Spencer, Sharon Michelle, Ph.D. 2000. 232 pages. University of Houston. Adviser: Carspecken, Phil. Publication Number: AAT 9989832

Muslims comprise a significant percentage of the world’s population (Lippmann, 1994). Muslims form a growing percentage of the population in the United States, and each year more and more Muslim students enter America’s public schools (Siddiqui, 1998). Many of these Muslim students are Pakistani. A group such as Pakistani secondary school-age females attending public schools in the United States, the focus of this qualitative study, is important because they are both Muslim and Asian, and therefore, often experience the problems that come with being members of either of these groups in America. Being Muslim and female also poses challenges to the students. In addition, they are a relatively overlooked subgroup among both Asians and Muslims. Multicultural Education has become important, and is one solution for the concerns and problems of Pakistani public school adolescents (Banks 1988; Sleeter, 1988; Ladson-Billings, 1992; Bennett, 1992); global education too, has taken on great significance (Hanvey, 1979), especially as the conflicts and misunderstandings between the West and Islam, as well as in the global society continue. The responses received from these five participants could not be treated as a sample that comprehensively represents the population. However, from these five cases, the thorough analysis certainly yielded data from which a broadly applicable theory could be constructed.