Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Robert Garfias
Summary
The cultural diversity underlying the nation is something which has always been an
important, if little recognized factor. As the demography of the country changes with
ever increasing rapidity, the inability of our cultural and educational institutions to keep
pace with these changes becomes increasingly apparent. Part of the difficulty we face in
absorbing these diverse Americans into our image of what the nation should be, lies in
the fact that the Western European veneer endorsed by our cultural and educational
institutions has prevented a more open acceptance of other cultural values. Until now
they have not been successful in accommodating the existing diversity and there is little
indication that as this increases, they well serve us any better.
America's insistence on a narrow Western European cultural focus together with its long
standing comfortable isolation from the culture of other nations has fostered a condition
in which cross cultural outreach often stops with the discovery of elements in other
cultures which reflect our own. As a consequence of all this, a wedge has been
effectively driven between the nation's cultural and educational institutions and the
growing number and diversity of those "other" Americans. Continued and increasing
efforts to include Minorities on the staff, on the boards and in the audiences of the
nation's cultural life have met with only very limited success. Efforts to reach out are
supported with little consideration of how well they bring in. A great part of the difficulty
lies in the dogged adherence to old inappropriate models. It will be impossible to bring
about changes to meet the increased challenges, as long as we are unable to accept
different cultural l viewpoints as part of the solution.
Cultural diversity must be seen as the strength of this nation rather than as one its
difficulties. Our cultural and educational institutions will have to do much less wellintentioned doing for the other Americans and much more doing with them if the effects
of long years of indifference and hostility are now to be overcome.
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FOOTNOTES
9.18.94
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