Curriculum

Multiculturalism is one of the most important concepts need to be taught in schools today because it provides student with information from and about different cultures and perspectives. For the most part, multicultural elements will be taught in literature and history classes. From what I have read in the “Multiculturalism in School Curriculum” article, Adam Waxler wants to keep the traditional curriculum by using various perspectives from different cultures and viewpoints. If he had to change anything, he would change the books.  I definitely agree with his concept because it can be much faster to implement than trying to revamp a total curriculum. The only disagreement I had with his idea was that some major events in the past that may not have had many different, documented perspectives to get an idea from.   Dr. Hirsch, author of “Toward a Centrist Curriculum: Two Kinds of Multiculturalism in Elementary School”, on the other hand, wants to change the curriculum. I believe that his idea of a curriculum is fair since “1.) It encourages knowledge of and sympathy towards the diverse cultures of the world. 2.) It fosters respect for every child’s home culture as well as for the cosmopolitan school based culture.” I think his idea is fair because it is important for a child to know his or her local and national culture, while learning about different world cultures at the same time.  My only problem with Dr. Hirsch’s concept was that it may take a long time to implement in many schools and to teach even more history on an already large and rich history of the United States.  Overall I think the articles were fair for arguing their view of multiculturalism and its relationship to the curriculum. In my opinion, I would use a blend of both views and their ideas to make an impression on the students.

References:

Waxler, Adam. (n.d.).  “Multiculturalism in School Curriculum”.

Hirsch,Jr., E.D. (1992). “ Toward a Centrist Curriculum: Two Kinds of Multiculturalism in Elementary School”.

MultiCulturalism

According to the Institute for Historical Review. "For many non-whites, however, multicultural history is merely a step on the way to .....Their goal is separation rather than inclusion.” “It is impossible to write a single American history that satisfies, white, black, Indian, hispanic, and Asian.” I disagree with these statements because there is a way to have a book, it would have to be a really huge book though! I believe the point of going to college is to explain these different histories. It would take too much time to teach in school. Think about it. You only get a certain amount of time to teach in the high school.

First, “Why Multiculturalism is Wrong” is a title I disagree with entirely. For my generation, we have traveled to and lived in various places around the world and learned to immerse into other cultures. When we learn two opposing cultures, we can form a third “middle” culture as a result and learn how to communicate both cultures to each other. We act as a sort of cultural bridge for others to understand each other. This is multiculturalism in practice. I wanted to ask if the author of this article had anything to say about the United States’ view of multiculturalism. I noticed in the article how he talks about European nations and their multiculturalist views and not ours.

“Pithissippi Burning: Race, White Nationalism and American Culture” revealed to me how pleased I was to know about how much bigger multicultural television entertainment is getting. I think it is sad that many white supremacists believe in monoculturalism and scared of the changes that were evidenced in the grey box of the article, such as Dora the Explorer being of Spanish decent and Tiger Woods breaking the race barrier in golf. I say this because this nation was founded where all men and women were supposed to be equal in the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness.  One would think that when more people got comfortable with each other, despite their differences, multiculturalism would automatically expand due to people learning from and influencing each other. But when people choose to be with only people of a like mindset and physical trait, monoculturalism will always have a chance to exist.