Friday, December 24, 2010

Yea or Nay on diversity courses?

It's holiday time, and though many of you are busy with holiday festivities, some of you are gorging your faces in front of the computer just waiting for more blog stimulation.

Here goes then for those few wanting stimulation...someone emailed me this question, "What about those damn diversity classes? I think they are a bunch of crap, but I am curious to hear what others think of the diversity classes." 

For some the diversity requirement is a sham.
For some it is a necessity that needs to be esteemed more.
For some there needs to be a more substantial diversity requirement.
And for others, the diversity requirement needs to be reconceived to fulfill its intended purpose.

What are your thoughts?

13 comments:

  1. I for one don't understand why we HAVE to take a diversity class. I think by this point in our lives we understand what racism is and i think we shouldn't have to take a class to help us know a cultures hardships. I took Native American studies for my requirement and i don't really feel like i learned any more then i did going in. I learned a little more about the history but i don't feel as if it really taught me about diversity.

    I think that they are more there to try to teach you empathy for minorities. I don't think we need a required class for that. Treating people with respect should be common sense if you have any dignity. If people are interested in other cultures then by all means take a class like Indian studies OR a class on cultures.

    The whole thing reeks of a sham by people of the PC era worrying that students don't "get" culture. Well news is that haters will keep hating, nothing will change that except themselves.

    My Solution: Do away with the requirement and let people pursue culture if they will. If you MUST have a class on diversity then make it a catch all where people learn about a variety of cultures.

    Prof. Chaos

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  2. Prof Chaos, I have referred your inquiry to the Department of Curriculum Logic. Due to the elongated holiday season (everyday is a holiday), you can expect a response sometime during the next five years. Understanding the logic behind general education or the diversity classes is above my pay grade. Someone from the head office will explain to you the logic behind the diversity requirement because no one on campus knows or even gives a shit. The diversity requirement provides jobs! Furthermore, students have to take it, regardless of the absence of logic. Disobeying a high command from the Department of Curriculum Logic is fatal. Sam was a track star and used to run five miles a day but he still had to complete a physical education requirement by taking a three credit course on jogging.

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  3. ho hum. boring, 10:45. Once again it's all about the money. The only reason X course is taught is to give someone a job. Do you really believe that? Then why do you have anything to do with a university? If you are just being a devil's advocate, knock it off--I don't think that's furthering the conversation.

    X

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  4. Come on X, say something! What conversation? I only see one comment by you X. There is no conversation. So X, what do you think about the diversity requirement? Share your wisdom with us X.

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  5. Questioning whether or not we should have a diversity requirement is moronic. We absolutely need such a requirement. Saying that everyone already knows what racism is OR the diversity requirement is just a means for job creation is SO naive.

    Racism is still quite prevalent here. Is our memory that short on fairly recent events? Face it, we are a predominantly white university where the students have grown up in white families and communities in semi-rural Wisconsin. I'm not saying that that equals racist views, but it is the job of the university to help mold non-racist views. That is called "education."

    Anon 10:45 must be smoking some bad shit to suggest that there is no logical reason for diversity classes. The job creation quip must mean that Anon 10:45 has some beef to grind with the university or is just bitter.

    If anything, the whole Tea Party movement we witnessed this past fall only illustrates the vast need for diversity education.

    Whether UWW's approach to diversity education is the right approach is another matter entirely. But if the question is whether we should have some requirement, then the answer is obviously YES.

    If you are already aware of the racism abound and the racism that you, as whitey, propagate unintentionally, then congratulations. But instead of saying get rid of the requirement, stand by the requirement and be part of the solution rather than advocating a more problematic situation.

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  6. 10:45 must be smoking some good shit if he believes a three credit course is going to eliminate racism. He sounds like the typical liberal who looks for a quick fix to a complex problem. Whitewater has had the diversity requirement for 20 years and racism is still prevalent on this campus. The worse thing to do is to force diversity down student's throats. This could make the situation worse. A better solution would be to integrate diversity into All courses and thereby eliminate the need for a stand alone course. The writer of this post does not have a clue to how a modern university functions or if he or she would not be making such a silly statement about jobs or accusing someone of being bitter. Do your homework! Jobs are created everyday for people in academia. Faculty members with job openings in their departments will write a job description in order to hire one of their buddies or someone who shares their perspective. How do you think this became a lily white campus in the first place? Out of about 200 faculty in L&S there are about 6 African Americans, including one African American female. Sadly, they are all scheduled to retire in a few years then African Americans will become an endangered species here. Are you willing to get behind this?

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  7. I recommend a new book, Procustes, by the author of the Black Swan. I love the quotes in this book and a few of them are appropriate to our discussions. We in academia falsely believe we can solve all the problems with a class.

    Here are a few juicy quotes:

    "Academia is to knowledge what prostitution is to love; close enough on the surface but to the non sucker, not exactly the same thing."

    "Education makes the wise slightly wiser, but it makes the fool vastly more dangerous."

    "Using as an excuse, others failure of common sense is in itself a failure of common sense."

    Sam

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  8. Anon 10:25 here.

    Wow. What a red herring! You are criticizing the diversity requirement because one course cannot solve all the racism problems. Holy shit! I now see the light! How naive for me to think so!

    But wait. I don't think that is so. I never thought that was so. Why would anyone think that is so. No, what I DO think is that having such a diversity requirement is a step in the right direction. Oh, let me repeat for the hard of hearing - a S-T-E-P in the right direction. AND to not have such a requirement is a step in the WRONG direction. There is no magic bullet to solve racism (I feel stupid to have to say that, and I'm shocked that some people here thought I was saying that), but we can make positive strides.

    Seriously, how can one balk at such a simple one course requirement to expand students' education?! What we don't want is for those in the business school to only take business classes, for those in physics to only take math and physics, etc. The key word is to diversify and educate one's awareness of different cultures and the impacts one's background and culture have on others.

    My thought is that if you disagree with what I have said here, you are an enemy of education.

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  9. Oh my, more name calling! Lighten up dude, practice tolerance, and allow others to have a viewpoint, however bizarre, without putting them down with negatives like whitey, moronic, or enemies of education. Regarding diversity, Sam never said that a diversity course was totally useless, only that it should be part of a comprehensive institutional plan, including the recruitment of minorities and Women, and a serious effort should be made to infuse diversity throughout the curriculum, not just in a few stand alone courses. I am certain that you agree with this approach being such an advocate of the enlightenment. In 2002, the University provided more than 80,000k to faculty to infuse diversity in their courses but it was not successful.

    Sam, the enemy of education

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  10. One other thing to keep in mind as we discuss the value of the diversity requirement is that students are exposed to diversity issues in other courses and programs . There is the annual Martin Luther King Day Celebration, travel study courses to Africa, Jamaica, and Latin America, and the L&S Lecture Series, just to name a few. I am sure there are many more. In short, courses are not the only way to educate students to on diversity. Along with hip hop, the media continues to shape our racial attitudes. For example, the Cosby sitcom did more to improve racial attitudes than any single course. Bill Cosby was America's favorite dad, and lest we forget, there is a cool brother running the nation and a black family is living in the House that slaves built. You are correct, racism still exist, but thank god, America is not what it used to be!

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  11. I have caught up with the arguement here and pose a question.

    If we are not going to do away with the requirement then how should we change the standing requirement to be more effective?

    If we are having this requirement to teach you about another culture and empathy for their history then shouldn't we create a class that studies multiple cultures instead of just Indian studies, Asian studies, Latino American, etc. The truth of the matter is that all you need is a intro class from any of those that really only gives you a brief history lesson. How does that teach you about current events and beliefs?

    Also, consider culture and what it means. Culture is defined as more then just race so couldn't our diversity requirement be a relgious studies class or a class on Modern X ?( Japan, India, Etc) I took intro to Eastern Religions and learned about Hinduism, Buddhism, Shinto, Confucianism, and the current use of those religions in their countires of orgin. I would say i learned way more about culture and diversity in that class then i ever did in Native American Studies.

    So i will suggest that we not dimiss the diversity requirement , having read what arguements my peers make for it, but we redifine it.

    Prof. Chaos

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  12. Yeah, prof, but if you define "diversity" too broadly then by definition everything becomes diversity. In my opinion, the focus should be on "diversity" in the US, not diversity in Japan or some other country. After all, the history of the US is a multicultural one, and race still divides Americans. However, there is progress. Recently, Gov Barbour of Miss signed into state law a bill requiring "every" public school in Mississippi to teach a class on the Civil Rights Movement. Not bad! I hope this establishes a movement across the country and other public schools follow suit. If this happens on a wide scale, then students entering colleges and universities in the future will know something about the Civil Rights Movement. However, Sam does not dismiss the need for a specialized diversity course, but he believes that better understanding of race can be obtained from interacting with "diversity" on a daily basis, forming friendships with members of diverse groups, learning from them about their culture and history and this can be extremely difficult, because we do not like change, the only person who likes change is a baby with a wet bottom.


    Sam

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  13. X here. I support the diversity requirement for several reasons. First of all, it is not an additional requirement. One can take a class in one's major or to complete gen-ed requirements and find scads of courses that will also fulfill the diversity requirement. Anyone who had to take a class only to fulfill it did not plan well. Second, though I think it is a drop in the bucket, we must start somewhere. I hope students get a taste of life outside of their own realm of experience and then go seek more. Third, it demonstrates, minimally, an institutional commitment to diversity. Yes, it may be mostly lip service, but it's a start. Finally, in response to the call for diversity to be taught across the curriculum, I am all for it where appropriate. I take a 'both/and' approach here. But I don't think chemistry or math is really the place for this work. And I think the humanities is a great place for it. Long live the humanities!

    X

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