of the secular education system in Canada while negotiating tensions arising from denominational differences among Catholics, Jews, and Muslims.
Moreover, the book offers a starting point for investigating the roles and aims of faith-based schools in raising multicultural citizens in Canada, where recent political negotiations have highlighted faith-based school controversies. More importantly,
Discipline, Devotion, and Dissent: Jewish, Catholic, and Islamic Schooling in Canada
sheds light on denominational differences in religious schools and explores how these differences can be effective tools in teaching respect for multiple views and perspectives. Despite a general misconception that religious schools act as a threat to the celebration of
differences, this book demonstrates that religious schools can be fruitful places for multicultural education research. All chapters point out critical perspectives on religious schools in Canada in terms of teaching social justice, tolerance, and respects for
differences; however, the final chapter by Avi I. Mintz provides a clear explanation of the role of diversity in faith-based Canadian citizenship education. For example, he notes that the “communal deliberation that results from the conflict of diverse perspectives on educational options can be a powerful source of democratic education, both for a
community’s children and adolescents and for the community as a whole” (p. 240). According to Mintz, diversity in faith-based schools provides critical thinking and social reproduction rather than replication. Mintz’s remarks in this chapter show that Canadian faith-based schools can be practical and fruitful environments in which to practice and reflect on democratic practices and to create democratic citizens—and this in spite of misunderstandings that consider faith-based schools obstacles to social cohesion. In
Discipline, Devotion, and Dissent: Jewish, Catholic, and Islamic Schooling in Canada,
there are three chapters specifically focused on Canadian Muslim identity construction and the struggles of Islamic schools in Canada. For example, the chapter written by Asma Ahmad points out that Islamic schools in Canada should apply critical thinking in their religious education curricula as a way of teaching multicultural citizenship while preserving Muslim identity.
To focus more on multicultural citizenship education in Islamic schools, in another study, Saada (2013) examines the perspectives of Islamic school teachers on the concept of citizenship education and the challenges of teaching unity and diversity while preserving students’ Muslim identities. The findings of Saada (2013) show that building a
sense of belonging in American society is difficult for social science teachers in Islamic schools; students in these schools do not recognize themselves as Americans, largely because of negative perspectives and Islam-phobia in popular media, which show Muslims as aggressive terrorists. Saada (2013) shows that the concept of citizenship education is more complex in Islamic schools in the U.S. compared to other religious schools in the U.S.; Islamic schools and the students in these schools are often negatively stereotyped and considered enemies of democratic values by general society.
Multicultural educational research and its contextualization in religious schools will be discussed more in chapter 3; this section has generally shown the lack of research considering multiculturalism in religious schools, in order to highlight the importance of my research.