Diversity Issues in Education & International Education

PRESENTERFrancis Offiong, Ph.D.Webster University TN

Campus

Diversity Issues in Education & International Education

Co Presenter:

Tina Prelow, Ph.D.Physician Behavioral HospitalShreveport LA

Objectives Understand ~ - the foundation of education Discuss ~ - diversity concepts affecting education Examine ~ - some of the key issues in education Explore ~ - current diversity initiatives in U S education

Diversity Issues in Education

Background: The world is a rich and diverse

place full of interesting cultures and people.

U S is a multiethnic and multicultural society where people live and learn to treat each other with fairness and respect

Diversity Issues in Education

Background: The 21st Century global concept of

organizations includes educational institutions.

U S organizations and educational institutions are affected with the paradigm shift to multiculturalism.

While respecting the values of diversity of the market that every one operates within.

Education John Dewey, a prominent American

philosopher and educational reformer, whose ideas are extensive and influential in education, in his publication “Education As a Necessity of Life” (1916) wrote that ~

Education is primarily a transmission through communication and that communication is a process of sharing experience till it becomes a common possession.

Education The broad phases of education: Formal Education - Public Education Informal Education - Family education -Religious and moral education - Informal education historically

began with the Greeks and Romans before western education

Public Education

Classification: - Elementary Education - Secondary Education - Post Secondary or Higher

Education

Post Secondary Education

Formal types:

1. General Education2. Vocational Education3. Graduate and Education

The American System of Higher Education Distinctive Characteristics:1. Autonomy2. Competition3. Responsiveness (means paying attention to students,

faculty, alumni, Foundation, corporation and government)

{Derek Bok, 1986}

Examples of some US Educational institutions’ Goals

1. Developing effective communication

2. Strengthen problem solving capacities

3. Improve analytical abilities4. Develop awareness and

understanding of the contemporary world

The American Educational Institution Comprises of: The Anglo Saxon Whites, African

Americans, Hispanics and American Indians and Asian Americans etc.

Every race shares each other’s racial and ethnic group’s diversity in colleges/ universities.

However race is one of the most volatile and divisive issues in American higher education.

Diversity In Education According to Research and Developmental

Education Publication; vol. 23, 2009;

The 19th century brought substantial changes and chaos to American Higher Education.

Despite the European and English heritage, American colleges and universities were shaped by the North American, geographic, political, social and religious conditions ( Seldon,1960)

Diversity In Education (contd) Despite America’s long tradition of being

the melting pot, multicultural appreciation and global citizenship remain as foreign concepts in many U S colleges and universities.

The nation’s growing changes in demographics have propelled the need to understand diversity and its related issues in education.

Multiculturalism Multiculturalism has been a center of the

national debate and a challenge on campuses as well as in public-school curricula.

Beyond political correctness, a working definition of “multiculturalism” begins with the recognition that the US cultural heritage does not begin and end only with intellectual products of the western Europe. (Marable,1995)

Multiculturalism

The debate therefore across the academy concerning “Multiculturalism” relates to the proper approach to the teaching of different cultures, ethnicity and gender issues, and their integration within core curricula.

The Institutions

Many colleges and universities have incorporated in curriculum:

African American studies Hispanic American studies Asian American studies Native American Indian studies Latin and central American –

Caribbean studies

Multiculturalism and Education

The cultural foundation of the United States draw much of their creativity and originality from African, Latino, American Indian and Asian elements (Marable ,1995)

Multiculturalism and Civic Education

American advocates of multicultural education want to transform the entire school curriculum to make it more inclusive and less bias but their central interest is in the social studies program and especially the teaching of history.

(Melzer, Weinberger and Zinman, 1998)

International Education Issues # 1 The issues of education in industrialized

countries has been how to establish greater formal equality of opportunity for all.

#2 Designing an inclusive educational system

that makes provision for individual differences - called diversity is a challenge.

Second Part of Presentation

International Education Issues

Diverse Issues in the U S Higher Education

Some Diversity Initiatives

International education - Issues

#3 Individual Continents have different

education model:- The U S uses - American Model- Europe uses i) Western European

Model- and

ii) Eastern European Model

The American Model

American model: Consist of~ - Primary education Level - Secondary Education level - Post Secondary Education Level

The Western European model

The Western European model has with it a transfer of a

selected elite from primary to secondary academic school before the end of mandatory schooling. Such a transfer has until recently typically taken place after four or five years of primary school

The Eastern European model

The Eastern European model is based on a unitary

school (Einheits-schule, ecole unique) that integrates all types of schools covering compulsory school age, be they academic or vocational.

(Holmes,1980)

Diverse Issues in Education

Prevalent issues: Increasing cost of post secondary

education Inadequate funding for education Inequalities of educational opportunity Faculty Issues Quality education The Multiculturalism factor The stereotypical portrayal of minorities

-educational qualifications

Issues –Key findings The Morrill Act of 1890, closely followed by Plessy

vs Ferguson six years later encouraged states to create the dual systems of public higher education.

The record of efforts to achieve equal educational

opportunity brought into existence Title VI enforcement of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The level of participation in colleges and universities has not been proportional for black, Hispanic, and American Indian students who do gain admission to traditionally Anglo, four-year institutions.

Racial Dilemma in Education

Race is one of the most volatile and divisive issues in American higher education.

The racial situation manifest itself in many ways, from incidents of prejudice on campuses to policy decision concerning affirmative action to debates on the introduction of multicultural elements in the curriculum.

Examples are prevalent in the students admission process to law schools and colleges

The Faculty Issues

As the number of non whites attending institutions of higher education increases, most colleges and universities are committed to increasing the minority representation of their faculties.

Such efforts reflect in part the commitment by the institutions to expand opportunities for minority scholars.

Faculty Issues As of 1985, there were a total of 19,451

full-time black faculties. Of this total, approximately 11, 178 were employed in white institutions and 8, 273 in traditionally black institutions, HBCUs.

What is most interesting about this contemporary distributional pattern is that the problems associated with professional growth are fundamentally different depending on which of these academic environment black faculty find themselves in.

Under Representation of minorities

A troubling trend in ‘Law School

Diversity’ shows a decade of declining statistics of African American and Mexican American student enrollment at US Law Schools. [Diverse Issues,v.26, 2009]

Funding of minority institutions

Although education in the U.S. is a state function the federal government has been asserting in terms of financing and programming. Another categorical issue in education is funding.

Currently, minorities are concentrated in institutions with the fewest resources and they are less likely to graduate or transfer than their majority colleagues.

The education system that many blacks attend are not properly funded and often times under funded.

Diversity Initiatives

According to Diverse Issues in Higher Education publication, p.19, April 2009:

The United States needs more lawyers from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups to serve a client pool that is increasingly diverse.

It is a challenge that law schools and the legal professions have been addressing for some time, and one in which a measure of success has been achieved.

Diversity Initiatives in Education In a 20 year period that started from

1986 - 1987 academic year, minority in law school grew from 12550 to 30557, an increase of 14.3 percent.

Yes , there are more minority law students today, but the number required to serve an increasingly diverse America is a long way from being realized.

Initiatives Liberal Education and America’s Promise

(LEAP) is an initiative that champions the value of a liberal education—for individual students and for a nation dependent on economic creativity and democratic vitality.

The initiative focuses campus practice on fostering essential learning outcomes for all students, whatever their chosen field of study. Liberal Education, Winter 2010, Vol. 96, No. 1

Initiatives

The American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) has introduced an initiative based on the concept of ‘Inclusive Excellence’ to guide a national movement and campus efforts to make the success of diverse a focal point.

Initiatives Inclusive excellence’ as – i) a focus on student intellectual and

social development ii) a purposeful development and

utilization of organizational resources directed at student learning

iii) attention to the cultural differences that learners bring to the educational experience that enhance educational enterprise (Journal of the Association for the Study of Higher Education, spring 2008, v.31)

Multicultural Education Initiative

The Center for Multicultural Education at the University of

Washington, Seattle WA, focuses on research projects and activities designed to improve practices

relating to equity issues, inter group relations, and the achievement of all

students.- University of Washington, College of Education publication, 2010.

Conclusion

The theoretical framework of the issues as broadly discussed revealed the prevalent practices of the twenty first century education especially in higher education.

The End

Thank you

Q & A