A critique of searle: In defense of American multicultural education

• Main Author: Bacarra, Rex D.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2013
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_doctoral/356
• Institution: De La Salle University

This study is about the debate between two educational philosophies regarding the current status of the American educational system. On the one hand, there is the multicultural educational philosophy which alleges that the American educational system is in a crisis or in a desperate situation for failing to deliver what it considers to be the primary aim of education, namely social transformation or the liberation of society from any form of oppression, including the promotion of economic and environmental equilibrium. On the other hand, we have the traditionalist educational philosophy which rejects this allegation and criticizes the basic principles of multicultural education. At the center of this debate is the multiculturalist charge that the American educational system still seeks to preserve a certain canon, which generally refers to a body of knowledge that serves as the standard for what should be taught in universities. The primary objective of this study is to defend the multicultural educational philosophy from the criticisms charged against it by a leading proponent and staunch defender of traditionalist educational philosophy, namely John Searle. But while this study demonstrates Searles criticisms against multicultural educational philosophy to be unfounded, it, however, generates from such criticisms certain recommendations on how to further strengthen the case of the multicultural educational system.