| This case study explored the extent to which a rural high school in Illinois functions per Senge's concept of the learning organization, specifically with regard to a shared vision that multicultural education is good and necessary in a homogeneous European American school. The school in this study is not unlike many small schools throughout the United States.; The school's shared vision, team learning, and teachers' mental models were studied through interviews, surveys, and document analysis. The students' mental models were studied through exposure to units on Japanese culture, the use of pretest and posttest surveys, content analysis of student work, interviews, and anecdotal records. The researcher examined how a unit on Japanese culture affected students' mental models of Japan and Japanese culture.; Teachers and students differed in their perceptions of the extent to which the school valued multiculturalism. Though skeptical of its effectiveness in a school with little diversity, many of the teachers valued multiculturalism. The students shared the teachers' skepticism and additionally believed that antiracist education was an integral component to multicultural education. Furthermore, the research suggests that one-day lessons on Japanese culture did not affect students' stereotypes of Japanese, while a month-long unit did. Additional analysis suggested that even a short, one-day lesson that introduced Japanese culture to the students appears to have affected their desire to participate in further cultural lessons. |
