ABSTRACT
The academic cult of “multiculturalism” is a variant on ethical relativism, which has dogged American academic social theory ever, due to the influence of leading anthropologists and sociologists. The secret of America’s assimilative power has lain in the Enlightenment divorce between ethnicity and culture. The former is particular and divides from one another; the latter is universal and unites. Multi-culturalism, if it were serious, would be totally un-American, because it assumes the identity of race and culture. Students of the liberal arts have to hear a little bit about the great figures of the tradition, even if it is only negative, on account of the great influence they have had upon cultural history. The job of the college is the transmission of the higher culture and the mission of the university is to serve the wider society by developing professionals of several kinds.
