Multiculturalism in America: Hindrance or Advantage

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Students attending American schools are taught clearly about the United States’ image as a melting pot; however, there is evidence to support that, while there is not an official federal stance on the matter (Sengupta), the amount of assimilation required to be legitimately considered a “melting pot” is not being reached. Although similar, there is often confusion about the differences between “multicultural” and “assimilated” communities. By definition, assimilation is the complete “merging of cultural traits from previously distinct culture groups” (Dictionary), while multiculturalism is delineated as the “preservation of different cultures or cultural identities within a unified society, as a state or nation” (Dictionary). Early to mid-1900’s America entertained the idea of a melting pot, where people from all parts of the world would join together and assimilate. It seems, however, that the growing trend has been to treat America as more of a “salad bowl” (Porter), in that people are joining together but instead of merging as one unit, are maintaining a majority, if not all, of their primary culture with little attempt to adapt. This underachievement has left America to unintentionally become a multicultural society. The clear differentiation between expectation and reality brings vast amounts of controversy among the nation’s people. The Puritans established America in their attempt to escape oppression for their religious beliefs, ironically driving out indigenous inhabitants because of their alternative beliefs and traditions. For quite a long period of time, it seemed as if the “Land of the Free” was promoting the opposite of freedom, through child labor, prohibition, sexism, and slavery. Between the 1964 Civil Rights Act ... ... middle of paper ... ...ng to the next “ingredient”; falling collectively into this bowl that is America. Works Cited “Assimilation v Multiculturalism”. www.proenglish.org.2014. Web. Bloemraad, Irene. “The Debate Over Multiculturalism: Philosophy, Politics, and Policy.” www.migrationpolicy.org. September 22, 2011. Web. Dictionary.reference.com. Copyright © 2014 Dictionary.com, LLC. Web. Porter, Rosalie Pedalino, Ed. D. “The Social Contract”. Divisive and Damaging Effects of Official Multicultural, Diversity, Multilingual Policies on American Public Life. Vol.22, www.thesocialcontract.com. Number 4, 2012. Web/Print. Sengupta, Saptakee. “Multiculturalism in America.” www.buzzle.com. June 5, 2010. Web. Teixteira, Ruy. “Defining ‘White’ and ‘Hispanic’ In Majority-Minority America”. Thinkprogress.org. June 18, 2013. Web. U.S Department of Labor. “Affirmative Action: Hiring”. Dov.gov. Web.

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