Good education for all? Student race and identity development in the multicultural classroom

•Attendance of a multicultural course increased students’ identity, intergroup, and democratic outcomes.•White students benefitted from attending a multicultural class more than their non-White peers.•Multicultural education may sometimes reproduce those gaps it set out to alleviate.

This study examined the role of ethnic identity in students’ responses to a multicultural curriculum. Specifically, it tested group differences in the key premise of multicultural education, which is that learning about other groups affects students’ identity formation and that this learning translates into skills critical to academic success, intergroup harmony, and promotion of democratic values. The results provided partial support of the hypothesis. Participating in a curriculum focusing on race and ethnicity yielded more benefits to White than non-White students, suggesting that Whites may be uniquely positioned to benefit from multiculturalism. Possible mechanisms underlying the different outcomes of multicultural education for various groups of students are discussed.