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PARTISAN REVIEW
The isslle oj Curr;w/ar Expallsion
The current movement for multiculturalism, if viewed solely as an ef–
fort toward curricular reform, would be another of a continuing series
of demands for a more inclusive and pluralist university. In these terms, it
would be similar in kind to many earlier revisions that can be traced
back to the university during the Renaissance, which added pagan and
secular literary works
to
the medieval academy's list of religious and
philosophical texts, or to the inclusion in the nineteenth-century of the
writings of their great national authors alongside the classics in Latin and
Greek. Like these predecessors, the revisions of multiculturalism call for
the expansion of the texts read in the curriculum, both in elective and
prescribed studies. Seen solely in this light, the distinctive feature of the
current revision would then be the inclusion of works written by
women, by designated m.inorities, and by non-Western writers.
There are three different arguments in support of this curricular ex–
pansion. The first is that there are great works, great by universally rec–
ognized standa rds , which because of cu ltural parochialism, ideological
myopia, or other unwarranted grounds for neglect have not received the
appreciation they deserve, so that they have been unjustly excluded.
The second argument is the educational goal of replacing inherited
works that do not reflect the changed contemporary values or con–
sciousness with works which are more expressive of the People that we
have become. Just as Latin and Greek texts in periods of romantic na–
tionalism were to be supplemented or replaced by the developing na–
tional literatures, so the once-dominant tradition of Anglo-American or
Euro-American culture is to be supplemented or replaced by works that
explore the new cultural self-consciousness. These are the works, which
may range from high culture to midcult, pop, or the various countercul–
tures, of the emergent groups in American society. Just as the champions
of nationalism, like Herder, had once advocated that the university open
its classrooms to the new European cultures, the American university
should now participate in the revolutionary explorations of the diverse
and multicultural American people of the new age. These works need
not meet some neoclassic test of aesthetic greatness since they meet the
more relevant test, which is of equa l or greater educational validity, of
expressing our authentic collective selves in the here and now.
The third reason is derived from the need, which is presumed to be
present in every responsible system of higher education, to cultivate the
sensitivities of the students. On this ground, some exposure to works that
reflect the experience and assert the values of cultures and communities
that are alien or that may have been neglected by the majoritarian cul-
