Classical Multiculturalism: Introduction Written by Mr. James Donahue, Educator and Lead Consultant

Preface: Alan Hidalgo Educational Consulting is a grassroots team of educators who created the Between Two Worlds series, an ELA/ELD curriculum which consists of an Anthology (10 multicultural and multilingual novels) a Student Workbook, and an Instructor Manual for high school and college students. For teachers or school administrators interested in incorporating the Between Two Worlds series and its classical multiculturalism (an inclusive approach based on the original and etymological definition, meaning “many cultures” and the understanding that every human being possesses primary and secondary cultures as well as every nation or organization possesses primary and secondary cultures; based on the understanding of culture as an ideology i.e. a set of ideas, customs, traditions that arise from mental states and biological responses to physical environments that may be characteristic or common but not inherent of certain communities or nationalities or ethnicities or races; based on human nature from evolutionary psychology i.e. perceiving a human being as a biological species that has evolved throughout history and therefore possesses conspicuous biological functions and related needs and wants as well as inherent equality by law—equal application and equal expectation of individual merit; based on the Renaissance ideals of each person striving to be a cosmopolite i.e. a culturally competent person (often multilingual) who recognizes similarity and difference (emphasizing the true human bonds of shared core values and a shared moral code over such superficial bonds of shared skin color or shared national origin or shared past generational heritage)—an important and effective skill set—to live and relate and communicate effectively among many different communities or nations or secondary cultures). The end game of classical multiculturalism is comprehensive awareness of human nature, cultural competence, objectivity to recognize the strengths and weaknesses found in every culture so as to synthesize and maximize strengths and minimize weaknesses, and altruism to seek progress together as fellow human beings through shared values and shared morality—an inclusive approach to fellowship among people and the search for common ground. The Between Two Worlds series: Basic Edition for Remedial and ESL/ELL high school and college students and the 3rd Edition for high school Honors students and college/university students. Please contact us at [email protected] for more information.

The word “multicultural” can have many implications. Tragically, the word has been hijacked by many postmodern and cultural Marxist academics, founders of critical theory in literary and sociology scholarship, later serving as a foundation to certain social activists that promote critical race theory or intersectionality to mean that human beings—people—are bound to the culture of the nation in which they were born, regardless of their actual residence, and bound to their skin color, and a monolithic and singular “culture” and “identity” assignment according to a particular skin color and/or ethnicity (with little variation that may include a few different physical or mental characteristics) that these same leaders alone of academia and/or social activism define. To make this ideology even more erroneous and myopic is the fact that these critical theories—these doctrines—were formed and imagined and hypothesized in a particular place at a particular time by particular persons for a particular purpose; namely, to criticize, to attack, to divide, to separate, to create new and unbreakable social constructs that could overcome historical and traditional and transcendent mental states and emotional relationships, which were based on the much more ubiquitous and historical human bonds formed on the basis of family, of religion, of national loyalty, and personal relationship—romantic or friendship oriented. This was done mostly either as a response to the failed economic Marxist goal to tear down capitalism, a worldview that sees the world in power structures of owners and non-owners, or as a response to Western power structures of the 20th century where at the top of the cultural hierarchy were mostly white Anglo-Saxon Christian heterosexual men.

As which happens often in life and throughout history, a wrong is not corrected with a right, but rather with an extreme pendulum swing to correct a wrong with simply another wrong. Furthermore, instead of conquering injustice with justice, or vice with virtue, the postmodern cultural Marxist multicultural ideology far too often is motivated by inverting positions of injustice and vice; thus, the oppressed becomes the oppressor and the slave becomes the master and the underprivileged becomes the privileged—names are merely changed, positions are merely traded, but the results remain the same if not worse due to even more emphasis on division and difference between human beings as well as an ideology that substitutes a priori understanding of human nature and human relationships for an actual empirical understanding of human nature based on evolutionary psychology and behaviorism as well as actual, objective, present social interactions grounded in reality.

Finally, the postmodern, cultural Marxist view on multiculturalism has no positive end. As with critical theory in literature and sociology, the idea is to attack only Western culture (and not Eastern or Southern or Northern) and empirical or perceived wrongs, but no real solution is given other than an assumed utopia that suddenly, magically, human beings and societies will suddenly be wonderful and world peace will be achieved if the masses simply follow these academic and social activist overlords and follow their doctrines. This never happens, however, in the real world—in reality. First, many of these postmodern and cultural Marxist ideologies no longer apply in many places in the world. Some groups categorized by race or ethnicity or skin color that are referred to as minorities are actually majorities—and even majorities that possess leadership positions and control of the communities in which they live. Secondly, many human beings simply do not follow these doctrines and are far removed from these academic and social activism bubbles, so they are much more moved by higher and truer instincts; namely, survival or sustenance (putting food on the table) or sexual/romantic attraction or even simply personal commonalities. This bond and visceral human response leads to people who want to work together in employment to have success—and skin color or ethnicity or gender or sexual preference has little to no effect on their most important decisions; and for others, this means marrying or having offspring with someone who is simply physically and/or mentally attractive—once again, skin color or nationality or ethnicity is not an important factor as physical appearance (health and beauty) or personality attraction (intellect, education, morality, charm, humor, leadership, etc.). The simple fact that all human beings are able to reproduce should be a foundational concept in the understanding that human beings are remarkably similar genetically, and genetics do include the brain, and our similarities far outweigh our differences. Though it may take an alien invasion or the uprising of a non homo sapiens species for all human beings to unite as a single tribe, reality is that with evolved thinking, spiritual awareness if one prefers, this concept cannot be ignored or denied: mixed marriages have historical precedent and as societies become more connected this is only increasing to the point that in our present time it is becoming increasingly difficult to genetically define anyone as completely a single ethnicity or race or national origin but rather more accurately as a melting pot of evolutionary progressive genes that are a result of physical and geographical diversity in our ancestral trees. Thirdly, as stated previously, the West as it was defined at the time of conception by postmodern and cultural Marxist academics, approximately sometime between the 1930s and in various splintered and evolved forms into the 1990s, was myopic in nature and frozen in time, and never sought to be objective or comprehensive i.e. there was never a sincere desire or attempt to seek and resolve social and/or cultural injustices of geographical areas and the historical populations that have populated them from the North or South or East despite the fact that such popular terms as misogyny or xenophobia or even slavery have existed throughout the world and virtually practiced by all human beings, historically and presently. And, prejudice and/or oppression has not only existed throughout the human race and throughout history in paradigms of majority-minority based on skin color or ethnicity or gender but also within other tribal binaries i.e. people of the same skin color and/or ethnicity and/or gender have splintered into majority-minority prejudice and oppression based on different social construct values—perhaps political, perhaps religious, perhaps physical health and/or attractiveness, perhaps based on a talent or skill, perhaps based on educational level, perhaps based on urban vs rural, perhaps even based on a surname or skin tones within the same basic skin color.

From the Five Professional Principles of Alan Hidalgo Educational Consulting found on the official website: alanhidalgo.com

Principle 3: Our work will be multicultural and multilingual in nature. We define multiculturalism to mean that every individual possesses a composite of primary and secondary cultures as formed, but not limited to, the following: our heritage, our nationality, our family, our traditions, our language, our customs, and our core beliefs. We believe that culture is fluid i.e. we can add cultures, subtract cultures, change cultures, and transform cultures. We believe that is it never too late to learn a new language and that one can never learn too many languages; often, languages unlock the mysteries of a particular culture. So, we promote multilingualism to learn phrases in native tongues which promote multiculturalism and improve overall reading ability.

Principle 4: Our work will encourage people to be multicultural. We define a multicultural person not as someone of any particular nationality or race or skin color, but rather someone who possesses an open mind to sincerely learn and experience and understand aspects of the various cultures from around the world. It is our firm belief that each culture has its own unique beauty, but also its particular set of strengths and weaknesses. Being multicultural does not mean that we must agree with all of the cultural beliefs, customs, and traditions found throughout the world. Instead, being multicultural allows us to objectively explore the cultures of the world with the hope that we will grow as individuals as we expand our knowledge base and form special bonds with the many unique people who inhabit our world. After all, our greatest social bonds are formed due to our minds and not our physical traits.

Principle 5: Our work will not be religious, but religion will be recognized as an integral part of culture. Rather, our work will be spiritual in nature, meaning that we believe that humanity progresses when we adhere to morality as found in shared values and shared virtues that transcend culture and that have been recognized throughout history to not be harmful but rather beneficial to human beings. Shared values are those presented in such documents as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that all individuals are born free, are born with equal dignity, and are born with human rights to pursue their happiness. Shared virtues, are those based on such documents as the Hippocratic Oath, which states that we should do no harm and do no injustice to another human being. Virtues such as love, truth, and wisdom transcend culture, age, and time. Yes, applicable forms may differ according to cultural custom, but whether a person demonstrates respect through a kiss, an embrace, the grasping of hands, or a bow of the head, the idea remains that one wishes to demonstrate sincere honor and dignity toward another.