What many people refer to as multicultural, Dr. Christiansen refers to as polycultural which simply means many cultures. He defines multicultural as a way of believing, thinking and acting which treats other people regardless of cultural differences with respect and appreciation of who they are as individuals. Dr. Christiansen’s research (1975) brought out a second factor: that people are people, and, as such, we need to form relationships on an individual rather than on a group-to-group basis. People aren’t labels, classifications or categories that fall into blanket terms of race or ethnic structures. Yet all too often, a teacher can be heard to say, “This is my Mexican (Indian or some other racially-or ethnically-identified) child.” And although this teacher may not harbor any negative attitudes about one of these labeled children, the process of categorizing will eventually create a separation that will be perceived as an act of racial or ethnic discrimination

Most of us remember when the history books themselves related incomplete histories based on the achievements of one racially-identified group of people. In their effort to right these obvious wrongs, historians scrambled to develop new history books that highlighted the achievements of all. Unfortunately, too many of the new books became old history books with plugged-in punch lines about this or that culture, resulting in easily warped histories. From the historical perspective, it really shouldn’t matter who our ancestors were in terms of their value and worth as individuals. Yet because these books have been developed into categories where people have been trapped into negatives and positives, we’ve developed a type of caste system that frequently lends itself to stereotyping. We’ve all seen these things occur in the study of Germany and its people, for instance. History must be founded on truth and its facts substantiated.

In today’s world, we’ve seen enough problems related to beliefs that ones performance establishes ones worth, especially in terms such as children’s feelings of love, self-esteem and acceptance based on academic, sports or personal disciplines. When we compound these problems with a false sense of multicultural thought, we build great barriers between groups of people and play into the hands of supremacist groups. From the educational perspective, if we aren’t willing to address history based on accuracy, our attempts to establish multicultural endeavors in our communities, workplaces and schools should be abandoned altogether. Anything in between would be conducive to a far more dangerous living, working and educational environment.

History can and does repeat itself, but how do we recognize the patterns if we haven’t laid the foundations for accuracy? We need to right the wrongs of the past, recognizing the achievements of all people throughout the year. Rather than focusing on achievements separated into categorically-identified groups of people.

Tossing the words around and toying with the pretense of being multicultural merely sets the stage for the scam in which we’re all made the fools. By accepting the responsibilities for disseminating truthful history and substantiated facts, we can and will have a more positive world for all.