Public opinion about multicultural education in New York State was surveyed with samples ranging from about 200 to over 900 citizens. Three quarters of New York State residents believe that teaching the common heritage and values that Americans share is a very important goal of public education. There is some support for teaching history from the perspective of separate histories and differences of racial and ethnic groups, but only 45 percent considered this "very" important. Three-quarters of the respondents believe that the content of social studies courses should be the same in every state school. Two-thirds disagree that each school should teach social studies based on the ethnic and racial backgrounds of students. A majority disagreed with the statement that students do better if courses center on their own racial and ethnic histories. Almost nine of ten respondents believe that students should be taught both traditional events of United States history and the contributions and experiences of racial and ethnic populations. New York residents tend to believe that teaching children social responsibility and pride in racial and ethnic backgrounds, families, rather than schools, have primary responsibility. Thirty-six tables and 14 graphs present response data. (SLD)