<p>Concerning the concept of Multi-culturalism on college campuses, I always assumed that the goal was to develop a campus milieu that vigorously encouraged the respectful exchange of ideas via the prospective presence of as many differing viewpoints as possible. For example, aside from International students’ ability to be full-payers (an important advantage to an institutions bottom line, to be sure), they also are valued for the varied perspectives they almost invariably bring to campus.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>So it is similar to the intellectual diversity desired by the OP.</p>
<p>poetsheart,</p>
<p>The objection to liberal promotion of multiculturalism by the OP, as I understand it, is not that varied and respectful exchange of ideas are not valued, rather it is that there is</p>
<p>Too much celebration of racial and ethnic difference . . . and not enough celebration of our common American identity. </p>
<p>It is an issue of balance. </p>
<p>I felt similarly when my kids’ elementary schools expended considerable effort on “celebrating our diversity,” and not much effort on talking about what we have in common and what it means to be an American. Some people think that latter goes without saying, I’m not so sure. Too much emphasis on our differences can create divisiveness, not unity.</p>
<p>@SoCalDad,
I think having int’l students is great. But if the int’l students are anything like their educated countrymen in the non-Western countries I have worked in, then they probably don’t say boo in discussions. They may add to the geographic diversity of the campus, but not so much to the intellectual discussion.</p>
<p>And as you point out, they are a 2-fers for being cash cows.</p>
<p>True, Bay. But I see the celebration of diversity, especially at the elementary school level, as trying to help kids who are not in the majority feel as American as the other kids. Me, a born-and-bred Iowan, but with Chinese parents, felt very “Other” all through my childhood in our small town. I think reminding kids and their families that Americans can be from different backgrounds is important. I’m in the crowd that thinks the second part of your point goes without saying, but I can certainly see your perspective, too. Emphasizing both points is always a good idea.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Thank you, Bay. I now understand what some on-lookers are concerned about. Indeed, if the emphasis is on differences without a balanced look at those things that make us all alike (and thereby united within our pluralism), it can certainly be seen as problematic. Political and social balance, it seems, is extremely hard to achieve, if the wide ideological pendulum swings society routinely exhibits is any indication. </p>
<p>As a woman married quite happily to someone of a different race for going on 30 years, and the mother of two children from that marriage, it has always comforted me to see a sociological thrust to legitimize of our deviation from the default setting. Aside from the racial makeup of our family, it is in other ways boringly pedestrian. We live in a region of Virginia which is demographically quite diverse, due to a large, multi-branch military presence. A significant percentage of families here are multi-racial, such that a trip out to shop or dine doesn’t generally raise an eyebrow. My children have always had friendships representing all races. Within my D’s closest circle of high school friends, for instance, there was D (1/2 black, 1/2 white), three other bi-racial kids (one, black/white like her, another white/Korean, and the other black/korean), two all black and two all white kids. Other than racial differences and some interesting cultural ones, they were all a lot alike in their values and propensities. The fact that, 50 years later, this is the Virginia of Loving vs. The State of Virginia, is not lost on me. I find it quite amazing and a cause for celebration, frankly. So it annoys me more than a bit when I hear multi-culturalism being denigrated. The message it sends to me is that our family, and others like ours, is somehow anti-American (as if the deriders even have the right to appoint themselves as the legitimate gate keepers of what it means to be “American”).:rolleyes:</p>
<p>While I was composing the above response to Bay, I see Jaylynn posted something that pretty much expresses the same sentiment as my own. Kool :)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>If there is anything that Americans are good at, it is celebration of our own wonderfulness. I don’t know if we need even more of that in school.</p>
<p>Our opinions are unavoidably influenced by our own experiences and upbringings. I happened to be raised partially (5th - 12th grades) in an area/school where I was racially in the minority, despite being White. This may perhaps be why I do not appreciate as much as I could, others’ needs to emphasize the multicultural differences that our us. Peoples’ differences where I lived seemed obvious; it was our similarities that were not emphasized enough.</p>
<p>@SoCalDad,
Apparently, the kids aren’t being taught enough in school about America’s wonderfulness. Otherwise, we wouldn’t end up w a 19 kid who has been educated in American elementary & secondary school, who’s been granted the gift of American citizenship, and who is being educated in an American univerisity on a scholarship funded by the American dime, waging jihad.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I have taught on several different campuses over the past 25+ years, and yes, that’s always what multiculturalism has meant. My students are mostly not international students, but many are immigrants --naturalized citizens or green card holders–or first gen. I have taught students who are from, or whose parents are recently from: Italy, Korea, Vietnam, Cameroon, Cape Verdes, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Russia, Poland, Colombia, Ecuador, Brazil, Guyana, Ghana, Mozambique, Jamaica, B. Virgin Islands, Haiti, Venezuela, Peru, England, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Israel, Sierra Leone, Liberia, El Salvador, Mexico, Phillipines, Nigeria, Japan, Trinidad and Tobago, Thailand, Turkey, and that’s off the top of my head.</p>
<p>They are all Americans. I think recognizing that just makes sense. it has never been the bogey man of everything is equivalent. i’m sure someone with enough time on their hands and axes to grind, can somehow find a quote to show that this is what multi-culti is, but in my teaching (and in my kids’ college experiences), that was never our experience.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Unless the U.S. Government can develop and implement a Hive Mind program that reaches every citizen and resident in our country (ala The Borg), we will never be capable of inculcating such a saturation level of the notion of “America’s wonderfulness” so as to preclude the possibility of 9/11 or the Boston bombings. Of course, if we could do so, it would most assuredly also change the very definition of what it means to be American—if “Freedom of speech/though/belief” has any bearing upon it. Is that something we want?</p>
<p>@poet,
The 9/11 terrorists were not American citizens, nor educated in American schools, so they were never expected to get the memo</p>
<p>Since the authorities are trying to determine WHY a 19 year old turned to jihad, and they are examining all the factors that may have led him there, then it’s fair game to consider all the influences in his life, including his education.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>It wasn’t until I attended college that I was able to meet people hailing from other countries. It was often extremely eye-opening to discuss world events with these classmates, because they almost invariably supplied a perspective that differed from my own. It made me realize that the “American perspective” might not be the only legitimate one when it came to certain issues, and the notion of America-as-the-center-of-the-universe, might be just a tad bit myopic. Often conversations with international students and recent immigrants stretched my thinking, and shook up my assumptions. If that’s not a legitimate function and laudable goal of higher education, we might as well all send our kids to, well…Liberty, Bob Jones, or some other college exercising an unapologetically muscular official doctrinal thrust.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Point well taken. My point, however, is that there is no way to send “the memo” in such a way as to preclude something like this from ever happening. Now, if we were to lock down America North Korean style, we might be capable of coming close. But again, is that what we want?</p>
<p>I don’t recall there being any international students at my university, nor at my grad school. If they were there, they did not make themselves known, or my schools were just too big and regional for them to make the rounds.</p>
<p>Even today, there are only about 25 universities that have student bodies consisting of more than 10% international students, and these numbers have been rising over the years. [Most</a> International Students | Rankings | Top National Universities | US News](<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/most-international]Most”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/most-international)</p>
<p>More students, including my D, are studying abroad to get the global perspective of America, which is good. But that is not related to discussions on campus about multiculturalism in America and who we are as Americans.</p>
<p>Glad to hear from my old friend poetsheart. You do always make me think.</p>
<p>When I was a grad student, the non-Western int’l students didn’t say boo in class. I suspect some of it was due to language proficiency. But I am typing this from the other side of the world now, and I see the same lack of discussion/debate participation in the multi-national business meetings I attend.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Okay, lets discard foreign citizens from the discussion of “multiculturalism in America and who we are as Americans”. Some of my college friends were 1st generation immigrants, and some of them had parents for whom English was a second language. I learned a lot from these classmates. As a southern born and raised black kid, who had spent her first few years in racially segregated schools, it was eye-opening to meet American kids from other parts of the country, other religions, and other economic classes. Very eye-opening. Other than the rather shy and taciturn daughter of our high school vice-prinicpal, I had never met a Jewish person. My North-Eastern Liberal Arts College boasted an almost 40% Jewish population. One of my closest friend’s parents were actual survivors of Auschwitz. I will never forget seeing the numbers tattooed on their bare arms during a Parent’s Weekend visit. One of my other friends taught me a number of colorful Yiddish terms (some of which are decidedly politically incorrect…:p). I was invited to a Seder during passover and was patiently taught a number of things about the tradition. I loved it. I felt like finally—FINALLY, the world was starting to open up to me. I know for a fact that I was sometimes the first black person some of my classmates had ever spoken with in any meaningful fashion. A few actually admitted to me that I challenged their assumptions about black people. And while I quickly grew weary of being seen as the representative of “the black perspective” (for surely, there was only one), I more often than not was extremely grateful for the cultural, racial, and ethnic exchanges I experienced. Parents who look disparagingly upon such academic environments for their own children would be best served by looking to institutions less likely to strain the assumptions of their delicate flowers.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Thanks, poetgrl. Right back at ya!:)</p>