The Melting Pot Video: Inclusive Or Exclusive?

What is Multiculturalism? Multiculturalism is the presence of distinct cultural or ethnic groups within a society. Multiculturalism plays a big part in teenagers as well as adults life’s. For example the two tv shows The Brady Bunch and Modern Family have different cultural lenses and cultures causing them to view multiculturalism as well as diversity in different perspectives.

In Joel L. Swerdlow’s 2001 essay, “Changing America,” he writes about the current cultural differences among kids in high school. He goes on to talk about how you can gather a large variety of kids, coming from all over the world, yet they still somehow manage to develop the same “American Teenager” attitude toward life. The essay talks about how people used to view America as a “melting pot” of nations, and how over time that view is starting to change.

American was dominated by the image of the melting pot that “melts up” all race differences and cultures to become on American culture. The ideas of multiculturalism started at the end of the nineteenth century and turned into the concept of cultural pluralism that defined the nation as a mixture of diverse ethnicities with different cultural backgrounds, all co-existing and contributing to the new nation.

Culture is a behavior that consists of several critical elements, such as language, religion, race and ethnicity, clothing and politics. Culture is what one does in his/her daily life. In order to understand others, we must first keep in mind that every culture carries its own set of values and assumptions. Culture is an evolving, ever changing civilization, which includes several different groups people. For immigrants, America is a land of opportunity; for others it is just the best country in the world because of its economic success and/or its democratic political system. Americans usually value independence a lot, believe in equal opportunity, and have a direct communication style. In exploring the

The United States of America used to be known as the world’s largest melting pot. Meaning many different ethnicities and backgrounds coming and living with one another, and sharing each other’s culture. This can also be defined as assimilation. The United States of America has slowly drifted away from assimilation to isolating those who are different and diverse.

Education can play the strongest role in combating cultural diversity. The United States is a melting pot of cultures from around the world. “The concept of a “melting-pot”

So many times the phrase "melting pot" is used to describe the United States of America. It is a country built on ideals such as freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and other basic human rights. These  ideals, though they may have originated from European men labeled as liberals, eventually captured followers from all over the world. Soon, America was a mixture of peoples with different ethnic backgrounds, religions, and cultures all working together for the "American Dream."

The United States of America has been called a “mixing pot” since the birth of the nation. Everyone, especially politicians and educators, will proudly declare that the U.S. is a land of unmatched diversity. The U.S. seems to always be portrayed as a highly cultural territory, harboring a vast population of many races. Admittedly, the United States has come a long in terms of eliminating racial barriers and pursuing equality. All around the world, America is seen as a country of colors, yet mass media does not recognize that fact.

Today the mainstream voice is frequently the reflection of the principles of what I would like to call a “cultural dappler”. A cultural dappler has virtually no conception of what the term truly means or the implications behind its usage. Consequently, they like the term out of ignorance or despise it out of misunderstanding. They believe that America is a multiculturalist’s society because of the increasing amount of people of color in the advertising, music, and television industries. They also see the growing willingness of people to dapple in the traditions of other cultural groups trying their food, clothing and exploring their various belief systems. However, this is not multiculturalism: it is cultural consumerism on its most superficial level.

Cultural diversity, or multiculturalism, is based on the idea that cultural identities should not be discarded or ignored, but rather maintained and valued. The foundation of this belief is that every culture and race has made a substantial contribution to American history. However, many people remain opposed to the idea of multiculturalism, or cultural diversity awareness, while others often support it and yet have no clear idea of how it should be taught. The diversity of the United States is truly astounding, as many different ethnic and racial groups have contributed to the social,

So we have learned that learning styles including gender are a big part of diversity and how as a teacher to incorporate effective learning into the classroom. Now we switch gears and think about a multicultural classroom. Multicultural refers to race, ethnicity, and culture. Race is a group of persons sharing a common publicly determined category often connected to genetic characteristics, physical looks, and heritage. Today, about one in three Americans are of color (Sadker, p. 76). Ethnicity refers to common cultural behaviors such as language, religion, and dress. Culture is a set of learned beliefs, values, symbols, and behaviors, a way of life shared by members of a society. This is a category altogether referred to as multicultural and is the common thought when diversity is said. Multicultural individuals were in the past and

Multiculturalism is also known as ethnic diversity relating to communities containing multiple cultures. The term is used in two different broad ways, descriptively and normatively. By using the descriptive term, we usually refer to the simple fact of cultural diversity. This can be applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place and sometimes at the organizational level such as schools, neighborhoods or nations. The normative term is often referred to ideologies or politics that promote this diversity or its institutionalization. The United States have been a magnet for people all over the globe, searching for a better life and bringing their own culture and traditions to a new vast country. No

During the late 1960’s, America had entered into a period of cultural definition especially with the emergence of the Civil Rights Movement. Although the term “multicultural education” had not come into play yet, the idea that the U.S needed to reexamine their efforts of educating diverse groups was emerging. During this time inequality especially among minority groups in comparison to the white dominant culture became a social issue (Banks 1999). Before the arrival of this reform multicultural education was displayed in the classroom as having minorities adapt to the predominant culture. Teachers during this time felt it would be more beneficial for minorities to adapt. However, many parents of these minorities begin to argue that the

We can see a large example of this pattern of thinking when it comes to the popular melting pot theory, a metaphor often used to describe the United States as a fusion of different cultures into one harmonious, single culture. However, many modern activists and sociologists have challenged this metaphor, arguing that this it is a problematic and misguided attempt at solving racist sentiments. In an article from the Ecologist, a news journal that has led numerous political and social discussions over the environment, it further details the logic behind the monocultural view point and western globalization,“This world-view assumes that it was the chaotic diversity of cultures, values and beliefs that lay behind the chaos and conflicts of the past: that as these differences are removed, so the differences between us will be

The “melting pot” culture refers to people from various cultures coming together to create a new unique culture. (Lorenzo, 2000) In other words, these cultures have ‘melted’ together in a ‘pot’. For example, Chinese, Koreans, Germans and more cultures blended in together to create a whole new American culture. They are not Chinese-Americans, Korean-Americans or German-Americans anymore but just Americans. On the other hand, “salad bowl” culture refers to immigrants who do not lose the aspects of their cultures. . (Lorenzo, 2000) To put it in another way, you can still clearly see the different ‘ingredients’ in a ‘salad bowl’. As a contrast to the melting pot theory’s example, Chinese-Americans, Korean-Americans and German-Americans will still keep the unique traits of their cultures while living together in the country. America has been traditionally referred to as a ‘melting pot’, but recently; there are people who argue that ‘salad bowl’ will be a better description of America’s society today.