Multicultural Education

The United States are a multicultural nation, should not multicultural education in our schools be a no-brainer?!

As with any hot-button issue, positions and mindsets vary tremendously.

A blog post, suggestively named "Pithissippi Burning," on the Nashville Scene Blog discusses an uprise in hate literature, discriminating against all minority cultures and propagating populist white race thought.

In the article "The Challenge of Multiculturalism," Samuel Taylor asserts that the conservative idea to unite the American nation by a common history is invalid, deeming it simply impossible to teach an all-inclusive history. In his opinion, the attempt to include all necessary viewpoints of historical events will lead to a feeling of confusion and uncertainty, rather than unity and self-esteem.

Where Taylor is at least trying to negotiate a possible multicultural approach to education, Paul Treanor simply deems multiculturalism to be "WRONG."
He feels that a multicultural society oppresses its minorities and migrants instead of helping them to assimilate. Further, he blames multiculturalism for making culture hereditary.

So, what's the verdict?

I believe that if a person, regardless of his or her ethnic heritage, does not have an individual standpoint, he is unable to analyze any other culture. It is therefore mandatory that our society as a whole focuses on helping our children develop a strong, healthy, and balanced self-image. Teachers are limited by the student’s family and social environment, which is supposed to provide the individual with the safety and emotional support needed to explore his inner self. Here lays the greatest challenge of them all: most parents are much more concerned about raising good children who fit the expectations of the majority culture rather than raising independent and self-reliant adults who will find their individual purpose in life. Sayings such as “Don’t rock the boat” or “Go with the flow” have become way too common and have lead to the mental conformity of our society.