The requirement that a "Multicultural Issue" be included in this portfolio has caused me great dismay and has taken far more time than it should have been allowed. It should be clearly understood that the considerable majority of my students are of families recently immigrated to this country (if not the student, then the student's parents were born elsewhere). Most of these families are from Laos, Thailand or Mexico. A smaller, but not insignificant, number are from Eastern Europe, especially Romania.

I am no stranger to the difficulties faced by newly arrived immigrant students. But there are no issues of "equity" of "access" based on the students' place of origin. All of my students have access to my time and effort, and my sincere concern for them as individuals. We talk freely about cultures, compare languages, costume, food, medical traditions, and other aspects of culture. We generally enjoy and understand one another. All of my students have use of the facilities of the school, including computer technology, networks, etc. I do all I can to enable my students to learn, to function and to succeed in American culture.

The United States is, and has always been, a nation of immigrants. The scope of worldwide migration to this country is unprecedented and unequaled by any other movement of people in the history of the world. They come, sometimes at great cost or in the face of great danger to themselves and their families. Many have died in their attempt to reach these shores. And the flow of migrants is almost entirely one way: many people coming in, almost none leaving. It is telling that the United States requires no passport or visa to leave its borders for anywhere in the world. A person can leave at any time. Therefore it is safe to assume that people stay here because they want to.

Immigrant Americans come from a vast array of backgrounds, speaking nearly every language in use anywhere in the world. They leave behind highly advanced countries and stone age societies to pursue life in America. Why is this so? They come here because no other country in the world has offered its people the degree of freedom, of opportunity, of mobility that is the essence of America. They come because life is better here than in the places they left. They come here because American society, culture, law and government have proven more desirable than any other on the face of the planet. If anyone doubts this, why is he still here?

The United States--America--is not a "multicultural" country. No significant, successful country ever has been. People leave behind other cultures to adopt the American way of life. This is not so say the forget their history, language, diet, ritual, etc. Indeed filaments of their old way of life may well be woven into the texture of America. But it means that to enjoy all that America has to offer, to be fully a part of the body politic of this country, they put those things in a secondary place behind being American and living in the American culture.

"Multiculturalism", while put forth as "tolerance" is in fact, a wedge driving people apart. It keeps people from being fully American. It is institutionalized discrimination at its most destructive and dangerous. Continued long enough, it can destroy a nation--the result becomes more apparent with each passing year.

America has a unique and recognizable culture, marked by a number of very specific characteristics. Of these, five are supremely important; in the absence of these, the culture ceases to be American. These characteristics are:

1. Language: the language of the United States is American English. Its founding documents, its law and history, its literature and lore are written in English. Anyone who hopes to be truly successful in this culture must master the language of the country.
2. Law: Americans live under the Rule of Law. American culture demands that each person be treated as an individual, equal under the law to any other. American culture accepts founding documents, specifically the Constitution, as the Supreme Law of the land.
3. Liberty: American culture requires Individual Rights and Limited Government. The Constitution makes no provision for group rights, and specifically limits the powers of government.
4. Property: American culture requires the sanctity of Personal Property. Personal property may not be taken or interfered with for any purpose without just compensation.
5. Identity: American culture requires that all citizens of the United States have a common national identity: we are all Americans. There is no need for "Hypenated-Americans".

If the United States is to continue as the hope of countless millions throughout the world, the beacon of promise and freedom it has been since its inception, we must maintain the society, the system, the culture that has made it the envy of the world. We have no need to apologize for our success. We have invited others to share in it. We have shown the world a system that works better than any other ever known.

The proponents of "multiculturalism", whether knowingly or blindly, attempt to undermine the bases of the most successful society in the experience of mankind. Therefore, I reject "multiculturalism" on its face as detrimental to America, to Americans, and to the future of my students.

It is my goal as a teacher and as a person to serve my students, to give them--whatever their history, their native tongue, their colour or gender--the knowledge, tools and confidence to face the future as honest, independent, responsible and productive Americans. If my students are to be maximally successful in American culture, they must be encouraged to join fully in that culture--the culture in which they have chosen to live. Therefore, I teach in, and to, the American culture--and none other.

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