Our Educational Melting Pot: Have We Reached the Boiling Point?

The articles and excerpts in this collection illustrate the complexity of the melting pot concept. Multiculturalism has become a watchword in American life and education, but it may be that in trying to atone for past transgressions educators and others are simply going too far. These essays illustrate some of the problems of a multicultural approach. The following are included: (1) "The Cost of Multiculturalism" (Carlos A. Bonilla); (2) "American Identity or Multiculturalism" (Balint Vazsonyi); (3) "On Mastering the 3Rs" (Carlos A. Bonilla); (4) "Of Preferences and Racial Equality" (excerpt from "Preferences Hinder Racial Equality," by M. Royce Van Tassell "San Francisco Chronicle," January 23, 1998); (5) "News on Race" ("San Francisco Chronicle," January 23, 1998); (6) "The Menace of Multiculturalism" (Mary Lefkowitz, book review, "The Wall Street Journal," March 24, 1997); (7) "Assumptions upon which Multicultural Education Is Based"; (8) "The Recipe for Disaster" (Sharyn Chamberlain, Jennifer Gates, Kevin Kenworthy, and Huong Nguyen); (9) "Multicultural Education: Is It Harmful or Beneficial?" (Tasleem Ali, Kevin Begnaud, Tim Fritz, and Mike Vocker); (10) "The Culture Gap" (Kyle Jensen); (11) "Attaining Individuality after Bi-lingual Education" (Bill Alessio, Sandra King, Karen Osterli, and Ed Ford); (12) "Sports Ignite Unity" (Dave Hill, Jill Holley, Ismael Perez, and Jay Whinery); and (13) "To CLAD or Not To CLAD" (Laurie Jackson). (Contains 10 references.) (SLD)