Spring 1999
Vol 7 Issue 2
IN THIS ISSUE...
"We must not forget"
Renewing Our Commitment to Understanding and Faith
Developing Instruction that Promotes Diverse Perspectives
SEE ALSO...
The Labyrinth
Maricopa Center for Learning and Instruction
"We must not forget": Addressing the New C for Community as College Educators
Naomi Story, MCLI
Introducing the topic-- changing demographics-- as it relates to teaching and learning has been a surprising challenge for me. In light of recent events and experiences, my knowledge about our theme has expanded. I see the notion of diversity now as much more complex and difficult. The dimensions we are introducing in this issue have huge implications for all of us as teachers and learners.
During Spring Break, I attended the AAHE (American Association for Higher Education) National Conference in Washington DC. The day before my two workshops, I took free time to visit several monuments: Washington, Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Jefferson. Visiting these national monuments allowed me to contemplate the magnitude of our country--its history and its future. The walk from monument to monument and the words which were reflected in granite at each allowed me to reflect further on our theme, its influence on teaching and learning, and my impending deadline for submitting this introduction to John Nelson, our editor.
Since October, our Asian/Pacific Islander Association has been holding community forums on a tragic situation which involved a young Vietnamese student who committed suicide. New immigrants and refugees experience dramatic changes in their lives when they become Americans. As educators, many of us learned with this incident that teaching and learning interventions could not occur without addressing the complexities of intra-racial and interracial differences in immigrant and refugee populations. Underlying issues of our communication, lack of trust, and uncertain knowledge exacerbate and continue to promulgate frustration and slow progress in addressing the educational needs of these groups. So, do we just walk away and point our fingers at families or communiities to take responsibility?
Facing this young man's tragedy is easier if we could just regard it as a one-time or unique crisis and go back to our safe and ordered institutions and departments. Then we could say it is someone else's problem to solve. Blame can also be attributed to the faceless or ambiguous others, but we who are more socially and morally responsible try to avoid such blame; we could or would never perform such atrocities. For example, many of us were appalled by the recent modern-day lynching that occurred in Jasper, Texas. Even the town's jury and the majority of Texans explained the atrocity of such an incident by narrowing the cause to the character flaws of a specific group of men. Thus, even the town of Jasper and all Texans are absolved of responsibility. So, who sustained the culture or climate that bred such behavior?
Let's criticize the horrific behavior of police in New York and large urban cities for their overt abuse and mistreatment of African American and Latino alleged criminals because of their unwholesome climate. So, the unspoken assumption is that we, in our civic or moral responsibility or commitment and our environment, could never foster such evil or hate. Or, could we?
It is simpler to blame others so that we can continue to do our good work and sustain great learning environments. As educators, our responsibility has been to help shape ideas and behaviors of others. Isn't helping shape lives that are morally sound and responsibly one of the reasons we became educators? Or, isn't it part of our responsibility as educators to develop ethical thinking, which is also critical and creative?
On the other hand, we may not change by ignoring diversity's difficult dialogue by being too politically correct. Dr. Evelyn Hu-DeHart, once an Honor's Forum speaker at Maricopa, was the keynoter at the AAHE Diversity Breakfast on March 23, 1999. One of her propositions was that the term "diversity" has watered down the spirit of social responsibility that began in the early 1960's. She indicated that most institutional mission statements define "diversity" by embracing political correctness to the extreme. Diversity now is perceived as fairness for all, regardless of past injustices. The result, then, is that issues and needs of our students can be ignored.
How do we define our responsibility as educators in addressing the changing demographics? Can merely changing our lessons, our curriculum, or our programs address the needs of our diverse population?
Recently, our colleges were involved in a one-day commitment to our community with the "Into the Streets" Day for service learning. How much impact has that one day made? Dr. Lee Shulman, Executive Director for the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, asked me a compelling question as I drove him between meetings and chatted about our many college initiatives. He inquired, "Do we do the things we do to create meaningful learning, or do we also feel a civic responsibility to our diverse community?"
Many of our faculty and staff have worked hard for years in addressing student learning needs. We have some of the finest and most innovative faculty and student development staff who care deeply about our student populations. More often than not, stories are told of heroic Maricopans who have engaged in transforming students' lives so that they can succeed under challenging social and economic conditions. It has not always been easy to tackle the Maricopa "system" so that our faculty and staff can readily address student needs. Perhaps, our "system" is better than the university, but it is still a huge mountain to climb. In order to fly high, Maricopans are expected to rise to the occasion with their creativity and innovations.
My dear faculty friend, Bonnie Nelson from Glendale Community College, asked me a while ago, "Why, all of a sudden, are we focusing on learning?" She and many like her have been doing this for decades. She is absolutely right. However, as I responded to her, we need to change so that she and others can continue to do their good work without having to "butt heads and be frustrated with the system." The system needs to follow the lead of our faculty and staff to "focus on learning better."
Consequently, are we really prepared to receive the growing onslaught of student demographics with younger, diverse languages and cultural issues, special needs, and so on? Do we have enough stamina and knowledge of the changing population and its dynamics-- social, economic, and cultural? Will we not ignore our civic responsibility to be part of the solution? Will we once more ask ourselves, "How can we do the heroic and majestic Maricopa call to service and commitment that are innovative and meaningful? And, how will our systems support us and not be institutional barriers?"
The same day of my visit to the monuments in Washington DC, I also spent a little over four hours at the Holocaust Museum. If you have had the opportunity to experience this museum, you know about its powerful learning experience. The most engaging room for me was a large circular room at the end of the tour. It was placed there for people to contemplate their learning experience. It reminded me of the emotion of meaningful learning I had experienced after being in my first play-- I just sat and reflected alone in the theatre auditorium. The direct value of learning was clear and personal. How can we create these experiences...these environments WITH our students...each and every student who comes from a different and significant background?
Equity and equality issues continue to exist. Can we as educators truly address the changing demographics if we can no longer have the critical and honest discourse on addressing differences? And, do we take the safe course by generalizing curriculum and pedagogies such that we as educators make little difference, especially to diverse people who see education as the only avenue to be productive citizens?
The open room at the Holocaust Museum affirmed the reason we must come together and sustain open learning environments. We can foster the difficult dialogue of diversity which is not muted with political correctness so that we can address our changing demographics. Once we do this, we can surface and achieve a dynamic vision and clear goals. I hope that this issue of the Forum/Labyrinth will begin the discourse into the next millennium so that together we as Maricopans once again can step forth as teachers, learners, and leaders in community college education.
Lastly, I am very pleased to announce "Assidere," a new section on assessment which will be part of The Forum. We cannot discuss issues on teaching and learning without also addressing assessment. Our colleges have been focusing on student learning assessment, not just to fulfill their North Central Accreditation requirements, but also to address the quality and direction of their educational programs and services. Dr. Maria Harper-Marinick of the MCLI will be helping us shape this dialogue on assessment and evaluation.
As always, we hope you consider the Forum and the Labyrinth as your venue to promote and sustain new insights and directions about teaching, learning, technology, and assessment among colleagues. Please feel free to participate actively in our discourse community as an organization that continuously learns.