Most reforms related to pluralistic education have been rejected by mainstream American educators primarily for ideological reasons. The fading of the intergroup education movement of the 1940s and 50s is an instance of the failure of educators to internalize the philosophy of multiethnic and multicultural education. The positions of mainstream and pluralistic educators are derived from incomplete analyses of the nature of ethnicity in America. Neither extreme assimilationist nor extreme pluralist ideology can effectively guide curriculum reform. A multiethnic ideology, on the other hand, suggests specific goals for curriculum reform by analyzing the structure of ethnic subcultures embedded in the mainstream American culture. This analysis suggests, for instance, the goal of cross-cultural competency, or the capacity to be at home in a once unfamiliar culture. The relationship of ethnic to mainstream American culture is illustrated with diagrams. (JB)