More Multiculturalism

           The article, Toward a Centrist Curriculum: Two Kinds of Multiculturalism in Elementary School, talks about the concept of diversity by introducing two different views on the subject of multiculturalism. The first view, introduced by Herman Melville, is called “cosmopolitanism.” This first view is considered universalistic, and the literal meaning of cosmopolitanism “means being a citizen of the world, a member of humanity as a whole” (Hirsch).  The second view, ethic loyalism (ethnocentrism), is a “particularistic view that stresses loyalty to one’s local culture” (Hirsch). To further differentiate between the two views, cosmopolitanism gives an example of the great city of Alexandria where there were “people from every race, nation, and continent rubbing up against each other to form a microcosm of the world” (Hirsch). The ethnic loyalist on the other hand “holds that each culture has a duty to preserve its own identity against the larger cosmopolis” (Hirsch).

            So, how do these two views of multiculturalism relate to the schools and classrooms? Well, it is said that the subjects of American history and literature are moving toward Melville’s vision of cosmopolitanism with the adoption of a curriculum developed by the Core Knowledge Foundation, a group that specializes in the development of a specific core elementary curriculum (Hirsch). The Core Knowledge Foundation created the Core Knowledge Sequence, which is a specific sequence of knowledge for elementary grades that makes up approximately 50% of a school’s curriculum; this leaves another 50% of the curriculum to have local variation, “including integration with more ethnically-centered curricula” (Hirsch).  This split of the curriculum helps incorporate the particularistic view of ethnic loyalism, but in the end the article says that cosmopolitanism is the “only valid multiculturalism for the modern era” (Hirsch).

For me personally my schooling from the elementary grades through high school followed the view of cosmopolitanism, meaning that the curriculum was suited for a diverse student population, which all of my schools had. Adam Waxler in an article titled Multiculturalism in School Curriculum said “different cultures and perspectives can and should be incorporated throughout the various units within the traditional curriculum.” This is very ideal to the schooling I received, and it is definitely the kind of schooling that would represent a “true friend of diversity” (Hirsch). Ultimately, to achieve a true multicultural education, we have to follow the traditional curriculum, but teach in ways that address “various perspectives and allow students to draw their own conclusions” (Waxler).

References:

Hirsch, E.D. (n.d.). Toward a centrist curriculum: Two kinds of multiculturalism in elementary school. Retrieved from https://elearn.mtsu.edu/d2l/lms/content/viewer/main_frame.d2l?ou=2975445&tId=19133313

Waxler, A. (n.d.). Multiculturalism in school curriculum. Retrieved from https://elearn.mtsu.edu/d2l/lms/content/viewer/main_frame.d2l?ou=2975445&tId=19133312

Multiculturalism

            Before interpreting and giving an opinion on the articles regarding multiculturalism, I feel it is important to address the definition of multiculturalism first. Multiculturalism is the doctrine that several different cultures (rather than one national culture) can coexist peacefully and equitably in a single country. This definition comes in handy when reading the two articles because it gives some perspective on how these specific situations relate to the concept of multiculturalism.

            The first article, Pithissippi Burning: Race, White Nationalism and American Culture, looks at the concept of multiculturalism from an extreme point of view. The meaning of this article can be summed up using a sentence contained within the reading, a sentence that to my knowledge expresses an extreme view on multi-racial societies. “The idea is that white people (“Aryans,” actually) move to Washington, Oregon, and Idaho, and drive out the “mud-people” who currently call it home, as well as any federal government and law enforcement” (Tobia). This sentence has racism written all over it (as intended), but this is actually how some people, very few hopefully, view the world today. This group of people has resentment toward all types of minorities; they ultimately feel that the “minority is gaining mainstream adherents” (Tobia) much to their chagrin. This is like day and night in regards to the definition given for multiculturalism. This is definitely an extreme point of view from a small group of people, but this article just shows that some people have not only not embraced the idea of diversity and multiculturalism, but they have went to excessive measures to promote their idea of white nationalism.

            The other article, The Challenge of ‘Multiculturalism’ In How Americans View the Past and Future, has to do more with multiculturalism and its’ relation to the classroom. This article does not express an “outer limits” type view like the last article; instead, it is a much more centered article that discusses the challenge of multiculturalism in regards to teaching American History. In this article different parties have different perspectives on how American history should be taught, which leads to the disagreement on whether a “multicultural” history or an exclusionist history is more fitting. “The ‘conservative’ view is that explicitly racial histories are illegitimate. America, it is argued, must be united by a common history, and exclusionist histories will disunite us” (Taylor).  The exclusionist view is that “America is already disunited by race, and no approach to history can change that. Just as it would be impossible to use the same history book in both France and England, it is impossible to write a single American history that satisfies, white, black, Indian, Hispanic, and Asian” (Taylor).

             So whose view is correct, and what should we do to make both sides happy? Personally I don’t think there is a definitive answer because one party will always feel as if they are receiving the short end of the stick. A potential solution was brought about in California when the “California Board of Education adopted guidelines for a new history curriculum that would ‘accurately portray the cultural and racial diversity of our society’”(Taylor). The idea was good, but the guidelines and books adopted for this change were met with scrutiny by racial activists, who still insisted on an exclusionist history.  Ultimately any sort of exclusionist view is going to be hard to achieve in this day and age when diversity fills the public education classrooms. It is going to be tough to appeal to all of the existing racial groups, but as the title mentions, this is the “challenge” that we must endure.   

Taylor, S. The challenge of ‘multiculturalism’ in how americans view the past and the future. The Journal of Historical Review, 12(2), 159-165.

Tobia, P.J. (2009, February 23). Pithissippi burning: Race, white nationalism and american culture. Retrieved from https://elearn.mtsu.edu/d2l/lms/content/viewer/main_frame.d2l?ou=2975445&tId=19133306