Cultural Diversity Courses Take Root in Schools
Posted on: Tuesday, 19 February 2008, 03:00 CST
By Erin Richards, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Feb. 19--Growing up in Cedarburg, Sarah Stoecker never knew what she was missing. She attended good public schools, worked hard, had lots of support.
But at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Stoecker started taking some multiculturalism courses and was "transformed."
"I will always feel fortunate that I grew up in a place like Cedarburg, but thinking about how race and background play into the relationships between people made me think about how I fit into the larger picture," said Stoecker, now 26 and a Spanish teacher at Brookfield East High School.
Stoecker never studied diversity issues, at least not directly, in high school. And that's something at least one Milwaukee-area school district is trying to change: Starting this fall, Muskego High School will offer a cultural diversity class to 11th- and 12th-graders. The elective course will address issues such as white privilege in a community that is at least 97% Caucasian, Associate Principal John LaFleur said.
Meanwhile, area higher education institutions have spent the last several years ramping up multiculturalism course offerings and activities, in some cases requiring that students take diversity courses as part of their general education. More often than not, professors say, students arrive from high school largely ignorant about the four traditionally defined minority groups -- African-Americans, Latinos, Asian-Americans and American Indians.
"I think part of why this is attracting attention is that all the metaphors we used to use -- melting pot, mosaic -- just aren't working anymore, because they let us skirt the ideas of injustice and equal distribution of goods," said Christine Krueger, an associate professor of English at Marquette University and the director of core curriculum.
Reasons for interest
Some say the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks catalyzed demand for diversity education. The Internet has similarly brought information from around the world into the laptops of the young. And controversies over issues such as immigration and border control have raised diversity issues.
The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction's standards for K-12 education do not include the word race in any description, said Gregory Jay, an English professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
"In social sciences, literature, history, there simply is no mandate and comprehensive standards that would force teachers to include this material," Jay said.
In 2003, UWM created a Cultures and Communities Program, a certificate that students can declare in addition to their majors. The core courses, known as "Multicultural America," have grown from one section of 25 students in one department to six or more courses offered every semester in the history, English, anthropology, women's studies, sociology and film departments.
"At the university level, what we find is that Wisconsin is a highly segregated state," Jay said. "If the (students) are African-American, they've grown up in all-black neighborhoods. If they're white, they've grown up in all-white neighborhoods. Then they get here, and then we just expect them all to learn together."
Carroll College in Waukesha also is revising its general education program to get students to learn and interact with other cultures.
Marquette University restructured its core studies courses in 2003 and added a diverse cultures requirement. But three years ago, the university also got involved in a program that aims to infuse all areas of the curriculum with global and multicultural issues.
"Diversity education means domestic diversity, global diversity, social justice, and it also means getting students a good job," Krueger said. "I want them to figure out resource distribution and economics to make real, transformative changes for justice. That means the philosophy major also has to be able to read a spreadsheet."
Not impossible to change
For educators interested in advancing such studies, the dearth of high school coursework focused on the history, literature and conflict of minorities is daunting. But it's not impossible to change. Melissa Thompson began teaching a "minorities and prejudice" course at Hartford Union High School in Washington County about eight years ago. The class ballooned in size, spawned more sections and featured discussion on the roots of stereotypes, hate groups, genocide and civil rights.
"Personally and professionally, that was an amazing class to teach," said Thompson, now an assistant principal at Waukesha South High School. "I still get feedback from students about how valuable that was."
At Muskego High School, LaFleur said the lack of diversity was one reason several social studies teachers were eager to create an elective course.
"A lot of this was birthed out of wanting to enrich the content of the high school level for 11th- and 12th-graders," said Alan Groth, the district's director of curriculum and instruction. "It's when (these students) hit high school that they're trying to make sense of the world."
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Source: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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