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Essay On Multiculturalism In Higher Education

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Though every individual in our society is unique, with various cultural backgrounds, we all ultimately come together as one. Multiculturalism is the existence of those diverse cultures, including ethnic and religious groups, within a society. The goal of multiculturalism within the education system has been to assist others in understanding and appreciating cultural diversity, as well as to provide all students an opportunity to learn and receive a higher education. Unfortunately, not everyone will agree that multiculturalism in higher education is important, or that it is even necessary. Some believe that multicultural education is only directed toward minorities, discriminating against white, heterosexual males, while others believe that multiculturalism is against Western tradition. In this paper, we will dissect a portion of the American philosopher John R. Searle’s essay “Is There a Crisis in American Higher Education?”, briefly touching on the group he names the “traditionalists” who are against multiculturalism in education, and the other group he names the “challengers” who are for multiculturalism in education, along with some of his own assumptions and thoughts on the topic. …show more content…

The traditionalists’ view is that they would prefer to maintain the Western intellectual curriculum, and that if we are going to be an educated people in the United States, we must be familiar with the works of the Greeks, such as Hemingway or Socrates, as they define our culture. The challengers, however, do not agree with this statement, as they have found that these books are mostly written by white males from Europe and North America, and within the US there are still many minorities whose interests and achievements are overlooked and

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