This is related to Terry's posting; I was going to raise it in the comments, but thought it should get its own comment thread so as not to hijack his post.We have the diversity question. It goes like this: "What specific teaching practices do you use to promote diversity in your classroom?"
I was asked that question, once. I was, and still am, floored by it in the context of teaching science. My answer was pretty darned lame: "I try to judge my students on how they perform, not who they are."
But then, where I grew up, "diversity" comprised having kids of Bohemian, Norwegian and Dutch ancestry all on the same football team, and perhaps dating someone from a neighboring town. "High diversity" might mean that someone from the local Wisconsin Synod Lutheran church had unbent enough to allow their kids to participate in a secular organization like FFA.
So my questions are, quite simply, these:
Q. How did you answer this question?
and,
Q. What specific teaching practices should be used to promote diversity in the classroom?
Disclaimer: I'm looking for answers that will help me to understand what the question means, not for screeds. I'm well aware of how much privilege I have, simply by virtue of being a tall white man who is neither excessively stout nor excessively unattractive.
I am an English professor, but the way I think a science prof could promote diversity in his or her classroom would be to present research done by diverse populations, if there is such research that is relevant to the topic at hand. Perhaps if work is being done at some university or other, work that is interesting or cutting edge, that U would put up pictures of the folks on their website or something, in the lab, or wearing lab coats. Or you could present news related to the topic at hand created by the same population or even just of particular interest to the same population (good news, that is-----innovations etc.). I do think at my college this would make a difference to students in terms of making the entire subject area seem more relevant and more ......attainable, as it would show people from very difficult places that people who look like them DO in fact, work in these fields, and excel in these fields. My experience has shown me, anecdotally, that these kids don't actually know that.
ReplyDeleteWe tend to undervalue the question of "what does whoever did it look like?" in the sciences (as opposed to "who did it?" -- credit is fiercely contested). But you have a very good point WRT undergrads.
DeleteThat said, the "racially diverse" scientists I have known are united in their contempt for people who use their background as an excuse for failing to perform.
A further note: it's not like there aren't already role models out there in the public eye: George Washington Carver (a second-rate scientist, really) is ubiquitous, and there are schools named after the first-rate chemist Percy Julian. I have to say I'm not aware of any similarly hyped scientists of Latin American extraction.
DeleteIf you look at MANY science articles in peer-reviewed journals, I believe that you will be convinced that a LARGE NUMBER of the authors are non-whiteys. What more needs to be said?
DeleteHey No Cookies, you're right but Indians, Japanese and Chinese don't count for diversity's sake.
DeleteIn my experience (from teaching science writing to undergrads), the author lists on many scientific publications read like mini-UNs (with, yes, perhaps a bit of over-representation from all parts of Asia, and a bit of under-representation from Spanish-speaking and African locales. African Americans are, of course, hard to spot by name.)
DeleteI'm careful that the (made-up) authors I use in my citation examples are at least equally diverse -- not just Smith and Jones, but Lee (a very handy one) and Rodriguez and Nguyen, too.
Yes, there are role models out there, but I still believe it would make an impression to show them more role models or to discuss their work particularly in the context of the class. I believe you about the feelings of racially diverse scientists, and yet I do think their accomplishments would make a difference to kids from the neighborhoods feeding my college.
ReplyDeleteThat having been said, our college is pretty top notch in the stem science courses. We have some hard core profs here, and we provide nursing candidates to one of the top notch nursing colleges in the area by the dozens. I am not sure they do what I am saying (it's just a thought, really, from an English prof no less). But I do know they fought tooth and nail, tooth and fucking nail, to get their most recent hire, who looks a lot like kids from the area and who would probably never have come here except for the fact that he or she him or herself was a product of a community college.
I think it's patronizing to assume that we have to provide students with "role models" who "look like them". I find that insulting.
ReplyDeleteDo you? Hmmmm. I don't agree. But it's something to think about.
DeleteJulia Ortiz Cofer wrote an interesting article about this very topic. Now I have to go find it or it will bother me all day.
It feels patronizing to us... but does it to the students for whom we are doing it?
DeleteSee also Stephen Carter's Reflections of an Affirmative Action Baby, Chapter 1, in which Carter reveals that Harvard Law turned him down when they thought he was white, then came after him aggressively when they found out he was black.
DeleteHe went to Yale Law. And IIRC he still supports Affirmative Action in education on balance, in spite of his misgivings.
Intro--if I were Carter that would have made me ill--Harvard is that girl turning you down for a date until she finds out you're rich--and then calling you and begging to go out.
DeleteUnfortunately this happens and I've seen it happen for years and years, in decisions in hiring, firing, and promotion.
It makes the people who are not the benefit of this "largesse" resentful, and the people who are have to deal with the unspoken knowledge that they were granted "favors" that they would not have been otherwise. That doesn't help anyone.
Agreed. Just use the best academic resources you can find, irrespective of race and otherwise disregard the issue. That's what I do. I treat my students as individuals. I have plenty of winners and losers from among the racial spectrum.
DeleteI think it's privileged that the entire stock of band-aids on the shelf at Wal-mart match my pastey-white arms (or have characters on them).
ReplyDeleteI've heard it called "leveraging diversity." While the buzzwords make me cringe, I like this vocabulary better. European and American history have included mostly white males in all fields of study. There are significant contributions from various non-white non-male people, but a small random sampling of big names in any field is likely to be all white males.
Making samplings non-random is what leveraging diversity means to me. The stereotypical image of a "Scientist" in American culture is an old white guy with glasses and a lab coat. If you are not likely to end up as an old white guy, then this image can be problematic, and countering this image is the point of choosing non-random samples.
As a high school teacher, I view teaching diversity as teaching appreciation of other cultures, and broadening the worldview of my students. I teach in a mostly low-income suburb of a big city, and most of my students have never been outside the city, much less the state. I don't feel like I should necessarily be searching out "role models" of various skin colors, but instead I prefer to show how different countries and cultures contributed to the subject.
ReplyDeleteI don't think conditioning the readings in a course (any subject) or the material one presents to the "identity box" the author fits into is a good idea (unless this happens to be the topic of the course, obviously).
ReplyDeleteIn my case I don't need to worry: what we can teach undergraduates stops in the early 20th century (at best), at least in pure math: long-dead Germans, Russians and Frenchmen (all male, except for Emmy Noether); Americans don't show up until the advanced graduate level.
As for students needing a "role model", I'm with Stella here; I didn't decide to go into pure math because there were other white males doing it. On the other hand, you have to be a somewhat privileged young person to be indifferent to the risks of embracing a low-paying academic career (which may contribute to the fact that being a math prof is unattractive to math-capable women, who can command much higher salaries and prestige as industry mathematicians.)
Except that...not long ago there was a soph-level course being offered in my dept, two sections: no difference in the instructors (both young white Americans), except that one was male, the other female. All the female students signed up for the section taught by the woman (and there were enough of them that it's not statistical). That made me wonder. Really? That matters?
To answer the question: all I can do in class is pay attention to who is asking and answering questions. It is usually white men, so I make a point to call on other demographics when I ask something, and to be an epsilon more effusive in my praise when I get a good answer from one of them (more than epsilon would make me and the students throw up.) As for grading, their "identity" is irrelevant.
Peter, I am just going on my experience talking with students and trying to advise them. But I just have to add here that no, you did not go into math because a lot of white men were into math. But you also did not think that a math career would be unwelcoming to you based on your race, gender or ethnicity. I actually do see people who have ideas about careers based on things like that. Kind of like back in the day, girls did not think they were good at math or science because of cultural stereotypes.
DeleteTo use a gender based example, I used to work at a college where we had an A.S. in Automotive Technology. Back when I was there at least, there were hardly any women in the program. One woman who WAS in that program ended up in my comp class and wrote a great essay about how she never realized women COULD be mechanics until she met a female mechanic, and she was so glad she did because she always loved cars.
I agree with Bella.
DeleteI teach physics and astronomy, I'm a white woman, and I present as really feminine. Our student body is relatively diverse, racially, but women are still *very* underrepresented in the classes for physics and engineering majors. One thing I do, particularly in my intro classes for engineering and physics students, is to make sure that at least half of the people mentioned in homework problems/examples/clicker questions/etc. are female. I try to change up the names as well, so they're not all necessarily or obviously referring to American white people. I never mention that I'm doing this explicitly to the students, but they definitely notice, as I've had comments and complaints about it on evals just about every semester.
Yes, I understand. Maybe there are two kinds of people: those for whom "is the human environment in this field likely to be welcoming to people like me" is a consideration, and those who are so fixated on the interest of the field itself, this type of practical consideration doesn't even register. Maybe there are more of the former than the latter type, I don't know.
DeleteAnd maybe the latter are more likely to go into math or science. It sounds reasonable to me.
DeleteOn another note, my son has excelled in both math and science. I have tried to encourage him to do something with that. He says he doesn't think he would be good enough. I am embarrassed to admit this, but he seems to think only Asians (and he is an equal opportunity Asian stereotyper----encompassing all the countries of that huge continent, seemingly, into this idea) are able to work hard enough and study long enough to be competitive in fields like that. Augh. This is my fault, somehow. My husband says he is just lazy and realizes the hard work involved, and is making up an excuse to get me to stop suggesting it. Which could be true----he is not the hardest worker. I've decided to just leave it alone.
I understood this question differently. I use active learning techniques in the classroom as well as cooperative learning techniques. Studies have found that for women and minorities, these techniques help their understanding of the material.
ReplyDeleteIf this question includes teaching methods which promote learning by students with diverse backgrounds, then you can make a difference. There's education research data showing, for example, that a quick reflection exercise can improve the performance of women in physics (the article appeared in Science but I forget the reference). You can take extra care to help minority students feel comfortable and provide feedback that is especially constructive, even it if is criticism. To some extent, it's not that you teach underrepresented groups differently, you just teach them like they were people who never felt welcome ina sicnece class (which describes many of them).
ReplyDeleteIs it perhaps an agricultural form of bigotry to mention FFA, but not 4-H?
ReplyDelete;-)
I know a proffie who would probably discriminate against FFA every time, because he knows 4-H is better. Applicants have to be so goddamned careful what they put on their CVs.
I was in FFA but not 4-H.
DeleteI think that the term "diversity" ought to mean more than skin color and gender -- so when I answer that question I generally include age and preparation for college work.
ReplyDeleteSo, teaching practices include ways to help students who are less prepared than most -- tutoring etc..
I encourage class discussion and sometimes aim my questions at the older students... with the idea that they have valuable life experiences my younger students may not have.
In terms of reading assignments, I try to make sure that they aren't all from dead white men -- and I also discuss the problems women and minorities have had in my field (it's philosophy, so there is plenty of evidence to support my claims).
If I were teaching in a science course, I'd probably create an assignment that demonstrates the problem with a scientific research process which excludes particular groups of people. Maybe by breaking the class up by gender/race and then asking them to hypothesize about one of the class topics as a group.. THEN compare and contrast the results of the various groups.. that may or may not work -- Alternatively, I may give each of the segregated groups a set of data to interpret and compare and contrast the results -- the point being that persons of different backgrounds and experiences often will ask different questions and interpret results differently --
Fair enough; but just to make sure I'm not missing something: your remarks apply to social sciences only, right?
DeleteI recommend not dividing the class by race or gender. That can backfire both in terms of groups not providing the results you want them to give you but also students might be offended by the process itself. That's a hassle you don't need.
DeleteWhat if Vin Diesel or Mariah Carey or The Rock is in your class? Where ya gonna put 'em?
DeleteIf we really want diversity among our faculty, for example, then we should try hiring some conservatives. Wait...no, that won't ever happen.
ReplyDeleteI'd say that that's probably the area in which my own department is least diverse (with the exception of a few adjuncts).
DeleteOn the other hand, I'm tempted to say that some parts of conservative philosophy (e.g. believing that the market works, and that if people are underpaid relative to their abilities and education it's their own tea-partying fault) might militate against conservatives going into academe, at least in my field (my university has some pretty conservative proffies, just not in the humanities).
I'm oddly ill-equipped to answer this question, largely because my university is, by most measures, extremely diverse. It really does get a lot easier when most classes contain people of a wide variety of ethnic, religious, national, racial, etc. backgrounds, and when (thanks to marriage, adoption, etc.) the apparent ethnicities of names and faces don't even always match up. The other nice thing (which is different from a couple of schools at which I taught that were seeking diversity a bit too aggressively) is that there is little to no correlation between ethnicity/race/whatever and ability/preparedness. In this situation, "just treat them all like human beings" works surprisingly well.
ReplyDeleteGiven that experience, I'm tempted to say "just wait; it will take care of itself." But I realize that isn't much of an answer. I do think schools should be careful that they're not seeking diversity for diversity's (or US News or other ratings' ) sake, and/or in a quest to "enrich" the experiences of their traditional student population. That tends to end badly for all concerned. I suspect my answer to such a question would end up being some convoluted spinning-out of "first, don't assume anything about a particular student based on hir perceived cultural background/phenotype/whatever, and definitely don't single hir out as the representative of hir perceived group; second, be aware that any student who is in some perceivable way "different" from the majority of the class may be aware of and uncomfortable with that fact, and be prepared to deal with any insecurities arising from the situation, while, once again, not assuming anything the student hasn't communicated hirself."
Yep, reason 101 I'm not on the market.