The Struggle with Multiculturalism and Education

Multiculturalism becomes an intriguing issue because many minority groups still want to maintain their independence and own cultural beliefs. It is difficult to mesh people from so many countries and cultural groups into one culture and expect everyone to be happy. When learning about history, some of the various cultural groups do not appreciate the American history and want to be included. However, history is just that...it's history. We cannot change the fact that slavery is a part of the American history, but we need to recognize that it happened. Our history will change in the years to come and should include the attempt at a multiculural America that is going on now. However, we should not fail to include such events in the history books because some people feel left out or do not like to remember such events. Textbook manufactors should take a balanced approach to writing textbooks. For example, when writing about slavery, only information from a white Americans perspective should not the end all be all, but instead, a group of White and Black Americans should come together to discuss the pros and cons and various ways to look at the issues. Is everyone going to agree? No. We are not puppets and are free to interpret history as we wish and develop our own beliefs. However, I believe that history should be presented as it happened, and we should not worry that we're going to offend this group if it's protrayed this way, or another group if we portray it that way. It should not be censored to make it like a story book.



In the classroom, you run into the potential problem of offending students when they do not feel that their beliefs and culture is recognized. It should be a shared experience and not looked at individually. Perhaps one day the development of a multicultural class will give the children a chance to share their cultures and plan for a way to try to incorporate all cultures into the American culture. I think that all children who are attending US schools should become familiar with American culture, but should be comfortable with continuing to observe their own culture if they are not American