I think that Thomas Swift absolutely missed the boat with his comments. I do not know of any public school that teachers divisivness masked as multi-culturalism. I attended Longfellow School of the Fine Arts (now Ramsey School). While at Longfellow we were taught to see ourselves through our common humanity but to recognize and celebrate our individual cultural and ethnic heritages. Too often in schools to not acknowledge the rich diversity and multi-cultural history of our students means that students of color end up "white-washed." We do not recognize that to this day the history books that our childen learn from rarely tell the histories of people of color in the United States. We pay token service to folks like Martin Luther King Jr. But we don't talk about in anyway the contributions of the millions and millions of people of color without whom this "great" nation would not be great. We do spend inordinate amounts of time and space to Euro-American leaders. The rare times that we do teach our children about history of people of color is in seperate classes. Why history, English, and other classes need to be segregated in order to teach about the contributions of people of color is beyond me. That more than anything sets up an idea or culture of otherness. When we talk about making everyone see themselves as equal and united what we are actually doing is asking religious minorities, ethnic minorities, sexual minorities and others to subsume their idenities into a collective idea of the mainstream.
Schools are for challenging young people and making them think critically. Forcing a child, who may not be a citizen of this country, to recite the pledge of allegiance is wrong. Forcing a child to subsume his or her linguistic history in favor of English is wrong (I believe all children should be taught english, of course, but they should also be taught and encouraged to gain great proficiency in their native language or in another language). While I think sex education should be taught once children understand sex, I think sexuality education, ie acknowledging that there are gays and lesbians in the world, should be taught as a rote part of any lesson. Just as we talk about black, Jewish, whatever authors, we should be able to tell our children that such and such a person was gay or lesbian. Doing anything else again sets up the standard of the other. Acknowledging and accepting that we are all different, that there is strength in that difference, will enable us to come together with our difference instead of inspite of our differences. We need to fundamentally change the way that we educate our young people, the system we currently use, in general, propogates systems that have continuously failed to erase isms and phobias. -Brandon Powderhorn Park. ----- Original Message ----- From: Alan Shilepsky <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, February 04, 2002 11:28 PM Subject: [Mpls] Public Schools > Congratulations to Thomas Swift for his critical analysis of the > problems with multiculturalism. I'm generally in agreement of what he > said, except for a parting shot he took at gays (though I agree that we > should not be injecting sexuality studies at earlier and earlier > grades). > > As Swift says, by worshipping at the alter of ethnic and racial > diversity we encourage people to identify with people of like ethnic and > racial demographics, to the detriment of relationships with others > outside those bounds. It is what Arthur Schlesinger Jr warned us > against--the Disuniting of America. Our country more than any other > I've know of is founded on common adherence to certain principles, not > on ethnic stock. And it is this that makes our wonderful diversity > possible. > > I hope our Minneapolis schools are saying the Pledge every day. I was > the only Jewish kid in all my classrooms, from K to 6, and one big thing > that made me feel I was one with all my classmates (as much as anyone > can be one with another) is that we said the Pledge together--"with > liberty and justice for all!" I still get chills. BTW, another > commonality was....the English language. > > I pity an immigrant kid coming into the Minneapolis schools who is > encouraged to see only bad in his new country's past (the indians, the > slaves, the voteless women, rape of the environment, the railroad > barons, etc., ad nausium), and is encouraged to think of whence the > child came as a promised land that epitomized values that will show > America the way. > > Sorry, my grandfather came here to get away from the oppressive Old > World, and he loved this New World....though he would have liked it to > be more socialist. But he thrived in its freedom and opportunity, and > I'm thankful he came. > > I get excited when I see the Somalis over on Cedar Avenue, in the > African markets and in the hi-rises, experiencing our democracy and > opportunity and entrepreneurship. I remember from a 6th Ward debate > seeing the printed signs hanging up in a hi-rise's meeting room, in > three different languages, laying out the rules for democratic > discussion (one person speaks at a time, don't shout, listen to what is > said). I feel like its Orchard Street and Hester Street, all over > again. > > Sometimes I think our pragmatic (and self-seeking) newcomers will save > us (multigenerational) Americans from our effete tendencies. Bless > them. On their way to becoming part of a greater US. > > Alan Shilepsky > Downtown > _______________________________________ > Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy > Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: > http://e-democracy.org/mpls > _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
