Euro-American values dominate the field of psychology, and their cultural assumptions are often accepted as universal. However, there are significant differences between Western and non-Western thinking and thus what educators take to be psychological norms are often rejected by many of the students and families they are supposed to serve. Despite the intention of teacher education institutions to help teachers become more aware of how to relate instructional content and processes to the cultural context of their students, the following changes appear necessary: (1) colleges of education should become models of cultural diversity on their own campuses; (2) student teachers must be given the opportunity to acquire experiences with students from backgrounds different from their own; (3) students who are learning to be teachers must learn in a way that emphasizes relationships; (4) professional education materials and textbooks must address issues pertinent to multicultural populations; and (5) teacher education programs must devote more attention to the important roles that parents and community play in the effective education of students. The paper concludes that any educational system that ignores the history and perspectives of its students or does not attempt to accommodate its teaching practices for the benefit of all its learners is contributing to the pervasive inequality of opportunity which marks our society today. (ND)