Kneely Patton
Art History: Non-western
Read & Response 2
“Liberal Arts is meant to be a way to create empathy for other cultures as well as our own.” There are those that believe multiculturalism in its state now truly works. But is this really the case? Is something lacking somewhere along the line of the education system? This apparently is a very unsettling topic to those who know it well and is a big deal. However, in this day and age it is almost too insane to say that we as a world are all not westerners. This is just a theory of course but when looking at what is taught in schools, as well as what can be learned through conversation every aspect of the world’s history makes our culture what it is today. All of the peoples of the world influence each other to either rethink, revisit, or revise their history. In our education system it can be said that because of economy and budget cuts this problem might only worsen. However places that can afford to rewrite curriculum and take time to research what is an effective multicultural class might benefit. “Because of the way the education system works the actual choosing of the literary works becomes political.” This can seem to be the main problem for the simple fact that in the education system, a lot is neglected as well as our own culture. Teaching others to be tolerant yet understanding of other cultures can be a major stepping-stone towards respecting others and their culture. Multicultural classes will teach the literature but not the reasoning behind some imagery and some of the actions the characters take. It shows a very loosely based curriculum on cultural differences. “In many other cultures for example middle eastern, women are treated