There are many reasons to be critical of multiculturalism. In
practice, it is neither “multi” nor “cultural.” Inspired
primarily by ideological rancor, its partisans are always talking
about “diversity,” but in fact they everywhere act to enforce
strict conformity. Their “commitment to diversity” really means
a commitment to a left-liberal tablet of values.
Multiculturalists pretend that the traditional, Eurocentric
curriculum is intellectually narrow and stifling, but it turns
out that the multicultural curriculum is laughably superficial.
The multicultural alternative to traditional education is little
more than political posturing.
These are not arcane truths. Readers of The New Criterion
have been exposed to them for years. We are gratified that the
mainstream media are beginning to wake up to these elementary
facts. Under the headline “Critics Say Emphasis on Diversity
Squelches Basic Learning,” the Associated Press recently ran a
story that confirmed what every sensible person already knew:
multiculturalism promises diversity but delivers confusion.
The story, reporting on the results of a Harvard University
study, has something of the amazed air of the man who one day
first saw an elephant. What an extraordinary creature! “Books
that used to teach schoolchildren reading now focus too much on
cultural diversity and not enough on laying a foundation for
reading, writing, and thinking,” the story begins. Yes, and have
you noticed how long its trunk is? The story goes on to
quote Sandra Stotsky, a deputy commissioner of the Massachusetts
education department and a research associate at Harvard
University’s graduate school of education: “Children hop from
culture to culture, century to century. You are not introducing
them to a good literary foundation. You are introducing them to
linguistic chaos.” Too true; and by the way, in case you hadn’t
noticed, the beast is unusually large.
The Associated Press story is news only because the
common-sense truths it reports have been largely denied by the
mainstream media. Multiculturalism is the approved, politically
correct banner under which progressive sentiment marches. To
reject multiculturalism is to reject an important part of liberal
orthodoxy. This is the chief reason that one seldom encounters
serious criticism of multiculturalism in the liberal media. It is
gratifying to know that when an elephant wanders into one’s
living room, people sooner or later take notice.
