ABSTRACT
In short, the ethnic revival opened up the question of the nature of our nationhood and with it the role of languages in promoting national cohesion or fragmentation. From the laudable impulse to teach respect for all cultures, languages, and ethnic backgrounds came the new rhetoric of rights. The unresolved issues in public education include integration versus segregation of bilingual students and a redefinition of the responsibilities of families versus the responsibilities of public institutions in the maintenance of native languages and cultures. The ethnic revival of the 1970s and the clamor for promoting cultural pluralism raise several questions rarely asked about shifts in language and culture in multicultural societies such as the United States and Canada. The tension between assimilation, language, and cultural loyalty has been sensitively expressed by Richard Rodriguez, who chose, at the cost of losing fluency in the language of his family, to enter the larger American society by acquiring the majority language.
