The Value of Multicultural Education in America

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The Value of Multicultural Education in America

The Value of Multicultural Education in America

Multicultural education emerged in the 1990's to address the educational needs of our modern society, a society that is a blend of diverse cultures. Carrying the legacy of the 1960's and 1970's, a period of profound social change when the people of our nation reexamined their cultural heritage, multicultural education presents and examines the values and practices of other cultures objectively and critically. Although founded on Western culture, American culture has always been diverse, both religious and ethnic. Multicultural education views such diversity as subcultures to America's majority culture, rather than separate from it.

Controversy surrounds whether or not multicultural education should be implemented in our public school system. While proponents believe multicultural education will begin to unite a divided nation, opponents of this idea believe it will cause racial schisms fragmenting our nation. "The reason for the controversy over multicultural education is that in practice it offers a specific paradigm for understanding both Western and non-Western cultures (Schmidt ix)." Western Traditionalists prefer the "melting pot" ideology that America is a culture based on the pursuit of personal freedom and economic