Presents an interview by National Endowment for the Humanities chairman, Sheldon Hackney, with historian John Higham on multiculturalism and national identity. Contends that the centrifugal forces of national, ethnic, and religious diversity need countervailing forces to hold the nation together. (CFR)

Summarizes E. D. Hirsch's book, "Cultural Literacy," focusing on four separate arguments. Compares U.S. and Canadian education and society, particularly in relationship to multiculturalism and bilingualism. Concludes that Hirsch trivializes culture by presenting as no more than a common convention of effective national communication.…

Asserts that moral education in Singapore has been aimed pragmatically at forging together, by shared values, the four major racial and cultural communities of that nation. Maintains that moral education also has been used to preserve a cultural and national identity against the perceived erosion of Asian roots by Western education. (ACM)

Considers the paradox of a liberal, pluralist society supporting (subsidizing) religious schools whose beliefs are more restrictive and judgmental. Argues that recognition of group rights is sanctioned in liberal thought as long as it does not impinge on individual rights. Discusses liberal responses to conflicts between communitarian concepts and…