It is necessary to continue efforts to adapt the composition curriculum to the diverse needs of the student population. The writing process, even if seen as recursive, varies from student to student and from situation to situation. Students must also be shown that the very conventions and forms of academic writing are culturally situated. The Euro-American tradition is only one tradition among many. Understanding different traditions allows students to better relate to those who are different and allows the teacher to be more sensitive to individual student differences. In the field of rhetoric and composition, the emphasis on social epistemic rhetorics and on an analysis of the cultural codes of race, class, gender, and sexual difference have made it clear that language and writing both reflect and critique the ideologies of communities in which they function. Diverse multicultural assignments in essay reading and writing allow students to write a story of their own, a cultural story. But a multicultural rhetoric must also engage students in an active analysis and critique of the discourse communities in which they write. (Contains 16 references.) (NKA)