Multiculturalism: Really Beneficial?

Whenever we discussed multiculturalism in class, we were always talking about it like it was obviously beneficial; and that is what I personally believe as well. But I wanted to discuss here, some possible disadvantages.

When one thinks “multicultural society” one probably thinks of different people of different races all working together, becoming friends and living happily ever after. But for the most part, this rarely happens. Just language barriers are sometimes too hard to bypass, let alone cultural or traditional differences. People are usually passionate about their own religions and beliefs and it’s hard for them to understand and accept another religion. Multiculturalism might actually be dividing a country up on the basis of different origins and ethnicities, which causes stereotypes and other judgemental views. And when it’s put that way, doesn’t it sound a lot like racism?

Multiculturalism could possibly implement a sense of resentment amongst other cultures as they might think that their cultural praise/importance comes at another cultures expense. There are just too many cultures out there and it would be impossible to treat them all in the same way, just as I think it is impossible to be a truly multicultural society. Therefore, in all fairness, wouldn’t it be easier and fairer to just assimilate every culture into one central one? It would certainly unify a country. In Canada, we encourage people to not become Canadian but to stick with their own national identities and beliefs, and that could leave us with a largely divided and unstable country.  

Economically, it is also very costly. To assimilate new immigrants enough so that they can somewhat function in society but not assimilate them too much so that they lose their own sense of their previous nationality. This is especially evident in schools where in order for it to work, there must be very diverse and competent staff members who can embrace the diverse beliefs, perspectives and experience while addressing issues of controversy.

I had never really thought about multiculturalism possibly promoting racism until now, although my opinion hasn’t changed – I still think that the advantages and benefit outweigh the disadvantages.