reciation for how ethnic andminority traditions have evolved and changed as each came into contact withother groups" (Ryan 137). It would certainly give people a sense of ethnicpride to know how their forefathers contributed to the building of theAmerican society that we live in today. It is also a great feeling to know thatwe can change what we feel is wrong to build a better system for ourchildren. Minorities would benefit from learning the evolution of their cultureand realizing that the ups and downs along the way do not necessarily meanthat their particular lifestyle is in danger of extinction.Some opponents feel that the idea of multiculturalism will, instead ofuniting cultures, actually divide them. They feel that Americans should tryand think of themselves as a whole rather than people from different placesall living together. They go even further to say that it actually goes againstour democratic tradition, the cornerstone of American society (Stotsky 64). In Paul Gannon's article Balancing Multicultural and Civic Educationwill Take More Than Social Stew, he brings up an interesting point that"Education in the origins, evolution, advances and defeats of democracymust, by its nature, be heavily Western and also demand great attention topolitical history (Gannon 8). Since both modern democracy and itsalternatives are derived mostly from European past, and since most of theparticipants were white males who are now dead, the choices are certainlylimited. If we try to avoid these truths or sidestep them in any way, wecannot honestly say we are giving an accurate description of our history. Robert Hassinger agrees with Gannon and adds that we cannot ignorethe contributions of DWEM's for the simple fact that they are just that. Hethinks that we should study such things as the rise of capitalism or ongoingnationalism in other countries, but should not be swayed in our criticalthinking by the fact that some peopl...
