根据以下材料，回答问题。
Since the 1960s, Canada and the United States have become more culturally diverse than at any other time in their history. In 1957, for example, 95 percent of people who settled in Canada were European; thirty years later, 76 percent of immigrants were from Asia and elsewhere in the developing world. In the United States, between 1970 and 2000 the foreign-born population doubled and experienced significant changes in ethnic makeup. In 1970, 59 percent of the foreign-born population were European, while 27 percent were from Latin America and Asia. By 2000, the proportions were very different. Of the 31.1 million foreign-born, 78 percent were Latino and Asian,whereas Europeans made up only 16 percent of the total.
Also since the 1960s, the governments of the United States and Canada have supported cultural diversity by developing a policy that is often called multiculturalism. Both countries, for example, shifted from immigration laws that favored Europeans (and admitted few people from other parts of the world) to more open, fairer policies. In the United States, the Bilingual Education Acts of 1968 and 1978 provided funds to educate the children of non-English-speaking immigrants.In the Multiculturalism Act of 1988, the Canadian government committed itself to the idea that all citizens had the right to preserve their cultural inheritance. It also established a Ministry for Multiculturalism.
Multiculturalism, however, is a controversial issue in both countries. In the United States,multiculturalism is closely associated with bilingual education-public school programs that use the native language of immigrant children to teach them math, science, and social studies. These programs have caused disagreement both within immigrant communities and in the wider American public. In the 1990s, for example, public opinion polls showed Americans were divided on bilingual school programs that use the native language of immigrant children to teach them math, science, and social studies. These programs have caused disagreement both within immigrant communities and in the wider American public. In the 1990s, for example, public opinion polls showed Americans were divided on bilingual education, sometimes equally, sometimes with a majority opposed to it.By 2003, small majorities in California, Arizona, and Massachusetts had voted not to allow any more state funds to be spent on bilingual education.
A 1988 public opinion poll found that approximately 60 percent were in favor of encouraging immigrants to assimilate into Canadian culture, whereas 38 percent thought that immigrants should be encouraged to retain their cultural traditions. Support for assimilation was strongest, at 73 percent, among Canadians with low educational levels; however, such support was also found among 52 percent of university graduates.
Why is multiculturalism such a divisive issue? Some people argue that the poll results and the votes against bilingual education are empirical evidence of a growing racism in U.S. and Canadian society. Yet such an interpretation appears unjustifie
D． In both countries, polls in 2002 showed that large majorities of Americans (75 percent) and Canadian (77 percent) believed that immigration has benefited their countries. In Canada, the 1988 poll also showed that approximately 80 percent of Canadians disapproved of using country of origin as a way to select immigrants. Such responses would be highly unlikely to occur in societies in which racist attitudes were widespread.
There is a more likely explanation why public opinion seems divided on the issue of multiculturalism is that society should encourage immigrants to retain their culture and language.Under this definition, multiculturalism seems to imply that immigrant families need not adapt to the culture of their new country. Canadians and Americans who interpret multiculturalism in this people cannot be full members of a new society if they are not willing to adapt and use the new society's cultural rules at least some of the time.
On the other hand, many people interpret multiculturalism differently. For them it means accepting American or Canadian cultural traditions for public behavior and retaining their own culture in private life. If multiculturalism were explicitly defined in this way, much of the controversy would probably disappear. This definition, after all, reflects the experience of earlier first-generation immigrants to the United States and Canada. Later generations, however, considered
themselves fully integrated North Americans.