This paper discusses pre-service teachers' (PSTs) resistance to some of the core concepts of multicultural education in a large Midwestern university. The data collected from document reviews, observations, and interviews with a selected group of PSTs point to cultural-ecological factors as major sources of the resistance. The paper examines these cultural-ecological factors correlating to PSTs' fear of introducing multicultural concepts in their future suburban schools as well as their fear of cultural incongruity in the the urban schools. The study calls for an intensive and extensive multidimensional field experiences to familiarize PSTs with the unfamiliar cultures while providing them dialogic tools to informally engage their own communities on sensitive topics covered in multicultural education.