Keith Benson

Curriculum Analysis
4.10.2008
Dr. Ben Justice

Recently, as this weeks’ reading point out, there seems to be increased attention

dedicated to the varying cultures within America, in terms of both contemporary issues

and histories. While I do not disagree our students should be more familiar with cultures

of the less mainstream, I do, like Schlesinger and Higham question its real effectiveness

and implementation. Overall, I disagreed with many suggestions in the “Dis-Uniting of

American” and “Multiculturalism and Universalism”. However the argument that

studying various cultures within our society is generally a futile undertaking that can only

be perfunctorily covered seems plausible. In the interest of time itself, most social studies

curriculum writers and teachers would be forced to determine what cultures should be

studied and examined. Obviously, some cultures would be included while some are

excluded; which in itself is a communicated and interpreted value judgment concerning

the importance of that culture.

Also, educating in a multi-cultural way that truly examines the nuances of various

cultures has real “on-the-ground” hurdles that need to be cleared, especially in social

studies. Commonly a student’s freshman and sophomore years, Global history is along

with US History I, respectively. In their junior year US History II is usually studied; and

finally in their senior year, Civics. While one year of world history is frequently taught in

our high schools and two years of US History as well, there is too little time designated to

incorporate, with care and context, valuable and complex examinations of America’s

various cultures within these classes. For example, every year a student asks me why
there constantly seems to be violence in the Middle East and how that corresponds to

terrorism here in the States, and while this year I have been fortunate enough to have a

Palestinian student in my US History II class, any answer I or my Palestinian student

could attempt to give would be very remedial and overly-simplistic at best, and in the

final analysis, is utterly un-informative. Islamic culture has a very rich, complex culture

that, alone, cannot be studied or fully understood in only two school years within a US

History framework. Social studies teachers seeking to truly be multi-cultural in their

classes would be losing a battle between “breadth and depth”; which are mutually

exclusive. A teacher cannot be both brief while being detailed if trying to study any ethnic

culture in America. And certainly, a development of understanding by the student is not

likely to take place in such a short amount of time.

Teaching in a multi-cultural fashion is not useless and we cannot adopt a “throw

the baby out with the bathwater” mentality on this subject. Our American population has

soared past 300 million people. And with each passing year, the demographic of our

American populace is becoming more diverse, and more minority. The social studies and

history lessons, if true learning is to occur, has to speak to students directly. While

multiculturalism does imply the varying of ethnicities within our lesson, it is also

important to include the phenomena of class levels as well. Students are not a monolithic

representation of mainstream America, and we shouldn’t teach them as such. There can

be something for everyone.