Multiculturalism Has Become a Very

¶ … Multiculturalism has become a very important concept in our United States, and in afairs that touch upon government, academia and business. This approach helps one look at other cultures with mutual respect, freely and in a sharing fashion. Without it, we would be not be able to fulfill the mission of this society, which is to extend the blessings of liberty to all in our society. Multiculturalism allows strong, binding alliances and coalitions across international boundaries and gives the stakeholders ownership in having relationships continue and to grow, although for such stakeholders to feel they own a place, constitutional solutions may be necessary, what scholar Harry W. Arthurs calls constitutionalizing multiculturalism. To the extent that it is, stability eventually results.

What Multiculturalism is Not

Unfortunately, because of the packaging, many people confuse race and culture. Needless to say, most of us were introduced to this concept in an educational context. In an article in Educational Researcher, Nina Asher claims that although multicultural education is well established in education, stereotypic representations still persist in the educational discipline and in the sphere of educational discourse. For instance, she notes that preservice teachers preparing to work with diverse students found that the cultural gap between teachers and students was found to be growing. According to Asher, this lag has an origin. Until recently, we have focused upon race and class, ignoring differences of sexuality, gender, and class Unfortunately, in her view, multicultural education has been framed in "white man's eyes" (Asher, 2007, 65).

Therefore, Asher advocates breaking the chains of these characterizations. If the multiculturalism continues to be seen through the white man's eyes, it will be limited to race and class and will be parochial and limited. It simply maintains the status quo. In her analysis, she interweaves postcolonial and feminist theory with her own reflections that have emerged from her multicultural teaching experiences. With this in hand, she documents the tensions of multicultural teaching. While a great concept, this multi-pronged approach to teaching about the humanities harbors great problems. She openly discusses how the silencing forces have operated freely even in seemingly "open" micro and macro contexts in order to limit her ability to discuss sensitive issues (ibid, 66). To illustrate the problems, she describes in detail two areas that have received only very limited attention in the multicultural discourse itself. These included descriptions of representations of Asian-Americans and in the differences of sexuality. She then recommends that the multicultural teacher classroom serve as a site for the modeling of critical and self-reflexive engagement with the difference and democratic participation emphasized. This is the case even as she acknowledges the limits of teacher individual efforts in the process of educational and social change (ibid, 71).

The Emergence of Multiculturalism

Of course, these problems that Asher points out were did not come out of a vacuum. Margaret Alison Gibson in a 1984 scholarly literature review in Anthropology & Education Quarterly commented identified four approaches to multicultural education. Had approaches like these be implemented, the problems that Asher in 2007 might not have occurred.

First, there is the view of education as the transmission of cultural information relieves educators from assuming primary responsibility for students' acquisition of cultural competencies . This suggests that there is a need for multicultural education proponents to consider more carefully the relationship of school programs to cultural informal school and out-of-school learning that students absorb. Secondly, individuals no longer are restricted to the view that tends to equate culture and ethnic group. This might have prevented some of the stereotyping that Asher complained about. In the third approach competence in a new culture usually requires intensive interaction between the participant and people who already are competent with regard to multi-cultural education. Clearly, efforts to support ethnically separate or policies that hinder integration of groups is counterproductive. Fourth, concerns that multicultural education proponents have with the fostering of their students' cultural identity as well as fears that mainstream schools will those out of step with the normative culture result from a confusion of social identification with the concept of cultural competence. (Gibson, 1984. 113).

Injecting History into Multiculturalism

The many benefits of multiculturalism cannot be communicated without looking at the history of different cultures in the United States who brought new ideas with worthwhile benefits. Whether food, sports, inventions, or in other areas, history itself is multicultural whether we know it or not.

As Alana Lentin points out in her journal article that placing multiculturalism in a historical context sets out to contextualize a discourse of multiculturalism in the post-Second World War period. Culture is presently almost universally used to differently categorize distinct human groups and to refer to the differences between them. This translates into the liberal acceptance of multiculturalism as universal recipe for contemporary living as affirmed in American culture. The use of culture as a viable idealization of human differences often goes unchallenged in present-day scholarship.

Lentin is seeking to use culture as a way to bridge the divide of race that separates groups in he country. She shows how multiculturalism originated within the anti-racist movements and has resulted in the depoliticization of the anti-racism movement in order to avoid being a target. The knowledge of history and its application empowers the group to fight off such attacks (Lenkin, 2005, 379-380) .

Cultural Exchanges

Multiculturalism works when different groups want to work out their issues amicably. This is the case not just in the United States, but also internationally. During our time, globalization has resulted in a flow of economy, information, knowledge, information, belief systems, peoples, values, and ideas across borders. U.S. higher education has been engaged in responding to this movement for many years. Indeed, it has come to be a prevailing trend. According to an article in the International Journal of Multicultural Education, all the different beliefs and ideas of culture deserve to be respected . Having multiculturalism in play in America allows us to blend different cultures together and to learn from each other. cOur constitutional history and other history has facilitated this, and this process is going on in other countries in the West as well.

Multiculturalism is not just a hot button issue in the United States. It is also an issue in countries like Canada that on a base level are multi-ethnic. Besides the divide between French and English Canada, there is the variety of indigenous aboriginal peoples among the Inuit and Native Americans. Canada has evolved a unique approach that emphasizes the rights of all in one of the most decentralized systems of federalism.

In Canada, scholar Harry Arthurs argues that the success of the Canadian model is that multiculturalism has actually been constitutionalized. Major ethnic groups are recognized and their customs and identity are enshrined in law for permanent protection and respect. In effect, they are institutionalizing respect in the form of a public covenant (Arthurs, 2003, 17-18). While one size does not fit all and the Canadian model can not be generalized everywhere, one must marvel that a multinational and multi-lingual state such as Canada can exist, where only a few decades ago, Quebec separatism threatened to break the country apart. Now, the country is much more stable.

In the UK and Australia, this has been as much of an issue as in Canada. It will remain to be seen if these other countries can find such solutions through the Commonwealth where they exist side by side with multicolor and multiethnic societies that share cultural migrations. Like Canada, these countries can not rely solely on their white populations for all of their innovation. Many of their needs are being met by immigrants from areas of the old British Empire. Immigration is a fact of life and the multicultural societies that have arisen in a piecemeal fashion. While there have been problems, the process is irreversible. It will be necessary to see if the Canadian model will predominate Gundara, 2001/2002, 46-47)

Conclusion

If we did not have the diverse blend of people and cultures, America would be much different. It would not have been able to accomplish as much as it has. We would not have grown as a people and would have accomplished far less than we have. We would be stuck and would never grow and develop.