Multilingualism Warren Blumenfeld Analysis

Being able to speak more than one language gives us a greater opportunity to succeed, especially in the United States because it’s one of the most diverse countries in the world. Being bilingual or trilingual opens many doors for people to be able to progress, but some people feel that multilingualism is detrimental to the American Culture and that the only language that should be spoken is English. However, there are also people such as Warren Blumenfeld, who believe that multilingualism is a part of our identity and that it’s what makes us one of the greatest countries in the world to live in. In his article, Blumenfeld persuades through facts why America should be multilingual, while also using his own life experiences and explaining the …show more content…
He states that Multicultural Education is built on the concepts that created the Declaration of Independence and thus should be a part of the American way of life. He feels that if we ignore this, then “deculturazation” would occur, which is the destruction of other cultures to replace it with another (Blumenfeld, paragraph 10). Afterwards, he brings up Horace Kallen, who was a “Jewish immigrant and sociologist of Polish and Latvian heritage”, Blumenfeld brings up how Kallen patented the term “cultural pluralism” in order to “challenge the image of the so-called ‘melting pot,’ which he considered inherently undemocratic”(Blumenfeld, paragraph 11). He brings this up because he wants to show the perspective of someone who isn’t American and wants the best for the country. Kallen felt that the melting pot was undemocratic because it mixed every culture instead of making them prosper individually. Unlike the melting pot, cultural pluralism lets people keep their culture and practice their beliefs individually. By using this Blumenfeld showed his support of Kallen’s