With the arrival of modern globalization, the phenomenon of multiculturalism has become widespread in many nations due to the relative ease of immigration to developed nations. This is especially absolute in the case of the United States of America, which has been termed the melting pot of cultures. Yet, it is arguable as to whether the resultant diversity has benefited or impaired American education and society. As defined, multiculturalism is “the presence of and integration of people of varied countries, ethnicities, and religions in one unified society reflecting the beliefs and customs of all the included parties” Encarta Dictionary, Microsoft Encarta 2006, Microsoft Corporation). Multiculturalism has had an advantageous influence on America because it has allowed for greater integration of varied groups resulting in greater tolerance and understanding among them and because it has allowed education to be taken from a more all-encompassing outlook on the world and its history so that the accomplishments of diverse groups are acknowledged in addition to a “Euro centric” curriculum, but multiculturalism can have an injurious impact when it is taken so literally as to view the population not as a multinational of assorted individuals but as a confederation of sacred and static factions.
The chief argument against multiculturalism is the tendency for “ethnic and racial – far more than ideological conflict- [to be]…the explosive problem of our times” (491, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., “The Cult of Ethnicity: Good and Bad”). There is substantial evidence for this available in the form of the conflict between varied ethnicities/religions has led to conflict in places like Indonesia, Iraq, the nations formerly known as Yugoslavia, Rwanda, South Africa, Ethiopia, China, India-Pakistan-Kashmir, Sudan (Darfur) and many, many more in the past and present. The fact simply exists that multicultural regions usually (i.e. having a perceived very significantly higher chance) develop antagonism between its respective dissimilar groups where as populaces which have virtually homogeneous people generally have a much lower tendency for internal conflict.
