3. Ethnic studies should not overlook the sociological factors that underpin ethnicity.

Discrimination is only one of these factors. We should not overlook two others: assimilation and intermarriage. Ethnic identities are not permanent essences. They are--as social theorists would say--social constructs that pass away with certain structural factors. Black identity, which did not exist before the economic and political institution of slavery, is sustained by continuing socio-economic disadvantage and de facto segregation. Other ethnic identities, by contrast, are inevitably diluted as members of these groups move into suburbs, rise up the socio-economic ladder, attend college, and intermarry. This is what happened to the ethnic identities of descendants of European immigrants.

This is happening again with Asians and Latinos. A vast majority of Asian and Latino-American families now live among whites. Both groups are fast assimilating into the socio-economic mainstream. According to the Census Bureau, now almost a quarter of all Asian-Americans' marriages are marriages with whites (the rate is 65 percent for Japanese-Americans). In California, already half of all Mexican-Americans choose non-Hispanic spouses (the rate is 13 percent for Latinos as a whole). The Black intermarriage rate, by contrast, stands at only 2.2 percent.

4. Ethnic studies proponents should be wary of using the African-American experience as a paradigm for other ethnic experiences.

The African American experience is unique. It goes back over 400 years to the beginning of American slavery and continues through the legacy of segregation and Jim Crow. A distinctive African-American culture was born in this crucible of oppression. Just about all African-Americans today can see themselves as part of this common narrative.

It is not the same of immigrants like Asians and Latinos. Although there are a few cases where Asians and Latinos were subjected to dehumanizing treatment in the past (Asian-American activists often mention the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II), most Asians and Latinos are recent immigrants who don't inherit any legacy of past discrimination.

For African-Americans, by contrast, the socio-economic legacy of slavery and segregation continues to be passed generationally and manifests itself today in disproportionately high levels of Black inner-city poverty, crime, and illegitimate motherhood.

Many sociologists agree that the Black experience should be regarded as exceptional, whereas the case of Asian and Latino immigrants is more appropropriately compared with the history of other immigrant groups, such as Jews, Italians and Greeks.

5. As ethnic studies concentration should not cheat students of a liberal arts education.

An ethnics studies curriculum should not be substitute but a supplement to studying the recognized classics of Western civilization. We should continue to study the Great Books, not because they are products of the West, but because they have stood the test of time as the works of brilliant minds.

Some ethnic studies advocates openly admit that the primary purpose of ethnic studies is not to study great works but to engage in much-needed ethnic therapy. They claim that ethnic studies programs will promote racial harmony and equality. Ronald Takaki, an ethnic studies professor at Berkeley, writes in A Different Mirror that through the study of various ethnic groups, "the people of America's diverse groups are able to see themselves and each other in our common past."

Takaki advertise that ethnic studies will bolster the self-esteem of underrepresented minorities. Takaki thinks that history is a "mirror" in which we look to find ourselves ethnically represented. "What happens when historians leave out many of America's peoples?" he asks. Takaki thinks this is a psychologically damaging experience, "as if you looked in the mirror and saw nothing."

But this goes against the grain of a liberal arts education, which is not about immersing ourselves in our own ethnicities but about boldly transcending the particulars of our time, place, and culture to distill what is true, great and universally human.

W.E.B. Du Bois expressed this idea better: "I sit with Shakespeare and he winces not," Du Bois wrote. "Across the color line I move arm in arm with Balzac and Dumas, where smiling men and welcoming women glide in glided halls. From out of the caves of evening that swing between the strong-limbed earth and the tracery of stars, I summon Aristotle and Aurelius and what soul I will, and they come all graciously with no scorn or condescension. So, wed with Truth, I dwell above the Veil."