Reading Comprehension

PT116 · S4 · P2 · Q13 Multicultural Education

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Many educators in Canada and the United States advocate multicultural education as a means of achieving multicultural understanding.

Topic

The debate over what effective multicultural education should look like, particularly regarding how to understand and teach about different cultures in North America.

Framework

Present Debate

Main Point

The passage presents—and critiques—two common versions of multicultural education: one that teaches about other cultures from within the values of the majority (Western) culture, and another that tries to be value-neutral but still uses Western scientific methods. Critics argue both remain too Eurocentric to achieve true multicultural understanding. Most Valuable Sentences: (P1) AND (P4)

P1: Introduction – Two Approaches to Multicultural Education

We get an introduction to the ongoing debate about multicultural education in North America. The passage explains the first, most modest approach: teaching about other cultures from the perspective and values of the majority (liberal, Western) culture.

P2: Critique of the First Approach

Critics push back, saying this method is flawed because you can’t truly understand other cultures if you insist on viewing them only through your own culture’s lens—cultures are historically and morally distinct, and need to be understood on their own terms.

P3: A Second, More "Neutral" Approach

A new version responding to those critics proposes that education should be value-neutral, treating every culture by its own standards. However, even this approach still uses Western (scientific/social science) methods to study cultures.

13.

Which one of the following, if true, would provide the strongest objection to the criticism in the passage of the second version of multicultural education?

Correct
It is impossible to adopt
Why this is right
The 2nd method is "Use Western methods, but detach Western values. Don't judge another culture by your standards." The critics said, "Yeah, but using Western methods essentially imposes Western values (objectivity / chauvinism of science)". This answer responds by saying, "Well we would love to use the methods of the culture we're studying, but it's impossible to do so without being a member of their culture." In other words, the 2nd method is better than nothing. This answer is saying that it's impossible for an outsider to every adopt the methods and perspectives of the culture they're studying. Thus, the critics' objection will apply to every attempt to study a culture, which means it's an empty criticism. If we can't do anything about having our methods somewhat bias our study, then there's no reason to find fault with that.
Skill tested: Weaken · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.
61% picked this
Many non-Western societies have value
No Impact
This tells us that at least a handful of non-Western societies will have values that are pretty similar to each other. This doesn't have any impact. There might be 100 different cultures we want to study. This is saying that at least 5-10 of them have similar values? Cool ... I guess that will be a bit of a time-saver when we try to learn about some of them, since some of it will be redundant? This has nothing to do with strengthening the 2nd method which says, "let's use Western methods, but detach Western values".
6% picked this
Some non-Western societies use their
No impact
The 2nd method is "Use Western methods, but detach Western values. Don't judge another culture by your standards." The critics said, "Yeah, but using Western methods essentially imposes Western values (objectivity / chauvinism of science)". This answer responds by saying, "There is at least one society that uses its own value system to study other cultures." Using your own value system to study other cultures is the 1st method, which is disliked by both the 2nd method fans and their critics. So it's irrelevant, and it's incredibly weak because of Some. Answers with one-data-point language like "some, sometimes, at least, may, can, possible, not all, need not, not always" are almost always wrong on Impact questions, like Strengthen / Weaken / Paradox / Suff Assump, which begin by saying "Which answer, if true, most ?"
12% picked this
Students in Western societies cannot
Irrelevant
This is talking about Western students understanding Western achievement, by means of Western investigations which target these Western achievements. Whole lotta Western there. We're looking for an answer relating to the conversation of whether a Western investigation of a non-Western culture is tainted by Western values as soon as the investigation uses Western scientific methods.
16% picked this
Genuine understanding of another culture
No Impact
The 2nd method is "Use Western methods, but detach Western values. Don't judge another culture by Western standards." The critics said, "Yeah, but using Western methods essentially imposes Western values (objectivity / chauvinism of science)". This answer responds by saying, "You need to really understand a culture to appreciate it". Uh-huh. We can imagine that both the 2nd method people and the critics would also agree with this. They're debating specific methodologies with which to go about trying to attain a genuine understanding of other cultures.
5% picked this

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