Reporter Volume 25, No.6 October 7, 1993

By Chris Shea
Reporter Contributor

Walk onto any university campus in the country and odds are you could
find a debate on the merits of multicultural education. In all
likelihood, this debate would be a heated one; the existence, or
non-existence of multicultural programs of study is perhaps the most
controversial topic in higher education today.
	Yet while proponents and critics of multiculturalism argue
their cases with equal fervor before a jury of academia, Ronald
Takaki, who delivered the first annual Multicultural Lecture at UB
last Thursday, said that for him the need for multicultural education
is best evidenced not in the world of academia, but in the world of
south central Los Angeles.
	Takaki, professor of Ethnic Studies at the University of
California, Berkeley, echoed the words of Rodney King when he asked
the simple, yet disheartening question, "Can't we all get along?"
	For Takaki, a nationally recognized scholar of multicultural
studies, the answer to this questionQironically put forth by a man who
symbolizes this nation's inability to cope with its racial
differencesQis indistinguishable from the question of whether
multicultural education belongs in our nation's colleges and
universities.
	"We can all get along and function as a community if we take
the opportunity to learn about each other," said Takaki, who was
instrumental in creating a multicultural studies requirement at
UC-Berkeley.
	It is multicultural studies, Takaki said, that represents the
opportunity for students to learn about others and to combat
"multicultural illiteracy," which is the study of people, societies
and history from a one-sided, often Eurocentric point of view. 
	As an example, Takaki cited Angel Island, an immigration
center in San Francisco where millions of Asian Americans have entered
the U.S. "How many people have heard of Angel Island?" he asked. "Now,
how many people have heard of Ellis Island, where millions of
Europeans entered America?"
	Takaki, speaking in Woldman Theater to a crowd of almost 400,
said these multiculturally illiterate attitudes often alienate those
groups of people whose cultural backgrounds are not European.
	This alienation takes many forms on our campuses, Takaki said,
ranging from the hostility of outright racism to the simple ignorance
expressed in everyday questions. "It's like when Asian American or
Latino American students are asked 'Where did you learn to speak
English?' or 'When did you come to this country?' and these students
and their families have been in America for 100 years," he said. 
	Takaki, whose most recent book A Different Mirror: A History
of Multicultural America was published last June, defended
multicultural studies programs against criticisms that they only
accentuate the differences between peoples and cause divisions,
instead of focusing on what people have in common. 
	He said many of today's societal divisions are caused by the
practices of past and present historians who offer only the "white,
European view of American history."
	"They (the historians) are the ones who are dividing this
country by leaving out entire groups of people from the history
books," he said. 
	Takaki pointed to the Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Age of
Jackson, by Arthur Schlesinger Jr., as an example of a history book
that ignores certain non-white groups. Takaki said the book, which
detailed American history during the Andrew Jackson presidency, failed
to mention the forced removal of Native Americans from the
southeastern U.S. or the contributions of African Americans to the
national economy.
	Takaki, who at times evoked laughs from the audience with
anecdotes and his animated speaking style, did challenge UB to expand
its multicultural studies program. He said UB undergraduates, who must
take an American Pluralism course in order to graduate, will be
looking for jobs during a time when one-third of all new workers in
this country will be Asian American, Hispanic American or African
American.
	"Students need to have an idea of who it is they will be
working with," he said, noting that most of today's large corporations
have "cultural sensitivity workshops" to integrate diverse groups of
people into one work force.
	However, Takaki said, economics should not be the only reason
for offering or expanding a multicultural curriculum. Students from
different backgrounds should have the same opportunities to learn
their cultural histories as white students of European descent.
	"Why shouldn't Asian American, Chicano, or African American
students be given the chance to learn their respective backgrounds?"
Takaki asked. "At a university, we study the universeQboth the
physical and social universe. This is a diverse universe," he
continued, noting that in 1987, when the multicultural studies
requirement was adopted at Berkeley, 52 percent of the student body
was of color. 
	"The minorities are not in the minority anymore," he said. 
	Takaki, whose father was a Japanese immigrant who worked on
the plantations in Hawaii, advocated a "pluralistic" approach to
multicultural education. This approach studies U.S. society
comparatively, focusing on the interrelation between many different
cultures. Takaki teaches a course at Berkeley, "Racial Inequality in
America: A Historical Perspective," using this pluralist approach.
	Some educators, Takaki said, prefer the "particularistic"
approach, where the emphasis is on the study of one individual topic.
A major in African American Studies or Chicano studies would be
examples.
	Catherine Cornbleth, associate dean of graduate education at
UB, said she believed students had excellent opportunities to obtain a
diverse, multicultural education at UB.
	"Students have an advantage here because they can combine a
class like American Pluralism with other courses of study that offer a
more in-depth look at a particular subject."