Should multicultural literature be included in the high school curriculum?

Multicultural literature is not needed in school curriculum

Question: Should multicultural literature be included in the high school curriculum?
Position‹2 of 3›: No, multicultural literature should not be taught in schools
Argument1 of 3›: Multicultural literature is not needed in school curriculum

The traditional school curriculum has been satisfactory thus far.

The argument

The argument concerns the scope of a curriculum rather than the value of the literature in question. In many language arts and literature classes, classics such as "Jane Eyre," "The Odyssey," and "Macbeth" are taught and discussed. A range of formats of literature are usually taught — poems, plays, short stories and others — that provide students with a sufficient variety of literature and prose. The claim is that the variety already present is enough to do what a literature course exists to do: teach students to read closely, to follow an argument through a text, and to recognise how different forms work. Behind that sits a view of what school-level study is for. The standard school curriculum provides students the foreground of writing and literature — a foundation rather than a survey, consisting of the skills that transfer to whatever a student reads next rather than coverage of every tradition they might eventually meet. A curriculum built on the opposite principle would have no natural stopping point, since the number of traditions that could be included exceeds the hours available to include them, and each addition displaces something already there. The final step addresses the interest the curriculum does not serve. If students are curious about different types of literature, they can explore it on their own or take unique courses at college — and having been given the foreground, they are equipped to do so, because reading skills developed on any demanding text carry over to every other. The argument therefore presents its conclusion as a matter of sequence and setting rather than of exclusion: school supplies the foundation, so that students could then individually explore different avenues post-graduation if they wish.

Premises

[P1]High school literature classes already teach a sufficient variety of classic works across multiple formats such as poems, plays, and short stories. [P2] The standard curriculum's role is to provide foundational knowledge of writing and literature, not comprehensive coverage of every tradition. [P3] Students interested in other literary traditions can explore them independently or through specialized college courses after graduation. [C] Therefore, multicultural literature does not need to be included in the high school curriculum.

Counter-arguments

If students don’t know the different avenues of literature then they won’t know the options in the first place.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P2] It is the responsibility of the curriculum to give students an overview of the landscape of literature.