Written and designed by the staff of the Center for Teaching and Learning. Reproduce with permission only.
This handbook presents teachers with information on a wide range of diversity issues: from ethnicity, to sexual orientation, to learning and physical disabilities. If you find useful new information in these pages, make sure to give yourself time to change your teaching style. The teacher who tries to be sensitive to all of these diverse student issues may, understandably, feel overwhelmed at having to do something about all of them right away. The fear of unintentionally alienating a student by a slip of the tongue can cause stress to any well-meaning teacher. It is important to keep in mind that developing a coherent teaching strategy to reach diverse students takes time. Try not to refashion your entire classroom style at once. It is often most effective to concentrate one particular aspect at a time. Add new techniques or strategies incrementally, and get used to how they work before introducing additional ones.
The most important thing to keep in mind is that teaching for diversity means teaching to the individual. By taking an interest in students' experiences, interests, beliefs, and goals, you take the most important step in making students feel that they can succeed in college. In addition, recognize that differences between individuals are more significant than differences between groups. The greatest challenge you face as a teacher is not tailoring your teaching to be sensitive to a whole group, but rather tailoring your teaching in a way that will meet the diverse learning styles of each student.
Some students, regardless of race or gender, find the university an impersonal environment that does not connect to their own experiences and goals. There are also students who lack confidence or assertiveness, yet are quite capable of learning the content and skills of the courses they take. As discussed in Chapter 1, academics generally perceive verbally aggressive students as being brighter. But some students simply have been raised in environments where they have not been encouraged to speak out. In addition, feelings that the university lacks relevance to their lives or treats them as anonymous faces may add an extra burden to these silent students.
This chapter will explore basic
teaching principles and techniques that can be used to create a learning
environment that will help enable all students to feel included and to meet
their potential. These guidelines apply to classroom interactions, syllabus
design, assignments, and interaction outside of class. For clarity, we will
illustrate these basic principles with specific examples, but expect that
individual teachers will need to adapt these ideas to their specific teaching
situations.
Chapter 1 discussed the importance of getting to know your students individually, and trying to understand their interests, beliefs and values. This process can begin the first day of class. Try to learn the names of your students as early in the semester as possible and find out by what name they prefer to be called. Also, ask about their interests and experiences early on in the course. On the first day of the course, in addition to asking students some factual questions about their experience with the subject matter, you might ask some questions that require them to give their personal feelings or views on a topic related to the course. For example, you could ask students in a literature class not only what books they have read in high school (which lets you see the students' reading experience), but also what kind of a book or movie they would make if they had unlimited time and funds. This question allows students a wide latitude in divulging information about themselves, and it will help you see them as individuals rather than as members of particular groups.
Encourage students to learn each
others' names and to get to know each other in group discussions. Use the
students' names when you call on them or respond to their comments. Encourage
students to respond to each others' questions and comments, not just your own.
Some teachers have created an e-mail list for their courses so that students can
communicate with each other and with the teacher in an informal way outside of
class. E-mail accounts are free to all university members. Your departmental
computer coordinator can assist you in using electronic communication tools to
foster class discussion and sense of community.
No matter how objective we may try to be, many of us inevitably share some of the stereotypes which the media propagate about various groups. Such stereotypes are particularly evident for cases where the student's group affiliation is visually evident, such as racial background or physical disability. Although teachers should consider the potential needs of such students, it is equally important not to assume the student's needs. The well-meaning teacher often offends a student by offering extra assistance that the student has not requested. The media and debates about Affirmative Action frequently have created the impression that African American students come to college unprepared and that they need extra help. A teacher, although well-intentioned, should never automatically assume that an African American student might need extra assistance. This attitude conveys to the student the impression that the teacher does not think the student has the ability or intelligence to do the required work. Teachers should always base their interaction with students on the student's performance. If the student exhibits the need for help, then the instructor can offer help. Above all, remember that students have different learning styles and that a student's apparent difficulty with the material may actually stem from a difficulty with how you are doing something in the classroom.
On the other hand, some students might have issues not evident at first glance that influence their learning. For example, a gay or lesbian student, or a student with strong religious convictions may feel alienated by classroom discussions or projects that make assumptions about their experiences or beliefs. In addition, a student's ethnicity is not always visible. These students' issues are "invisible," but may affect their learning just as strongly as the student whose diversity issues are visible. Try to anticipate issues of sexuality, religion, or other values for students as you give assignments and lead discussions. Look for warning signs of students who feel distress because some aspect or event in the course threatens their personal identity. Students may respond flippantly or sarcastically to an assignment, or voice criticism of comments made by you or other students. Or, they may become uncharacteristically quiet. In such cases, approach the student individually and ask the student to explain his or her objections and concerns.
Many students may not voice their
concerns unless you actively solicit them. Give students this opportunity by
using a mid-term course evaluation, about a third of the way through the course.
A simple questionnaire will allow you to gauge how the class is working and hear
about any concerns. Sample mid-term class evaluations are included in Appendix
A.
The students most likely to feel
alienated in the university classroom are students from groups who hold less
power in society and whose values are frequently maligned by
"majority" society. However, students can feel alienation from the
particular makeup of an individual class. In some cases, "majority"
students may feel alienated because of the subject matter and/or student
composition of the course. Caucasian and male students may find themselves in
the minority for the first time in their lives in Women's Studies or African
American Studies classes and may feel intimidated to participate in discussions.
Some teachers have made the argument that it is positive for these normally
privileged students to feel alienated so they can learn how it feels to be in
the minority position. However, if students feel they are under attack and that
their opinions do not count because of minority or majority group affiliation,
they may not be comfortable enough to open up to learning in the course. It is
essential to make any students who are in the minority feel comfortable from the
first few days of class. Ultimately, these are the students who can most benefit
from the course concepts. Showing an interest in their learning and a respect
for their contribution to the classroom will make them feel included in your
course.
The atmosphere you establish in your classroom is as important as your rapport with each individual student. You want to provide an environment where students will feel safe voicing their opinions and where they will understand that discussions are meant to foster learning. Students bring into the classroom a complex range of attitudes about free speech. Some students may make statements such as "I have a right to my opinion" while others may insist on the authority of special experience or knowledge, criticizing other students by saying, "You don't have the right to say that, because you're not a woman/black/Christian etc." The instructor must find a way to mediate between the view that anyone can say anything and the view that only certain people have the right to speak about certain issues. While you do want to let students respond freely to each others' statements, you have a responsibility to restrict personal attacks. Many students who complain about the lack of attention to diversity in the classroom explain that they believe their teachers respect issues of diversity, but that they let students make injurious statements. Because you are the one who controls the classroom climate, you must be particularly attentive to the dynamics occurring during any given discussion.
Because issues of race, gender, religion, and class are so charged in our culture, many students bring to class considerable anxiety about speaking about these issues. You can reduce such anxiety by making your classroom a community where all members engage in trying to find out the truth about controversial issues. Diversity does not mean privileging "minority" points of view, but rather taking advantage of the diverse range of opinions and experiences so that all can benefit. Lynn Weber Cannon (1990) argues for informing students explicitly about the goal of shared learning in the classroom. As one of her ground rules for class discussion, she asks that all students "acknowledge that one mechanism of institutionalized racism, classism, sexism, heterosexism, and the like is that we are all systematically misinformed about our own group and about members of other groups. This is true for members of privileged and oppressed groups." She furthermore asks students to: "Agree not to blame ourselves or others for the misinformation we have learned, but to accept responsibility for not repeating misinformation after we have learned otherwise." (Cannon, 1990, p. 131)
By asking students to acknowledge
that misinformation exists, and to accept responsibility for learning about that
misinformation and not perpetuating it, you provide guidelines for group
discussions. Most students do not simply want to voice their opinions. They want
to leave the classroom feeling that they have learned from the discussion.
Creating this atmosphere of a community engaged in seeking to uncover
misinformation also helps you to move some of the focus away from the personal
(potentially injurious or hostile) to the communal value on better information
and critical thinking.
In many cases, teachers can prevent students from making hurtful statements by setting ground rules early in the course, especially in courses where controversial topics are likely to occur. In the first days of class distribute a list of ground rules for discussion that everyone should follow throughout the course. You might include general statements such those by Lynn Cannon as well as guidelines specific to your course content. Give students time to review the ground rules so that they can contribute to the agreement by clarifying rules or by adding others they feel are important. When problems arise during the semester, you or other students will be able to refer to the ground rules that all students have agreed on. By having students set ground rules early in the course, you have encouraged them to think about what constitutes a fruitful discussion where all students feel safe to participate.
These ground rules for discussion
do not just prevent students from making injurious statements about others, but
they also ensure fruitful discussion that focus on critical thinking. Even when
discussing topics that are not controversial, following these guidelines, or
those that you have established for your class, will help give students a sense
that when they are talking, they are learning, and not just expressing their
opinions. If you establish an electronic mail list for your course, you might
wish to have students agree that your classroom discussion guidelines should
also apply to any discussions that occur on the list.
Establishing a safe classroom
atmosphere is the key to increasing everyone's comfort level. As discussed
previously you can begin by laying out ground rules for discussion of
controversial, emotional and potentially offensive topics either in the syllabus
or in a handout on the first day of class. Starting the class with a discussion
of these explicit ground rules avoids some of the problems that may arise in the
classroom. Some teachers and students may find, however, that structuring
discussion in this way inhibits the free flow of ideas. A handout on ground
rules will help only if the course objectives and the individual teacher's
personality and teaching style are compatible with such an explicit,
"up-front" statement of rules.
Guidelines For Classroom Discussion
From: The Guided Discussion. (1992, February). For Your Consideration, 12, UNC Center for Teaching and Learning.
Some teachers address issues of diversity and the free exchange of ideas by introducing them as topics for discussion on the first day of classes, and by involving the students in the formulation of the ground rules. This approach requires careful lesson planning, but many teachers and students feel that it is worthwhile because it establishes a general atmosphere of open-mindedness and awareness. As part of the opening discussion, the teacher might have students define and illustrate concepts such as "presupposition," "assumption," "prejudgment," "prejudice," "perspective," and "bias." Having introduced these words as part of the permanent classroom vocabulary, the teacher can now lead a discussion about the nature of opinions, how they are formed, and why they differ. At the end of the discussion, when the students realize what is at stake when they utter their opinions, the teacher can introduce the idea of the classroom as a place for the free exchange of ideas, where students should leave their prejudices and presuppositions at the door.
Giving the classroom a name such as
"The Zone" highlights the important symbolic function of the room
itself. Students may even build on the idea, making their own observations and
jokes about the importance of protecting the atmosphere of this special place.
The name, if incorporated into the classroom vocabulary, becomes a point of
reference in all future discussions, and can be reinforced from time to time
throughout the semester. With encouragement, students quickly learn to make
observations about all assignments, readings and statements (including the
teacher's) using the rhetorical terms they learned on the first day. Once
sensitized in this manner, the students are ready to hold mature discussions
about issues that might otherwise provoke hot emotions and name-calling.
A guiding principle for including
students in the classroom should be to avoid the opposing habits of ignoring or
singling out students. For example, in a discussion about African American
women's experiences with poverty, a teacher might feel that she does not want to
put the one African American woman in the class on the spot and thus avoids eye
contact with her and does not call on her. On the other hand, the teacher might
see this moment in class as a golden opportunity to make the student (who
perhaps has been somewhat quiet until this point in the semester) feel that her
opinion counts. By calling on the student in this context, however, the teacher
has conveyed the assumption that this student will be able to represent the
viewpoint of all African American women. In reality, this student may be aware
that she disagrees with other African American friends on the issue discussed in
class, and is reluctant speak for the whole group. She might also perceive the
teacher's solicitation of her opinion as an assumption that she herself comes
from a poor family. So how can a teacher avoid the extremes of ignoring versus
singling out? If the student feels early on that she is treated as an individual
in the class, that her opinion counts on all issues, she will be more likely to
feel comfortable sharing her views when the class discussion of African American
women arises. Particularly in small classes, where discussion takes place more
often than in a lecture hall, teachers must develop strategies for encouraging
all students to participate from the beginning of the semester. Above all, never
ask a student to act as a spokesperson for his or her group.
There are certainly advantages and disadvantages to the various techniques for involving students in classroom discussion. Allowing students to volunteer lets those who most want to talk have the opportunity to do so. It penalizes, however, those students who have a contribution to make, but refrain from volunteering because they are shy, do not have confidence in their opinions, or do not feel it is appropriate for them to speak. In a 1992 survey on students' attitudes towards their education (UNC Center for Teacher and Learning, "Classroom Communication Analysis Project"), almost 30% of students responding to the questionnaire reported having wanted to speak in class but not doing so because they "felt insecure, inadequate, or uncertain." The percentage of female students and African American students responding in this manner was somewhat higher than among other segments of the student population. Clearly, many students want to talk, but need encouragement from their teachers. On the other hand, calling on students ensures that all students make a contribution to the class, but can embarrass shy students and penalize students who really want to speak on a given topic.
Combining both methods leads to
more participation in class discussion. You can combine volunteering and calling
on students by beginning a discussion topic by asking for volunteers. When a
student responds to your question, call on other students to support, add to, or
modify that student's comments. Try to encourage all students to participate
early in your course. The more time that goes by, the less likely shy or
unconfident students will ever be to volunteer. Make clear in your attitude that
you know all students have important contributions to make and that you have
confidence in each student. Also make sure that you allow enough time for
students to think after you ask a question. Many teachers only wait about one
second for an answer. By waiting as much as five seconds, you allow more
reserved students the chance to formulate their responses and to get up the
courage to answer. For additional information about encouraging student
participation, see the sections on group work and participation within each
chapter in Part II of this handbook.
It is vital that you, as the
teacher, takes responsibility to ensure a comfortable environment for all
students in the class. When students voice comments that attack or malign a
particular group (such as race, religion, or sexual orientation) those comments
potentially threaten some students in the classroom. In this situation, do not
ignore such remarks, or change the subject. While it is unnecessary to reprimand
the student directly, take issue with the statement made and remind the whole
class that such statements are hurtful and do not further the pursuit of
knowledge. Where relevant, challenge the statement's validity by pointing to
statistics or studies that challenge stereotypes. For example, if a student
makes a comment about African American women who take advantage of welfare, it
would be instructive to point out that the majority of mothers on public
assistance are, in fact, Caucasian. To ensure friendly and constructive
discussion, try to prevent students from attacking each other personally. Most
often, the kinds of attacks students make on each other come from their
perceptions of each others' background and experience. Students accuse each
other of not having "the right" to speak on an issue because they do
not have the experience needed to speak about the issue. Remind students that
while personal experience can be a valuable resource for drawing conclusions, it
remains only one resource which other personal experiences may contradict.
In addition to setting ground
rules, try to anticipate specific issues that may arise during a particular
lesson. Imagine comments that students might make that could be insensitive.
Naturally, the more you have taught the course, the easier it will be to
anticipate student comments.
When you introduce a controversial
topic, you may make students feel less personally threatened by the discussion
by introducing the debate in impersonal terms. Rather than asking a student, for
example, "Do you think schools should make contraception available to
students?" present the arguments usually made for and against contraception
in the schools and ask students to critique or support the arguments. Students
will thus be engaged in thinking about where they stand on the issue, but the
more impersonal way of presenting the argument leaves the door open to students
to decide how much of their personal views they want to divulge.
In CTL's 1992 study on how the university met students' needs, researchers asked UNC students whether their instructors used examples or analogies that they could not understand. Almost 10% of students indicated that their instructors frequently used analogies they could not relate to, while almost 22% indicated their instructors occasionally used such analogies. What is the problem? Good teachers want to use examples with which students can identify. Good examples can make abstract and unfamiliar concepts more accessible to students. However, teachers who frequently use examples that reflect the experience of only some students risk alienating others. For example, the business school teacher who frequently employs sports metaphors risks not only failing to clarify the concept for students who are not familiar with sports, but also risks making those students feel that they are outside the "club" of students who speak this sports language. Another problem arises when teachers forget that they are already experts and use analogies that make sense to others in their field, but are foreign to the new student. For example, explaining the causes of poverty in a Latin American country by using a classic textbook case study of poverty in an Asian country will not make sense to new students. Even if the study is the standard reference point for scholars in the field, new students will be unaware of such important discoveries and publications in the field.
Teachers should also remember that
though they naturally draw on their own experiences when they teach, these
experiences may differ significantly from those of the students. For example,
comparisons with another country to which the teacher has traveled are often
meaningless to the majority of students who have never left the country, or even
North Carolina. Furthermore, analogies drawing on activities such as sailing or
skiing, often associated with higher socio-economic classes, might make students
from a lower-income background feel excluded. Try to use analogies based on
information you are fairly sure that students have. Use information already
covered earlier in the course, for example. Also consider using examples from
popular culture or from issues discussed currently on campus (from the Daily
Tar Heel, for example). If you do have an anecdote from your life that seems
particularly suited to your material, make sure that you present it in a way
that the students feel involved. For example, research on International TAs
(Nelson, 1991, p. 433) suggests that student interest and learning increases
when the TA makes reference to the way things happen in their country. However,
only when the TA "personalizes" the discussion by comparing his or her
life directly to the students' lives, does the comparison gain immediate meaning
for the students.
Undoubtedly, the use of humor can open doors for students to take an interest in a course. However, humor is equally likely to alienate students who find the humor offensive. Humor can serve as a possible means of uniting people from diverse backgrounds, or a chance to lighten the mood of an otherwise heavy and serious class. But humor, far from being universal, is actually very rooted in individual identity. As Regina Barreca (1994) who has studied humor in literature has said, "[Humor] is rigidly mapped and marked by subjectivity. Almost every detail of our lives affects the way we create and respond to humor: age, race, ethnic background, and class are all significant factors in the production and reception of humor." Barreca discusses the example of an male archaeology professor's reaction to her paper on how men and women react differently to humor. The professor was upset because he felt that people like Barreca were ruining everyone's fun: "I used to be able to tell wonderful, hilarious jokes in my introductory course in archaeology. But by the time I retired, I couldn't say anything anymore for fear of offending a female student. We used to be able to laugh at ourselves and to laugh together, and now we have lost that." The professor offered an example of his jokes: "How do you know if a skeleton is a male or a female?If the mouth is open, it's a woman. They never stop talking! Get it?" Barreca reports that no one of the one hundred or so audience members laughed (Barecca, 1994, p. 13). Clearly, this blatant example of a sexist joke is insulting to women, (and probably much more blatant than the majority of jokes that offend students). Not realizing the offensive nature of the joke, the professor assumed that it was "just a joke," that values did not count in humor, and that if some of his students laughed, there was no problem with the joke.
Are UNC professors using offensive humor? According to the 1992 CTL survey, over 15% of students reported that their instructors occasionally or frequently used offensive humor. A greater percentage of African American students than Caucasian students reported that their instructor frequently used humor offensive to groups or individuals (13% versus 6%). Surprisingly, fewer women than men reported offensive humor (5% vs. 10%). The questionnaires were administered on a voluntary basis. Data is available only for those professors who requested the questionnaire for their students. The number of students at UNC who have encountered offensive humor is therefore possibly much higher than the survey data indicates.
The use of materials other than
written texts can make a course more interesting to students. Visual aids can be
particularly helpful in the foreign language classroom. Be attentive, however,
to the images you present to your class. Do the visual aids you use reinforce
stereotypes of gender and race? For example, a Spanish teacher introducing the
textbook unit on occupations may have students practice the new vocabulary by
having them identify the occupations of people in magazine images. If all the
images represent Caucasians, non-Caucasians may feel that they are excluded from
this working world. Likewise, pictures that reinforce gender stereotypes (women
as nurses and secretaries, men as businessmen and scientists) may offend men and
women who believe such stereotyped roles are harmful. Of course, many American
magazines themselves perpetuate gender and race stereotypes, making it difficult
for teachers to find non-stereotyped images to use in the classroom. Therefore,
publications that serve women or ethnic groups may provide resources not to be
found in mainstream publications. When drawing your own visual aids, try to
present neutral figures of no identifiable gender or ethnic identity. Although
it might require more time to adapt your visual aids to reflect diversity
issues, it will make all students in the class feel included.
Role plays are often a good way to help students feel more personally engaged with course concepts. They can, however, contain hidden assumptions about gender, race, or other issues. Whenever possible, design your role playing activity so that students play roles regardless of their gender, race, etc. Avoid assigning students roles based on their real-life identities. By arbitrarily distributing roles, you emphasize that the activity aims to teach concepts and critical thinking, not to reinforce differences between groups.
The same principles of setting
ground rules for full classroom discussion (see earlier section in this chapter)
should also apply to group work. Students should engage in group activities
confident that they will not be attacked personally or as a member of a group,
and aware of the limits they must place on their own comments to other group
members. When group activities are designed effectively, students can learn from
each other and in an active way that helps them to understand and apply course
concepts (see Chapter 1 on Collaborative Learning).
It is typical in classrooms for students to tend to sit next to students who resemble them. Thus, the seating patterns in a classroom will frequently be divided by gender or racial lines. These patterns of self-segregation are not necessarily harmful to learning, but they make it more difficult for students to gain new perspectives from their classmates. One way to encourage more diverse interaction is to assign your students to work in groups. If you let students choose their own groups, you run two risks. First, the students will choose to work with their friends or those who are likely to share their views. Second, students who are perceived as minorities may be marginalized when they are not invited to join groups. When assigning groups, mix different classroom areas, having students from the back work with students in the front, students from the left side working with students on the right side, etc.
Teachers have different philosophies about how to mix groups. Some prefer to have a strong student mixed with several weaker students, while others like to put same-level students in a group. Remember that each scenario has advantages and disadvantages. You might choose to change your group assignments several times during the semester so that each student will have varied group experiences. In terms of diversity, you should try to assign students in a way that they will have the opportunity to exchange ideas with students who are different from them. However, bear in mind that too obvious divisions may appear to students as singling them out. For example, if you have three African American students in your class whom you never assign to the same group, they may feel you are singling them out, or even penalizing them for their race. Thus, if you change groups, make sure minority students work together sometimes and work separately at other times. The random nature of your choice of groups will make them feel that they are being treated as individuals.
Some students who are normally shy
in front of the class participate much more when they have the opportunity to
work in small groups. However, in some cases, the more reserved or shy students
continue to remain silent in group work. Furthermore, students who dominate full
class discussion are likely to dominate in their groups. Therefore, structure
the group activity in a way that ensures that all members will participate
equally. One way to do this is in your wording of the group activity. For
example, in a group activity you could give the following instruction:
"Every person in your group should give one example." In addition,
during a follow-up discussion, always have a student in the group present the
group's findings. Try to have each group work on a separate question or activity
so that they are responsible for presenting information to the rest of the
class. If you have a small class, have each student from the group present one
aspect of the group's findings. If you have observed that a student in a group
was not actively participating, you might have that student speak on the group's
findings, thus holding the student responsible for the group work as a whole.
Sometimes students have the impression that they must all reach the same conclusion in their group. By presenting the group activity as an exploration of diverging points of views, you send the message that you expect differences of opinion. For example, in discussing the characterization of female characters in a short story, you could ask students to identify which characters the authors presented positively and which negatively. In a science class, you could debate the hypothetical outcome of an experiment before the class does the experiment or reads about the solution. Ask students to make particular note of where they were in disagreement and to determine the source of their disagreement. Encouraging debate furthers the general goal of teaching critical thinking skills and can bear on diversity issues in particular. You can make the debate less threatening to students who are reluctant to criticize others' beliefs by using formats that are more like a game where students act out parts. Students in a literature class could put a character in a novel "on trial," while students in a sociology class could use the format of a popular television talk show to discuss attitudes about controversial topics. Such activities enable students to act out roles that represent different points of view. The acting allows them a safety cushion so that they do not feel personally attacked during the debate.
The content of a course reflects a
teacher's knowledge, interests, and beliefs. Identify your assumptions
underlying your choice of topics and readings and the way you choose to organize
your course. What seems to you like an obvious way to present the course content
and concepts may seem either arbitrary or biased to students. For example, in a
course on the history of political thought, is the history devoted to European
and American models only? If so, why are there no examples from Africa or Asia?
A bias is not necessarily negative. In fact, no one can teach a course without
revealing their own experience with the subject matter. Furthermore, a teacher
should feel comfortable about what he or she is teaching; the chosen approach
reflects not only the teacher's knowledge, but his or her interests. The first
step in getting students interested in the course is to share your own
interests. However, you should recognize your assumptions and be able to justify
the choices you have made in your course.
While you teach materials with
which you are comfortable, you might also take advantage of opportunities to
branch out. Examine the assumptions implicit in your course design. Are there
gaps in your course you could fill by adjusting your syllabus? When possible,
consult with colleagues who have taught the course or similar courses and
compare your syllabus with theirs. Teachers often prefer to teach according to
their own expertise and to avoid teaching topics in which they know they are not
experts. But teaching the new and unfamiliar can help you to broaden your
knowledge of the field, and also to rediscover some of the important course
concepts from a different point of view. You might also explore tapping your
students' special knowledge. For example, have students majoring in a related
field give class presentations. By doing this, you will show students that they
have knowledge to share with others and can actively shape the direction of the
class.
No matter what you choose to include in your curriculum, your choice reflects a particular ideological perspective. The great debates over the literary, sociological, psychological or artistic canon, and the controversies over "politically correct" agenda are unlikely to be resolved in the academic community as a whole. The battle between the "educational fundamentalists" who argue that it is possible to determine and to teach "universal" values, and the "relativists" who argue that values are never universal, but rather determined by specific cultural communities, has caused conflict within many academic departments (Graff, 1992, p. 58?59). Rather than worrying about constructing the ideal value-free syllabus, which would be impossible to achieve, teach the conflicts about the curriculum in your field. Let students debate some of the most interesting controversial points in the field. These controversies constitute, after all, a central aspect of what your discipline is about and can help to show students some key concepts important to the field. Pairing the sacred "classics" of the field with the "low" canon of popular culture can help students to ask questions about how certain literary works or scientific theories have come to be part of the canon. As Gerald Graff's article in The Politics of Liberal Education states,
The point is not to get rid of the classics but to teach the classics in relation to the challenges being posed to them. It is not, in other words, a question of substituting Rambo for Rimbaud so much as putting highbrow and lowbrow traditions back into the dialogical relation in which they have actually existed in our cultural history. (p. 60)
"Lowbrow" traditions are as much a part of culture as the classics, and they may even determine what we will consider as "classic" in the future. Studying the relationship between "low" and "high" culture will illuminate the problems involved in deciding on a canon. Inviting students to join the discussion about a discipline's canon will make them feel more involved than those who are merely presented with list of accepted classics.
As discussed in the section on
group work, teaching students that debate and controversy are natural and even
desirable, and using debates among scholars in the field encourages debate
between students. Graff also suggests that professors structure debate in their
courses by bringing students from different courses together to engage in a
"conference." (p. 68) For example, a modern French poetry class and
the course on current popular film meet to discuss "Rimbaud and Rambo"
and students are in charge of giving papers and moderating. It would, of course,
be difficult to structure the work of other courses into your courses all the
time. Take advantage of the controversies in your field to structure debate within
your classroom and within your syllabus.
Because the student population is becoming increasingly diverse, try to reflect these diverse trends in your syllabus, particularly for humanities and social science courses where sociocultural issues are central. In particular, the results of the 1992 CTL survey at UNC show that Asian students are more likely than other students to disagree with the statement "This course covered material from diverse perspectives, such as non-Western European views, women's perspectives, perspectives of non-whites, etc." Many teachers have begun to incorporate perspectives other than the male Eurocentric perspective into their courses. Often, however, the intention to make a syllabus feel more inclusive can have the opposite effect by making "the woman's perspective" or "the non-European perspective" feel like an empty tribute to political correctness tacked onto the end of the syllabus. Where possible, try to integrate the diverse perspectives into other concepts you teach. For example, in a French literature course, rather than introducing your one African writer to exemplify the non-European perspective, (a perspective which is itself too diverse to be represented by only one writer), contextualize this writer in terms of other issues you have already developed. For example, in studying the Martiniquan author Aimé Césaire, you could introduce him in the context of the surrealist movement rather than simply as the writer of African heritage. By doing this, you can still highlight the writer's non-European perspective, but you have shown that he is worth studying on his own merits, and not simply because of his ethnic identity.
In addition, avoid placing topics related to diversity last on your syllabus or last within a unit. This can give the impression that this topic is marginal to rather than an integral part of the course issues. For example, in a course on Impressionist painting, rather than leaving Mary Cassatt as the last painter because she is a woman, place her in a context in the course that has to do with her identity as a painter, not as a woman. Of course, finishing the course with a woman (or African American, or Hispanic, or Asian American, etc.) may be entirely appropriate for a conceptual reason (e.g. her work represents a departure from traditional technique, or her work introduces new questions into the field). Aim to represent diversity while integrating it into important course concepts.
The assignments you give indicate to students what you value most in the course. For this reason, choose assignments that both ask students to apply concepts and skills you have emphasized and that allow students to explore the connections between course content and their own interests and experiences. Avoid assignments that could exclude or pose a disadvantage to certain students because of their group identity or background. Not only could the assignment cause the students to perform less well than other students, but it also potentially sends the message that the field may be closed to him or her.
It might sometimes be difficult to choose an assignment that risks offending no student. In such cases, offer a choice of topics (of equal difficulty) so that students can choose the one with which they feel most comfortable. For example, in a French 2 class where students are learning vocabulary for marriage and family relationships, the teacher might decide to have students write a description of their ideal husband or wife. This topic, however, asks students to reveal personal information they might not want to discuss with the teacher, and it could cause a particularly uncomfortable dilemma for gay or lesbian students. The assignment forces them either to lie about their ideal mate or to reveal private information. To make such students more comfortable, offer a less personal topic. You might instead ask them to describe the relationship of a celebrity couple, or a couple from their favorite television program.
Keep in mind the students' varying
academic strengths and weaknesses. For many students, performing under pressure,
such as a timed in-class composition or exam, has a negative impact on their
performance. Although you may feel the need to evaluate students in class, and
may be required to give an in-class final, try to provide other formats that do
not disadvantage students who have difficulty working under pressure. Offer
take-home finals and papers, or provide options so that students can choose the
format that will allow them to best show what they know. If you have students
with physical or learning disabilities, they will often need more time or
special facilities to complete assignments or tests. These needs will be
discussed in more detail in Chapters 13 and 14.
Just as you do not want to penalize students who do not work well under pressure, be aware that you may penalize shy or reserved students by making participation a significant portion of their grade. Furthermore, when using participation as a grading criterion, make sure that students have the chance to participate in small groups, and tell them that their small group work is part of their participation grade. Make your participation criteria explicit to students. Keep them informed of their participation grade throughout the semester by giving them a summary of your criteria when you give them their first participation grade.
Some teachers have structured their
course requirements in a way that adapts to each individual student's needs.
Students can choose early on how much they want the different aspects of the
course requirements to count. The teacher sets a range of points within which
students can choose. This system allows students to perform to their potential,
but does not give them unlimited freedom. For an example of a flexible grading
scale, consult Appendix B.
No matter what kind of assignments you give, give students explicit information about how you will grade their work. This becomes a particularly important issue for students who may already be sensitive about their status at the university, or students who fear being penalized or privileged for their group affiliation. These students may have had past experiences where teachers singled them out for special treatment, whether the treatment was harder or easier than for other students. Your students may very well bring expectations based on these experiences to your classroom. Thus, when students see a set of grading criteria that appear objective, they will more likely feel a true sense of accomplishment when getting a good grade and understand the reasons when getting a lower grade. For paper assignments, give a list of criteria for A-F papers. If possible, give students an example of a good student paper or journal writing, and show them why it is good. Give explicit feedback on early assignments that will help students to improve on future assignments. When possible, allow students to rewrite for a better grade, since this kind of practice will help them to improve their writing.
The issue of nonstandard English in writing has been a controversial one, especially because it can affect how students from various backgrounds learn. For example, when students take English 10, 11, and 12, they learn to use writing conventions accepted within particular "discourse communities." Although composition teachers at UNC recognize that students' speech may reflect the discourse communities of their hometown or peer groups, students in basic composition courses are taught to use conventions accepted within professional communities such as business, social sciences, natural sciences, or humanities. Instructors discourage dialect and nonstandard English because these kinds of writing may put the student at a disadvantage in the working world.
You need to decide the extent to which you want to emphasize particular writing standards in your courses. Perhaps you will require a greater degree of adherence to conventions in a course for majors than in a course for non-majors or in an introductory course. In any case, make very clear what you expect from students' writing. Whenever possible, give students the chance to rewrite drafts so they can improve.
You might also consider giving some assignments in which nonstandard English is appropriate. Creative writing assignments can allow students to use course concepts, but in a way that sounds more "natural" to them. For example, in order to have students in a literature course illustrate their understanding of the relationship that is developed between the story's narrator and its readers, you could have students write a short story in which a narrator (perhaps speaking in dialect) establishes a particular rapport with his or her readers. You would allow students to determine the kind of voice the narrator would have, leaving the parameters open enough so that each student could use the kind of language that feels right to him or her. The idea is not to replace more formal writing such as research papers, but rather to supplement it with activities that encourage students to perform well in a way that feels comfortable to them.
Furthermore, by encouraging your students to use nonstandard English, you help to educate all students in the class about the diversity issues inherent in language. In other words, by showing students that there are varieties of English, rather than simply one "correct" English, you help them to see that students from backgrounds different from their own speak a language that reflects their particular culture. Ensuring that your students understand the diversity of linguistic cultures within the United States facilitates their acceptance of the diversity of all Americans.
The Writing Center
If you do find that a student needs
assistance in writing standard English (or in any aspect of writing skills),
suggest that the student make an appointment at the Writing Center. Staff can
administer private or group tutorials on particular skills, help students to
organize their papers, or help them to revise drafts. Staff at the Center will
send you a summary of the work session with the student so that you understand
the nature of the student's work outside of class.
According to a survey conducted by the Higher Education Research Institute in 1994 (as cited in Shea, The Chronicle of Higher Education) only 19.2% of freshmen said that they frequently had asked a teacher for advice after class in the past year. This statistic suggests that students do not initiate contact with a teacher outside of class, even if they do have a concern. University policy requires that all teaching staff hold regularly scheduled office hours in their departments, yet teachers often complain that they sit in their offices waiting for students to come. You can encourage students to come see you by scheduling informal consultations before the first assignment's due date. Even if the appointments are optional, by having a sign-up sheet, you send the message that you will be waiting for that individual student. Furthermore, if students have concerns later in the semester, they will be more likely to see you since they have already done this before in a neutral situation. In addition, many students at UNC now have e-mail accounts. Giving the class your e-mail address as well as the e-mail addresses of other students can provide an informal, non-threatening arena outside of class where students can pursue questions or concerns in a more relaxed manner.
Because students often are reluctant to visit a teacher's office to discuss their concerns, some UNC teachers have held their office hours in more public places such as coffeehouses or bars, which they thought would provide a more relaxing and informal atmosphere. Although these teachers reported that more students came to see them as a result of holding their office hours in these places, some students avoided meeting their teachers in this situation. Consider, for example, a female student whose male teacher holds office hours in a bar. The teacher has put the student in a situation which may make her feel that she is the object of the teacher's personal, rather than professional, attention (in addition to undermining the intellectual climate goals for the University). Other well-intentioned teachers have held their office hours in the Black Cultural Center (BCC) hoping that African American students would feel more "at home," and that other students would explore the BCC, which is open to all students. However well-intentioned, holding office hours in the BCC creates the impression that the teacher favors the African American students over other students. Therefore, while you might consider offering some office hours in non-traditional places, be careful that you choose places that are neutral and non-threatening to all students.
Also consider the time that you hold your office hours. If you hold office hours late in the afternoon or in the evening, when there are few people in the building, you may make students feel uncomfortable. Female students may be concerned for their personal safety if they have to walk to your building after dark, or if they have to enter a darkened building. When meeting with students, keep your door open or slightly open unless there is a third person in the room. By keeping the door open, you create a less personally threatening atmosphere in your office.
One way to make students more
comfortable coming to your office is to offer both group and individual office
hours. Students who typically avoid one-on-one office meetings with their
professors might be more likely to come if they know that all the attention in
the meeting will not be focused on them. For example, if you find that several
students exhibit similar writing difficulties after the first paper, suggest to
that they come to your office together, if possible, for a mini-tutorial in a
workshop format. The students will realize that they are not alone in their
difficulties and can learn from each others' mistakes. However, some students
want and need one-on-one attention. Do provide a variety of ways for students to
meet with you.
Particularly if you are a younger teacher, students may take a personal interest in you, whether as a romantic infatuation or as an academic role model. Teaching at Carolina, a Center for Teaching and Learning handbook, (1991) suggests that you discourage such personal relationships by developing a friendly, yet detached rapport with students: "Teachers should strive for an arm's length distance from students close enough to be helpful and friendly, but far enough away that you don't feel any inappropriate obligations to them" (p. 56). Keep in mind that if you yourself are perceived as belonging to a minority group, some students from the same group may feel closer to you personally and seek frequent interactions with you outside of the classroom. They may even expect you (perhaps unconsciously) to extend preferential treatment to them. While you should encourage such students to pursue you on a professional level, and act as a role model, you should discourage them from viewing you as a "buddy."
According to a University policy established in April of 1995, teachers are prohibited from having amorous relationships with students whom they evaluate. The policy states that:
Faculty members or other instructional staff shall not initiate, pursue, or be involved in any amorous or sexual relationships with any student whom they are in a position to evaluate or supervise by virtue of their teaching, research, or administrative responsibilities.
Even if a student consents to an
amorous relationship with a UNC teacher, it is considered to be a violation of
the policy. The entire text of the UNC Amorous Relations Policy is included in
Appendix F of this handbook.
Guidelines for Inclusive Teaching
This chapter has presented general guidelines that will help to establish a more comfortable learning environment for all students, regardless of their diverse backgrounds. The number of suggestions in this chapter may feel overwhelming. However, you are probably already applying many of the principles for inclusive teaching we have discussed. It is unreasonable to expect to completely change your teaching style overnight. Allow yourself time to gradually apply diversity issues to your course, focusing first on the aspects of your course that are easiest to change while developing strategies to address the more difficult aspects.
Female students currently make up more than half the population at UNC-Chapel Hill- 58.5% in 1996 (UNC Fact Book, 1997). This figure reflects the greater access women have gained to the university over the past few decades, but does not reflect the sometimes unpleasant conditions they find once they arrive. In a landmark study, The Classroom Climate: A Chilly One for Women?(1982), Roberta Hall and Bernice Sandler reported the effects inequitable classroom techniques have on female students. Although this report was published more than ten years ago, individual studies continue to show that many university classrooms are hostile environments for female students. This section examines how a course can either welcome or alienate female students through in-class and out-of-class procedures and curriculum choices.
The characteristics of women in the university classroom are, of course, only general characteristics. The differences among female students themselves may be as great as differences between female and male students generally. You may very well have female students who exhibit traditionally "masculine" classroom behavior, and male students who exhibit traditionally "feminine" classroom behavior. We present these findings of gender differences to make you more aware of why your female students may be behaving according to traditional models and to suggest ways you might accommodate different learning styles in your classroom. Keep in mind that gender bias in the classroom can negatively affect male students too. When male students do not have the opportunity to see women participating actively in the classroom, they may be less likely to treat women as equals both during college and in their careers after college. Finally, although this section focuses on the traditional neglect suffered by female students in the academy, many discriminatory situations described could equally apply to any minority student. In many courses men constitute the minority, and are sometimes treated differently from the female students in the class.
Chapter 1 has already addressed individual learning styles, and has shown how some classroom techniques may put some students at a disadvantage. This chapter, therefore, will not discuss in detail the differences between various learning styles but will summarize the findings different studies have shown about characteristics female students generally exhibit. The chapter will also propose specific strategies for addressing these characteristics so that both female and male students can reach their potential in your courses.
Children develop their conceptions of themselves based on a combination of experiences in the family, in school, in peer groups, and in other social situations. Clearly, however, the classroom experience itself is an important factor in determining how children assess their abilities from an early age. Studies of classrooms from kindergarten through graduate school have shown that teachers tend to:
Both female and male teachers at
the elementary school level exhibit these behaviors. At the university level, it
appears that "female professors, compared with their male counterparts, tend to
be less biased against female students, are more able to recognize females'
contributions and intellectual talents, and are more generous in giving them
academic and career encouragement," (Wood, 1994, p. 75). Nonetheless, by the
time students enter the university classroom, years of conditioning during the
early years of education have taken their toll, resulting in significant
discrepancies between the academic behaviors of male and female students. Male
or female professors with the greatest intentions of eliminating gender bias and
stereotypes face the challenge of reaching students who, at some point during
their lives, have learned to become silent and passive in an academic culture
that tends to reward highly verbal and aggressive students.
Studies by linguists show that
female students are more likely than male students to exhibit the following
characteristics in their classroom communication style:
Students exhibiting these
communication characteristics have often been perceived in academic communities
as less rigorous in their ability to think critically and lacking in
intellectual sophistication. Whether the students are male or a female, the
professor who values assertive and self-confident speech is less likely to take
these students seriously. Such students experience a clear disadvantage in the
classroom where professors expect them to speak in front of the whole group.
According to the socio-linguist Deborah Tannen (1991), girls often suffer this
disadvantage because:
speaking in a classroom is more congenial to boys' language experience than to girls', since it entails putting oneself forward in front of a large group of people, many of whom are strangers and at least one of whom is sure to judge speakers' knowledge and intelligence by their verbal display. (p. B1)
Professors can use a variety of
strategies to make a classroom a more equitable environment for students with
less aggressive communication characteristics. Some of the following suggestions
repeat strategies discussed in Chapter 1 and 2, but this section also includes
consideration of the added dimension of gender differences. Keep in mind that
changing your classroom overnight is neither possible, nor desirable. First
assess your own classroom communication patterns. Then, consider which aspects
of your teaching style you might like to change and which aspects are already
effective in reaching all students. Work on developing new teaching strategies
over a period of time, noting what works and what does not.
Consider whether you are reaching all of your students, particularly in classes where female students constitute the minority, and thus enjoy less peer support. Ask yourself whether you exhibit any of the characteristics described in the above list, such as asking higher order questions to male students rather than female students, or giving more praise to male students' answers. Most teachers, including women teachers, are unaware of such preferential treatment. Or you may be ignoring the minority of male students in your class. One way to find out how you treat different groups in the classroom is to pay attention to where students sit in class. Do the few women students sit together away from the men, or vice versa? Do you direct most of your attention toward one or the other side in class?
If possible, videotape several of your classes so you can examine your classroom techniques in detail. While you consider how you treat male and female students, you can also look at other pedagogical issues, such as whether you make eye contact with all students in the room, whether all students can hear and comprehend you, and how students respond to each others' comments. Another excellent way to get feedback about your teaching is to give your class an opportunity to offer comments on the course about a third of the way through the semester. Have students fill out brief course evaluations and ask them to give feedback on how comfortable they feel participating in class. Also, ask students what you could do to help them feel more comfortable participating. Sample course evaluation forms can be found in Appendix A.
In You Just Don't
Understand(1990), socio-linguist Deborah Tannen showed that men and women
communicate in remarkably different ways. Whereas men tend to speak in order to
acquire information and assert their position within a hierarchy, women tend to
speak in order to share experiences and establish a condition of equality within
a communication situation. Tannen labels these two kinds of communication
"report vs. rapport":
For most women, the language of conversation is primarily a language of rapport: a way of establishing connections and negotiating relationships. Emphasis is placed on displaying similarities and matching experiences. From childhood, girls criticize peers who try to stand out or appear better than others.
For most men, talk is
primarily a means to preserve independence and negotiate and maintain
status in a hierarchical social order. This is done by exhibiting
knowledge and skill, and by holding center stage through verbal
performance such as story-telling, joking, or imparting information.
From childhood, men learn to use talking as a way to get and keep
attention. So they are more comfortable speaking in larger groups made
up of people they know less well- in the broadest sense, "public
speaking." But even the most private situations can be approached like
public speaking, more like giving a report than establishing rapport.
(p. 77)
According to Tannen's model, women may be less likely to challenge a classmate or offer her own point of view, not because she is unable to think critically, but because according to the rules of her conversational style, it is impolite to assert oneself over a peer. Similarly, studies show that women tend to perform better in classroom situations that are inclusive and invite collaboration, that value rapport as well as report. In these situations, which more closely reflect women's communication styles, female students take more active roles and participate on a level equal to that of male students. According to Julia Wood (1994), "the ideal instructional style might blend masculine and feminine modes of communicating, which would enable all students to participate comfortably some of the time and stretch all students to supplement their styles of interacting by learning additional ones" (p. 220).
As Wood herself acknowledges, the
categories of "masculine" and "feminine" are broad categories that may not be
reflected in all male or female students' behaviors. As discussed earlier, every
student in your class, regardless of gender, is likely to be more comfortable
either with a more competitive or a more collaborative learning environment. By
tailoring your classroom techniques to varying student needs, you allow each
student to reach his or her potential. See Chapter 1 for details on
collaborative learning and Chapter 2 for suggestions on group work.
You have probably noticed that male and female students, when in the minority, often segregate themselves by sitting together. While you would probably not want to ask them to split up permanently, you should try to arrange classroom situations where men and women work together. Do not simply let students choose their own groups, for this will result in the same students always working with each other. In addition, you might change your position in the classroom. Do you usually sit or stand away from the group of students in the minority? If so, vary the place from which you generally conduct the class so that you have a chance to make close eye contact with different groups of students.
Simply having students work in groups does not ensure that all students will participate equally. Even within group situations, women students may be less likely to actively participate when men outnumber them. Depending on student personalities and the ratio of male to female students, you might try mixing the groups in a way that ensures that women and men will occasionally have the opportunity to work with students of their own gender. For example, if you have a class of four women and fifteen men, and you assign groups of four students, you might have two of the women work in one group with other male students and assign the other two women to a different group. Avoid assigning all four women to the same group because (a) the women might feel singled out and (b) they would not have the chance to interact with male students. Similarly, if you have a class of two men and ten women, you would not want to always split up the male students because they might feel that you are targeting them for special treatment.
Again, consider the personality of individual students. Women who have shown that they are comfortable voicing their opinions in front of the whole class, and who defend their point of view with confidence are probably going to participate actively in a group of men. Observe group dynamics in your class and look for ways to structure groups in which your quiet but capable students will feel comfortable sharing their ideas.
In addition, if you assign specific functions to group members such as secretary, or group spokesperson, make sure that both male and female students have the opportunity to take roles requiring leadership. For example, do not continually permit the quiet female student to act as group secretary rather than a group spokesperson. Make sure that each student's participation is important to the group's purpose. Make all students accountable for their participation in the group.
Most of all, your responsibility is
to establish and demand a working environment that respects all students. Even
if you do not make sexist statements, if you allow them to be made without
challenging them, you are permitting a sexist attitude to enter the classroom.
In fact, the kind of discomfort women often report feeling comes not from the
teacher, but from other students. One UNC student recalled how frustrating it
was for her to endure her male classmates' teasing and joking. Although she had
confronted them personally and asked them to stop making sexual jokes in front
of her they continued, even increased, doing so. The student was angry with the
male students, but also with the professor:
"I feel that it's the responsibility of the teacher to make sure that it's an appropriate environment. So even if it's not necessarily him doing something, if other kids are doing something, he's supposed to be the one in charge. He's not supposed to be kidding around with the other kids in the class who are saying inappropriate things."
If you observe students making
sexist remarks, whether in front of the whole class or in smaller groups, it is
best to confront the student(s) and tell them that such remarks are
inappropriate and do not further the purposes of the course. Again, in classes
where gender or other group identity differences are likely to become the topics
of discussion, give students printed guidelines that demand respect for all
students during the first week of class. Or work out a class contract on rules
of discussion at the beginning of the semester. Having done so, you can simply
remind the class of rules rather than introducing the issue for the particular
student who makes an injurious statement.
Female students' responses should be validated, but try also to push them to go further, and challenge them to do their best. By insisting that a female student follow her statement through to its larger implications, you will help her to develop her critical thinking skills, and will show your confidence in her ability to think critically. Demand participation of all students, not just those who always raise their hands. You can decrease some of the fear students have of giving "the wrong answer" or of not having the answer by explaining that you do not expect every student to have the answer all of the time. Offer to students some questions for which you yourself do not have the answers and share with the class those moments where you are trying to work through a problem yourself. As discussed in Chapter 2, such openness on your part shows students that while some questions in your field have fairly evident "right answers," many questions remain open to debate. Furthermore, by encouraging more collaborative learning in your class, students build confidence that they themselves can produce "right" answers.
Well-meaning teachers often try to
encourage quiet students to participate by getting them to speak about issues
the teacher believes are important to them. In the case of a female student, the
teacher may assume the student is interested in "women's issues." For example,
in a discussion about the Equal Rights Amendment in an American history class, a
professor might be tempted to turn to a generally quiet female student and ask
her to give "the woman's perspective." The question is well-meant, since the
professor wants to include the woman and validate her viewpoint. However, it
puts the woman in the uncomfortable position of speaking for all women in the
class and for all the women she knows. The question also conveys a certain
expectation that she holds views based on her gender and, further, that all
students hold beliefs or values based on their essential gender identity. There
may well be men in the class who consider themselves feminists and who might
have as much, if not more, to say about the need for equal rights for women.
Women's contributions to many academic fields are often missing in the materials students read in school. M. M. Ferree and E. J. Hall (1990) found that women are conspicuously absent even in university textbooks. Whether in literature, where male authors predominate, or in science, where men appear as practically the only ones who make discoveries, women's contributions are either ignored or minimized (Spender 1989). Gender bias exists even in the sciences, where one might expect the curriculum to be more or less gender neutral. One sophomore recalled a biology class where her professor taught only the male reproductive system. Although the professor explained that he had made this choice because of lack of time, the student still recalled the sense of frustration and disappointment she felt: "I really wanted to learn about it and it seemed unfair that he had made that decision arbitrarily." Although every professor sometimes encounters the necessity of cutting material to make up for lost time, make sure to avoid cutting material in a way that gives unequal treatment to men and women. Look for other shortcuts that will not arbitrarily exclude one gender.
As stressed in Chapter 2, students
benefit from learning about significant work by women in a field. But avoid
submitting to tokenism, by putting a woman on your syllabus simply because she
is a woman. Integrate work by women into the major concepts you emphasize in
your course. As one woman stated, it's one thing to talk about women and another
to show that it really matters:
"The professor was very conscientious of paying attention to things like class and race and gender, but it was still very [limited]. It was like we had one day to talk about women and what women were doing instead of trying to incorporate it into the whole curriculum."
One UNC woman related an anecdote
about a class she once took in which the teacher habitually gave extra credit
test questions. His questions often were based on knowledge of current sports
events. When one woman in the class complained that these questions favored men,
the teacher offered the women their own question, based on female hygiene. The
teacher had behaved inappropriately in two major respects. First of all, he had
given a question based on gender, and particularly based on physical
differences. He had sent the message that the woman's body, not her intellect,
defines "female." But his more fundamental mistake was that he tested
information that was not course-related. When designing your tests, make sure
that you do not require information that one gender is more likely to possess.
Never include material or concepts that have not been part of the course work.
If you do want students to incorporate personal experiences, offer some choice
in the questions you give or allow large enough parameters so as not to
disadvantage anyone.
"That's why there are so few women in science. People don't know why it doesn't feel right [but it's because] the atmosphere is so male, and not even just male, but mean to women."
-UNC junior, female majoring in a science
Recent surveys show that women
receive 54% of all bachelor's degrees in the United States, but only 30% of
natural science and engineering degrees, and 16% of physics degrees (Bryant,
1993; Ravitch, 1993). These figures somewhat parallel the statistics
of UNC
women graduates. According the UNC Office of Institutional Research, in 1994,
43% of degree recipients in chemistry were women; 19% of degree recipients in
physics were women; and 57% of degree recipients in biology were women. In the
field of biology, women appear to be achieving parity with men, but in chemistry
and physics, women continue to be underrepresented, particularly when one
considers that women constitute more than half the UNC student body
(58.5%).
The lower numbers of women who take science courses at the university reflect attitudes, developed from an early age in American students, towards the "masculinity" of these fields. Studies show that peers, teachers, counselors, and family members frequently dissuade both female and minority students from taking upper-level mathematics and science courses (Clewell, Anderson and Thorpe, 1992, p. 6). By the time female students enroll in a required math or science course, they may very well have brought with them a considerable amount of anxiety and may fear that this course will be particularly difficult for them because they are female.
This anxiety may heighten when the
woman looks around her and sees a majority of male students and a male teacher
presiding over the class. The instructor must not only recognize the female
students with math or science anxiety, but also the woman who wants to major in
a mathematics or science field who does not receive enough confirmation in the
college classroom. Studies monitoring female (and minority) students' progress
through math and science departments show that these students frequently abandon
their intended majors because they do not receive enough encouragement from
their peers and professors. They may also feel inhibited in a predominantly male
atmosphere. One woman planning to major in a science reported that in one class
she took, the continual sexual joking between the male students created a kind
of male community that made women feel like outsiders. The professor did not
stop the students' behavior and even participated in the joking on several
occasions. The student commented that it upset her to see this kind of behavior
go uncensored in her classes because, although she herself felt well-informed
enough to understand what was happening and could confront the professor, many
women do not have the educational training necessary to confront sexist
behavior:
"There are a lot of women who don't have the background in talking about this kind of stuff, and aren't going to know why they don't like it. They're just going to change their major."
As a math or science teacher, you
can have a tremendous influence on women in your class. First, establish a
professional atmosphere comfortable for men and women alike. Second, make female
students aware that they are capable of learning the material, and encourage
those who perform well to take additional courses in the department or to pursue
advanced studies in the field. Students who do well in these fields often cite a
teacher as an important influence on them (Clewell, Anderson and Thorpe, 1992,
p.80). When it is relevant, make reference to women currently conducting
important research in your field. When talking about hypothetical scientists or
mathematicians to illustrate a point, make sure you occasionally assume the
scientist or mathematician is a woman. By doing this, you send out a message to
students that your field is open to women as well as men. In addition, you
should give real-life contexts when teaching concepts. Rather than teaching only
mathematical formulas, make an effort to show how they can be used outside the
classroom. By showing the relevance of these concepts to solving "real world"
problems, you are more likely to make both male and female students aware of the
importance of your discipline and to awaken in them curiosity to discover more
about it. For more detailed discussion of strategies for including women in your
science class, consult Sue V. Rosser's Female-Friendly Science(1990),
especially Chapter 5, "Toward Inclusionary Methods."
Since the late 1960's, more
attention has been paid to the assumptions about gender roles implicit in
official English language usage. Perhaps the most controversial aspect of
standard usage is the question of the "generic" masculine pronoun: he, his,
him. For some, these pronouns simply offer convenient ways to refer to both
sexes, while for others these pronouns exclude the female sex. Some of your
students are already aware of this problematic issue, while some are not.
Whether or not you choose to encourage or require non-sexist language from your
students, you should attempt to make your own speech and written materials as
gender-neutral as possible. While some argue that it is awkward and inconvenient
to avoid masculine pronouns, many simple grammatical revisions can easily make
gender-charged statements gender-neutral. Frequent use of he/she or his/her can
indeed make writing stilted and heavy, but other ways to avoid the use of
masculine pronouns exist. For example, consider the following instruction for a
class project:
Each member of the group must submit his own research notes along with the group's final report.
The sentence could be changed in
the following ways:
All group members must submit their own research notes along with the final report of the whole group.
Please submit the research notes of each student in the group along with the group's final report.
Or, consider this literature
assignment describing how to go about researching authors the students have
chosen:
In your report, you should include some consideration of how your author's life experiences or beliefs have influenced his writing.
This statement implies that the
authors students choose to research will be men. You can remove this implication
by changing the sentence in the following way:
In your report, you should include some consideration of how life experiences or personal beliefs have influenced the writing of the author you have chosen.
Once you are attentive to gender
bias in your writing, you will find that you can develop an array of techniques
that will help eliminate it.
Some of the discomfort women students experience at the university has more to do with their personal interaction with the teacher or with other students than with course material or classroom activities. Women often feel uncomfortable when their teachers comment on their physical appearance. For example, an instructor might compliment a woman on her clothing or the way she has styled her hair. Students may not themselves be explicitly aware of how uncomfortable such compliments make them feel, but the implicit message they receive is that teachers evaluate their bodies, and not their minds.
Other women report having male
teachers ask them to complete tasks inappropriate to their role as students,
such as making coffee or copies for an interest group or club comprised mostly
of male students (Katz and Vieland, 1988, p. 40-42). Furthermore, inviting a
student to discuss the course over coffee or lunch is similarly inappropriate to
the student/teacher relationship and can confuse students about expectations.
Because of the considerable power that teachers hold, no teacher should approach
a student, regardless of gender, except in a strictly professional way.
The difference between inappropriate behavior and sexual harassment may sometimes be difficult to determine. However, the University's "Sexual Harassment Policy" explicitly labels as "sexual harassment" all "unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature by one in an official University position" when the submission to or rejection of this conduct affects the person's employment or academic standing, or interferes with the person's work or academic environment. All University faculty, students, and employees can follow official grievance procedures if they feel they have been sexually harassed.
Professors and instructors must maintain the highest level of professionalism in and out of the classroom. Remarks considered denigrating of women or men, even when intended as humor, could constitute sexual harassment and could be prosecuted under the University policy. See Appendix F "Sexual Harassment Policy and Procedures of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill" for a complete description of the official policy and procedures.
The teacher/student relationship
goes both ways of course. A student may also pay too much positive or negative
attention to the teacher, which can escalate into harassment of the professor or
TA. The source of inappropriate comments or actions could be sexual attraction
or a belief that someone of a certain gender cannot have the knowledge and
competence necessary to act as professor. As discussed in Chapter 1, honesty and
discretion are the best way to avoid potentially explosive situations. An office
visit with the student is useful to explain the inappropriateness of the
student's behavior. If this does not change the student's behavior and you
believe that the situation has the potential to escalate, notify your supervisor
or chair of the problem before it becomes explosive.
The University now has an official
policy banning any amorous relations between a teacher and a student presently
under that teacher's direction. See Appendix F "Policy on Amorous Relationships"
for further information.
The trauma of sexual assault can dramatically interfere with a student's ability to perform in the classroom. According to Helen Neuborne, of the National Organization for Women's Legal Defense and Education Fund, "the major reason freshman women drop out of college is sexual assault" (as cited in Loevinger, 1994). While your responsibility is as a teacher, not as a counselor, you can have an important influence on a student who has been the victim of a sexual assault by making the student address the fact that this traumatic event has interfered with academic performance. As with any student who shows symptoms of withdrawing from the class, skipping classes, or not turning in work, ask the student to schedule a time to meet with you in private. Begin the meeting by telling the student that, based on your observations, you feel that something is wrong and that you want to know what can be done to help. If you make your question open-ended, you allow students to reveal only what they are comfortable revealing. Any student who has been the victim of sexual assault should be referred to an agency that can offer the appropriate counseling (such as the Student Health Service or the Orange County Rape Crisis Center, listed in Appendix E). In addition, offer to help the student to complete course assignments and communicate that you are available if the student ever wants to come see you.
General Principles for Teaching All Students
Adapted from: Teaching a Diverse Student Body (p. 9), by N. Loevinger, 1994, University of Virginia.
"In my foreign language class, I'm more advanced than a lot of the other students. If I answer or hold a conversation in class, people turn around and look at me as if to say, 'My God! She speaks a foreign language fluently!' But the thing about that is, I'm the only black person in the class and if anybody else says something, nobody is surprised. It's as if I'm not supposed to be good in this field."
Many African American students, however, encounter racial and cultural tensions in the academic setting. The most common source of discomfort in many college campuses and classrooms is the clash between their individual identity and the supposed "collective identity" many students and teachers assume African Americans share. The very designation "minority" concerns these students because they feel that for many of their teachers and peers, this term carries negative connotations and implies academic inferiority to other student groups.
Although they show a wide variation of physical characteristics, most African Americans are still a "visible minority" in their classes. They often complain that their visibility can cause professors and students to adopt preconceived notions and attitudes about their ability to perform. Many of these students experience undue pressure to disprove stereotypes about the academic record of African Americans. This added pressure can have adverse effects on the student's academic performance. For example, students may focus more on "getting good grades" rather than on learning the material for long-term purposes. Psychologist Claude M. Steele (1992) suggests that eliminating racial vulnerability can increase a student's self-esteem and remove obstacles in the classroom. Interpersonal relationships in the classroom are a predominant concern of African American students. In courses requiring group activities such as a science lab, other students may deliberately exclude an African American student. The reason, simply stated, is the overwhelming stereotype that African Americans are incapable of performing well in analytical or technical areas. The problem is similar in small discussion groups in language and literature classes. Many of the African American students interviewed suggested that they are thought incapable of grasping a second language in foreign language courses. Consequently, African American students are not valued for the possible contributions they could make in a group setting. In denying them participation in group activities, both the African American students and their "non-minority" peers fail to learn the benefits of working with others who might provide new and alternative perspectives. Failure to integrate these students in group work simply fosters the perpetuation of negative stereotypes.
A second concern for African American students in the classroom is that they often feel singled out as the "voice of Black America" during discussion sessions. A well-meaning instructor hoping to include the African American student may encourage Black students to share their perspective. Often the instructors simply assume, however, that there is a monolithic Black perspective, and that any African American student can adequately speak for all members of his or her "minority." The student might even be expected to express a certain sentiment widely believed to be "the opinion of Black America," and feel resistance or pressure to change his or her views if they do not conform to expectations. Such assumptions about African Americans tend to create awkward experiences in a class environment. Students are put on the spot and might ask themselves, "How candid should I be?," "What is the professor expecting me to say?," "How am I going to be perceived by my classmates?" If there are two or three other African American students in the class, they must also wonder, "How will I be perceived by my peers?"
Addressing cultural diversity in
the classrooms starts with an honest exploration of personal views and attitudes
towards African Americans in general. Teachers can best explore their
perceptions of African Americans on various levels by asking themselves how it
is that the perception developed (see Chapter 1, "Diversity Issues for the
Instructor"). Then an attempt can be made to create environments where
students are comfortable discussing important issues (see Chapter 2).
Quotes from interviews with African
American students on campus
"I used to go to the tutorials a lot to do my homework so in case I had any problems somebody would be there to answer my questions. They would place us into groups of four or five and what I found was that most white students didn't want to work with us (African Americans). I guess they thought we couldn't do the work or needed extra help or something. "
"I think students don't want to work with you if it's a math or science class. Now if it's an Af-Am [African American] course, that's a different matter. They want to work with you then. But by that time, I'm very hesitant to do so based on previous experiences. I think they [white students] think they can get more out of the group assignment if they don't have to work with you."
"The best thing for minority students is the study sessions offered through the Office of Student Counseling for African American and Native American students, targeted especially for us, because we don't get the same kind of group interaction in the classroom."
"This one course struck a dissonant cord with me. It was supposed to be one of the cultural perspective type courses where you learn about varying cultural practices. The professor structured it so that I didn't learn anything or read anything other than white male perspectives on culture. There were a few selections from others [non-white critics] but for the most part the conversation came back to white male theories."
"It seems like every semester I try and take a course that will relate to my own personal experiences and after a little while it tends to slide in one way. I rarely get to discuss issues from a nonwhite perspective. I mean, let's talk about issues in Third World Countries. Let's talk about how other segments of the population are living."
"Every time I went to the instructor for help I never got any basically. I would ask questions about how I should go about approaching the material, 'Am I interpreting this right?' in terms of preparing for the exam. I never got any help. But when I started talking to other students in the class, I realized that they were getting help. So then I knew that I was getting treated differently. Later when I spoke with other students, I found out that the professor was in the habit of giving 'color grades.' I got a 'C' out of that class and really don't understand why. I was a freshman at the time and was too intimidated to challenge my grade."
"Once I was in a class with one other African American. I couldn't get any help from the teacher and it wasn't in my major. I remember talking with the other student and he told me if I found myself getting into trouble I could feel free to go to him for help. That was his major. I ended up working closer with the student and fared out pretty good after that. The help I didn't get from the instructor I got from him."
"I remember my TA in Portuguese was really helpful. She held office hours the same time I had a class. But she was willing to meet with me at different times and help me out with the material. She did that for a lot of her students and I think she got a lot of respect from the class."
"Once I was in a class where the teacher wanted us to do surveys according to race. There were some people in the class who didn't want to do it. I really didn't think too much about it until the teacher singled me out and asked me as an African American what did I think?"
"I remember once someone thought I was an athlete here because I'm a black male student. I think that seems to be the general perception, that black men on this campus are here on some type of athletic scholarship."
"One day somebody came up to me and told me, because I'm extroverted, 'Oh, one day you're going to be president of the BSM [Black Student Movement].' I thought that was a trip. I mean, how come it was the BSM and not the SGA [Student Government Association]? I think that one of the stereotypes on this campus is that if you're black and outspoken, you're going to be involved in the BSM. What about the other offices on this campus?"
"There was this instructor in summer school who tried to get away from the regular format. Instead of telling you how you should think, she opened up the class to discussion. Everyone got to share their ideas and talk about things. She would give an example and some information about something and then try to get us to think about things [in order] to try to process and analyze information."
"Some of the best classes have been when teachers have shown their personalities. You get an idea of their background and I think that sort of made people more comfortable to open up about themselves. That sort of established the atmosphere."
"People need to be reminded that they are at a university to learn something and that they are expected and that it's OK to ask questions. You don't need instructors just giving information. People want to be responsible for working at something. I think then you get a better sense of accomplishing, achieving something. Part of higher learning is higher questioning on the part of the instructor and the student. "
"A few professors and instructors seemed to enjoy my input in classes. I mean, I think they liked hearing what I had to say because I might have had a different perspective from them and some of the other students. That type of attitude encouraged me to speak up because I think that my experience here has been different from most people. I think this is a good place to get an education but not one for experiences. Gondola excellent."
"I think more professors and departments need to pay closer attention to the comments made on evaluation forms. I think that students need to feel that their comments are being taken seriously and that issues will be addressed. If the students would really give honest feedback on the evaluations and the professors actually 'listened' I think that could bring about some changes in the manner in which African American students are dealt with on this campus. I think evaluations should be done as part of a homework assignment so that instructors could address issues in a particular class the semester that class is meeting. You can't base your performance solely on the comments made by the previous class."
"If instructors would coordinate the group assignments, I think students would feel more comfortable going to the professor and saying, 'Hey, I'm having problems with the group you put me in.' I think if there was more authority in constructing how different people interact and work with each other in those types of assignments, it might be better. The more people would work with us, the better they might be able to deal with us."
"A lot of courses don't teach everything. Hispanic culture is so huge that you can't really encompass everything into one. A lot of people stereotype and say things like 'Mexico is poor. Mexico is all aliens coming over here to take our jobs. It's falling apart.' People don't see the beauty in all of our cultures. And that's when I take offense."
The inability on the part of most North Americans to recognize the group's diverse composition is a point of tension for Hispanic students in the classroom and on campus. Because of the varied nature of the community, it is difficult to discuss Hispanic history and culture in a single context. It is impossible and misleading to attempt to articulate a definitive Hispanic perspective because the diverse cultures and histories of the countries included in the term resist a monolithic interpretation. For this reason, Hispanic students are often apprehensive when called upon to provide "their" perspective. They worry that the professor is looking for "the Hispanic perspective" when, for example, the Mexican American viewpoint may differ widely from the Venezuelan or the Costa Rican viewpoint.
Many Hispanic students complain of stereotypes regarding their language capabilities. One of the biggest assumptions about these students is that they are all fluent in Spanish. On the contrary, some of these students may not speak Spanish but simply have a Hispanic cultural background and a Spanish name. Others may only possess spoken communication skills because they have not been brought up to read or write in Spanish. They will thus face the same challenges as non-Hispanic students do when learning a new language. Even so, because of their background, Hispanic students are often expected to perform better than their peers in Spanish language and literature courses.
Hispanic students' physical appearance may not reflect their cultural background and they are often mistaken for white students. As a result, these students may encounter insensitive comments or jokes about Hispanics from white students who believe they are part of a homogeneous group. Because they are not immediately identifiable as Hispanic, these students must face the daunting task of "educating" potentially hostile peers who are taken aback by the presence of Hispanics in the conversation. Or they must remain silent in order to remain part of the group and not to antagonize the white students.
Another concern for Hispanic students is that they are not an officially recognized minority population. Without this designation, Hispanic students lack access to those resources and support services created to address the specific needs of minority students. Many students feel that the university recruits Hispanic students merely to "reflect" cultural diversity for political purposes, and then leaves them out of discussions of minority needs when they get here. It is important for professors and administrators to adopt a sensitive and inclusive approach to dealing with Hispanic students that will integrate them more fully into the classroom and life on campus.
An important first step in dealing
with the Hispanic community on campus is to remember that the term designates a
broad and varied population. Avoiding generalizations about Hispanic Americans
in the classroom will give Hispanic students more confidence to explain the
uniqueness of their culture without feeling as if they are speaking for all
Hispanic students. Students are always more comfortable when they are asked to
contribute their individual experiences. Modifying the syllabus of a class to
include the contributions of Hispanic authors, scientists, and statesmen will
also help to dispel the notion that Hispanic culture is alien and monolithic.
Quotes from interviews with
Hispanic students on campus
"A lot of times the professor will single me out because of my last name and say, 'Well, since you seem to have a Hispanic last name and you kind of look it, what do you think about this?' At times I feel there's a pressure for me to be the voice of everyone."
"I think that when they ask you to speak on behalf of the Hispanic community they don't realize how diverse that community is. Because, you know, we're not all from Mexico or Cuba. A lot of people don't even take South Americans into account. There are a lot of countries."
"I've lived in American culture all my life and everyone always expects me to be able to read and understand Spanish. I don't."
"I grew up in a situation where I didn't get a chance to learn Spanish. But once people find out your background, they automatically expect you to speak Spanish. When people find out that I don't then they want to know 'What happened? Why didn't your mom teach you?' Then I have to get into this long story. They definitely make you feel like you're not that much of an Hispanic. "
"I don't sound like the rest of the Americans. The teacher automatically assumed that I'm literate in Spanish because my vocabulary is high. But I had no grammar learning. So when I wrote something down, it came out like I spoke. The teacher would get on me for not trying. I felt that she was putting me above the other students because I was Hispanic and she felt I should have known these things. But she didn't realize that [I was writing] spoken Spanish. "
"Spanish was the first language I learned since I grew up speaking it. But I was never taught it in school. So I came here to Carolina, I placed out of Spanish and I got into trouble in the literature classes. People expect that because you speak it you should be able to write it. They're really hard on you and your grammar and they really expect you to know it. They expect more from you than the other students."
"I took a Spanish course and the teacher had us record our speeches. The teacher didn't like the way I was speaking because I had this American accent and she kept marking off. She wouldn't accept that Spanish sounds differently in different parts of the world."
"I remember taking this accelerated course and at the beginning of the course the teacher kept saying, 'Keep in mind there are all these other accents, but we're just going to learn Castillean.' I eventually dropped the course and took it again later. The new teacher was like, 'We're going to try and expose you to a variety of accents.' That does actually make you feel good."
"If you're living in the US, I think it's more important to have a Cuban, Mexican or Puerto Rican accent."
"I think the problem just isn't in the classes that are available but in the classes that aren't available. There just don't seem to be very many classes that I would really want to take. Not that many really cover Hispanic issues."
"The Institute of Latin American Studies offers courses but at other schools like Duke. They have a good variety of courses but the effect is felt at Duke. Students have to go there to take a lot of the courses."
"I was excited about this course because I thought I was going to learn about a lot of cultures. Instead, we learned a lot about sexuality. The only thing we learned about Latin America was about Hispanic Americans. It really didn't get into the truth of Latin American cultures."
"I think the university uses us. I think our presence here is good for showing diversity, but when you look overall, Hispanics aren't included in programs that provide extra help and support to other minorities. They really don't put forth an extra effort."
"How are we supposed to feel when we're not included in programs for minorities? We realize there are many of us and the university doesn't recognize us as a minority and so we can't get a lot of things [that are] provided to other students. We're trying to advance, but I feel like we're a non-entity. We're all equal and we should be treated equally. "
"When I came to UNC, I thought there was a strong Hispanic population. I thought the university would have done a better job of letting you know there were other students on the campus. Getting involved with CHispA actually helped me. That's been my link to other students really."
"I think the university needs to increase its Hispanic faculty. It's important to have people with a knowledge of Hispanic culture. You need to have people who understand the culture."
"Avoid stereotypes. A lot of students and professors are not exposed to Hispanic culture. They kind of rely on the media for what's out there. People need to foster dialogue and confront those stereotypes."
"Don't necessarily give special treatment. But acknowledge that in the term 'Hispanic' there's a lot of diversity. Each country has it's own culture. People need to understand the differences."
"There needs to be a long term mission from the university. North Carolina has one of the fastest growing Hispanic populations in the country. The university should be a leader in this area. It should take the initiative in educating future leaders."
Native American Students
"One thing that really
discourages me is that when you try and put forth an accurate and honest
depiction from your perspective, people just seem to have these stereotypes. I
mean, people wouldn't ask African Americans about cotton fields but yet they
seem to feel comfortable asking me if I feel somehow 'in-tune' with nature. You
know, a couple of experiences like that stops you quickly from trying to assert
yourself."
Unlike African Americans or Asian Americans, Native Americans are not always easy to distinguish physically from other racial groups. They may look African American or White to people who are not aware of their racial identity. This misperception of their racial identity is a very sensitive issue with members of the Native American community on campus. If they are proud of their culture, they are in the position of always having to explain themselves anew when they meet new people. It is a particularly sensitive issue for the Lumbees because there have been numerous historic challenges to their existence as a true Native American nation. Both White and other Native American students may exclude the Lumbees from their own heritage simply by not believing that they are really Native Americans. Students who do not fit the stereotypes about Native Americans are made to feel that they do not belong to any group, and especially not to the one they wish most strongly to belong.
A source of irritation to these students is the preponderance of archaic perceptions about Native Americans as a group, coupled with ignorance of their history and culture. Native American students at UNC often feel that they must assert the existence and legitimacy of their heritage in the classroom because it is rarely mentioned there. Especially in humanities and the social sciences courses, students complain that class discussions and course materials typically omit Native American perspectives and contributions, and thus seem to shut the Native American students out.
Native American students are usually highly community oriented and may face tremendous pressures to fulfill expectations that they return and contribute to their communities. Many of these students come from economically depressed areas where opportunities for good jobs are not plentiful. As a result, some students may experience difficulties when they try to reconcile personal goals of obtaining a good job with the very strong expectations of their community that they return home to work despite modest employment prospects. This particularly developed sense of community also causes many Native American students to return home more often on weekends than other ethnic groups. The time spent traveling between campus and home reduces the amount of time Native Americans can spend studying.
In addition to problems of racial identity, Native Americans also encounter other acute problems that may affect performance in the classroom. For example, although students may have financial assistance from the university, they may be unable to meet the stipulated family contribution required for receiving government aid. As a result, many of these students must work to earn the money their families could not provide. Obviously, the more hours a student works off campus, the fewer hours she or he will be able to devote to studying. Financial obligations often increase the already heavy pressure to perform well academically. In fact, the extra obligation of spending extra time away from studies in order to help finance their education has led a majority of Native American students to drop out after the second year due to financial difficulties. (UNC Office for Student Counseling, 1991, p. 20)
Just like any other
"minority," Native American students feel more comfortable in a
classroom where they feel personally welcomed. One way to make Native Americans
more comfortable is to encourage students to get to know each other, both during
and after class. Allow students to introduce themselves early in the semester.
Since there is still some debate about terminology among Native Americans
themselves, students may want to use this opportunity to let others in class
know whether they prefer to call themselves Native American or American Indian.
Giving students time to introduce themselves will also give them a chance to
talk about their particular nation. This is one way for students to identify
themselves in a non-threatening manner while simultaneously making the professor
and students aware that there is a Native American presence in the class.
Finally, whenever possible, include Native American contributions to a field in
your syllabus. This will also make your students feel as if there is a place for
them in your class.
Quotes from interviews with Native Americans on campus
Erasure from History and Culture
"One of the biggest problems is that it seems that teachers tend to think that Native Americans are something in the history books. They tend to think that Native Americans are a dead culture. There are a lot of times that that makes you feel out of place, left out. They tend to want to make you believe that your culture is no longer alive."
"I think a lot of instructors on this campus feel like your [Native American] culture only mattered when Columbus got lost and discovered America. That's a very discouraging atmosphere and it turns off a lot of good relations with teachers. I mean, you're not going to approach a teacher about problems you're having in class if they have a condescending attitude."
"One thing that bothers me is that in American culture and history courses, very little attention is paid to the Native American presence. I mean, how can you talk about America and not discuss Native Americans except in an historical context that seems to end with the migration westward?"
"What bothers me is that in certain cultural survey type courses, if you look at the reading list, there's never any material about or by Native Americans."
The "Other" Minority
"It gets really discouraging on campus when everything is a Black or White issue. The only two perspectives are Black and White and you never get to discuss your perspective. I took a course where the racial composition of the class pretty much reflected the racial composition of the world. I was the only Native American and when I would raise my hand to offer my perspective, the TA would cut me off or the other students would be disinterested in what I had to say. I think the TA should have encouraged a more open discussion in the classroom. I kept trying to bring the TA back to it, but I can't do this by myself. "
"I remember going in to see a professor and they were talking to me as if I were an African American student. I've had that happen a lot of times, especially with TAs. I've gone in to talk about a paper. I've had some general questions about what perspective a paper should take and a lot of them have told me, 'Well, you can always take the African American perspective.' I mean, I make it a point at the beginning of the semester to introduce myself as a Native American student and still when I talk to the instructor they suggest I write from an African American perspective."
Cultural Concerns in the Classroom
"Sometimes it's hard for us to relate to other people because it's a different value system. Native Americans tend to be very community oriented. I'd say that most of us here at college tend to think about how we can get a job and go back and help our community. We're concerned about going back either to our native tribe or Native American community in general. That tends to run counter to a lot of people's ideology who tend to wonder about getting that six-figure salary."
"A lot of tribes in North Carolina are pushing for federal recognition. With that movement, we've sort of followed some of the roles of the tribes out west in asserting their original treaty rites that were overlooked. As such, they [the tribes] are referring to themselves as 'nations.' "
"I think it's on your mind a lot that you're a Native American student and that you have to 'carry that torch.' You feel like you have to perform in order to dispel any stereotypes people may have about you. But I see a lot of students where that could go the other way and students could get tired of that burden on their shoulder."
"I took a course once and was offended that the professor didn't consider North Carolina Lumbees to be a 'true' Native American tribe."
"People think that Indians are extinct. That after the Trail of Tears, Native Americans just disappeared."
Assumptions about Appearances
"People tend to have this perception that Native Americans have a particular look. That we should have high cheekbones, long flowing black hair. You know, stereotypes of what a Native American should look like. People don't take you seriously if you don't 'look' like what they think you should."
"The biggest problem I've had with my looks is that non-Indians refuse to accept me the way I am."
Leadership Matters and the University
"This university calls itself the 'flagship university' for the state. North Carolina should be the flagship for Native American issues on this side of the Mississippi. Come on, it's a leader in so many other issues that it's a shame that it isn't on Native American concerns. The culture is there. North Carolina has the seventh largest Indian population in the nation and the largest east of the Mississippi."
What a Teacher Can Do
"I think that instructors need to look at book lists. They need to be culturally balanced. How can you study certain topics and not study Native American issues?"
"You hear a lot of groans from instructors who say, 'I can't be an expert in Native American history.' We're not asking for that. We're asking for a basic amount of respect. I think that instructors need to be straightforward and ask questions if they don't know something. They should approach students one-on-one rather than singling them out in class."
"If professors know that there are Native American students in the class and are unfamiliar about some things, I would prefer if they came to me and asked questions. That would be fine. I'd rather they ask questions- if not to improve the class immediately then at least for later reference. I think that would help to make us more in-tune with that course. I also think that if a professor asked a question and the student didn't know, that would still make them feel better knowing that the instructor put forth an effort."
"I have a class where there's a lot of interaction and we sometimes do mock interviews about the types of job we would like to have when we finish. My TA for the course knows that I'm a Native American and she'll ask pointed questions during the interview that makes me think about my culture and how my activities might benefit my community."
"One thing that I wish everyone would change is that, if they had any questions, they would confront us and ask us, instead of just assuming all the stereotypes. They just assume that we come from the same country. Everybody comes from China. I kind of wish, if they had any questions I would be more than happy to answer them. What language do you speak? etc."
One of the most persistent problems Asian Americans face in this country and on UNC's campus is that they are treated as foreigners, no matter if they have just arrived in the US or if their family has been here for generations. (Toyama, 1988) Asian Americans are racially visible and since World War II have often been portrayed in the media and in the movies as the enemy. Like anyone else, they would like to be treated as individuals, rather than as representatives of a group that has been portrayed as problematic for generations of Americans. The result is that Asian American students may be particularly sensitive to issues of inclusion in the classroom. CTL's 1992 study concluded that Asian students were more likely than White students or African American students to disagree with the statement: "This course covered material from diverse perspectives, such as non-Western European views, women's perspectives, perspectives of non-whites, etc." Nearly one third of Asian students responded that they didn't know whether their work in class had been fairly graded- a feeling shared by only about 10% of respondents from other ethnic backgrounds. Asian students also had more difficulty working in groups and, along with women students, were least likely to ask questions in class.
Such results suggest a fairly high degree of discomfort in the classroom, which may have to do with both inequitable treatment of Asian American students, and with the culture they bring to the classroom, which may not match the culture the professor expects.
One of the ways other Americans make Asian Americans uncomfortable is to assume that all "Asian-looking" Asians are the same. One student expressed her discomfort with the fact that her professors and her peers just assumed that "Asians are all Chinese." Asia includes such diverse countries and cultures as China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, the Philippine Islands, Samoa, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Bhutan. Even within these countries, ethnic, religious and racial differences can be quite broad.
Asian Americans are different from one another for other reasons as well. Their culture has as much to do with the length of time they have been in the US as it does with the region of the US in which they grew up, or the reason their families emigrated in the first place. The differences between first, second and third generation Asian Americans can be enormous. Generalizations about all Asians are even less accurate than if one were to make a statement about everyone of a specific nationality. Thus, though personal attention is important to any student, it seems especially important to Asian Americans on campus. These students will feel more comfortable in class, and will be more likely to approach you in your office if they feel that you have made an effort to get beyond stereotypical reactions to them as Asians and have gotten to know them as individuals. In the CTL study mentioned above, almost one quarter of the Asian students failed to take advantage of office hours to meet with the instructor during the semester. The reason: "I did not feel comfortable enough to bring up my concerns."
Asian Americans also must deal with the "model minority" stereotype. They have the reputation of being "the smart minority" because some of them are more likely to form study groups among themselves outside of class, and to concentrate more heavily on studies than on extra-curricular activities (Bruffee, p. 25). They are also often seen as more passive and obedient in class than others, and not as likely to become "trouble makers." It is important to understand where such habits come from. Many Asian Americans who come to the university from traditional families are taught that collaboration is the avenue to success, and that teachers and other figures of authority should be respected. Thus, speaking out and asking questions in class is not valued as much as working hard to master the material presented. Young people may also be taught to work together for the good of everyone, rather than to strive to succeed against others and become "leaders" of their groups. Asian Americans from traditional families may be encouraged to finish college quickly so that money can be spent on younger siblings who also need an education. If they come from such families, they feel pressure to do well academically so as not to fail their parents' expectations (Toyama, 1988, p. 58-59).
Obviously, not all Asian Americans come from such a traditional background, and each individual has his or her own preferred way of studying. However, the fact that there are a number of such students has led to the stereotype of the "model minority." Asian American students at times do complain that because they are seen as smarter by nature than other students, they end up not getting as much attention from the professor. It thus becomes even harder for them to approach a professor or TA if they do have questions, since it seems to the students themselves that they are not reaching the standard others have set for them.
Students of Asian American background have the same problems of identity as other minority students. Because everyone around them makes a distinction, they must constantly decide how to be American while not giving up their Asian identity. Should they conform to the "model minority" thesis or ignore it? Should they make friends mostly with Asians, since that is what is expected (and comfortable), or should they risk alienating themselves from their "natural" allies by making friends across campus regardless of race? These daily decisions may make their lives more complicated than are those for whom such choices between groups are not an issue. Such added stress on students may show up in the students' work in your class.
With students from other parts of
the world, a professor or TA must deal with the difficulty of correctly
pronouncing their "foreign" names. Though it is very natural to have
difficulty pronouncing foreign names properly, repeated mispronunciations can
alienate students who begin to feel as if the teacher does not care enough to
learn their names. Make sure when you first get to know your class that you
check with all students about the name they prefer. Just ask a student if
you do not know how to pronounce a name correctly, and write it down for
yourself in your list of student names. You will often find that students with
common names will prefer to use their middle names or nicknames. If you make a
habit of asking everyone in class to let you know their nicknames or
preferred names, students with unusual names will no longer feel isolated.
Quotes from interviews with Asian American students on campus
"[Some] teachers or TAs make me more comfortable. I think they just approach people more personally. Just willing to spend time with students. [Some] professors basically just come in and lecture and go out again. They're unwilling to alter a certain method of teaching. They have certain habits of teaching and they're unwilling to accept any changes. You need more interaction, one of the biggest problems is the lack of interaction with the students. This is the kind of professor who shows up for a lecture and goes away unless you're willing to go to him. They don't encourage you. Students feel more comfortable to call up [teachers] and make appointments if they're personally more approachable."
"A couple of my friends even noticed that in a particular class a professor called on only certain people, and asked questions. And there was a pattern to who he called on. He always called on people with blond hair- it's just really weird, we all noticed that. When I went to his office to ask him questions, he treated me very well. You know, with lots of respect."
"I've seen one of my teachers that has been really nice to a fellow, a person of his own race, and then really rude to me or to one of my friends. He was not willing to answer questions. When that girl approached him, he was like, 'Well, this is the answer, here's how you do it.' And when we approached him with the same question he just said, "I don't have time, I have to go." That was very unfair."
"When you approach the teacher, and you're a certain race, or color, they treat you differently just because of what they know about that culture. I don't think it's kind of offending anybody, because I don't think it offends me. I used to have this teacher in my English class... when I came up to him, he was real nice, and he was a lot more helpful I think, to me. As an English teacher he saw me as, you know, I wasn't born with English. He was more willing to help me and I think there are some benefits [to being Asian American]."
"Most of my teachers are accepting of everybody. They use the whole class and tend not to single out people. Unless you go up to them and talk to them then it's a different story, but I've never had in-class problems."
"You have an Asian Student Association, then you have a Black Cultural Center. I think they have good intentions; they sort of want to bring out their culture, you know, announce their culture to people, but in a way they do things- if you have a group, say, the Asian Association, they shouldn't really separate themselves from the rest of the group. You know, why this separation?"
"We're like, very minority. We have the same classes every day, and the same people every day, and majority is majority and minority is definitely minority. I think it goes with the whole culture, the whole society. You know, you have things in common, so you kind of group together. For me, I met my Asian friends [in this program] just because we have things in common, we start talking about food, and laughing a lot, cultural things. It's harder, I think, for me to talk to American friends because they have different values."
"You should always cross [the line between minorities and the majority] and make friends, you can have friends everywhere, in every culture. But you have to admit, there is a difference. You can't just say "well we can't have that difference." I think there is a difference and it makes you who you are, as long as you aren't prejudiced against the other people because of their difference. I think we have to make an extra effort. It was so easy to be her friend [pointing at another Asian woman], but I felt that I needed to make an extra effort to talk to others. It's because of the values. You know, I kind of know how she was brought up and then it's natural to go to people with whom you already know you have something in common. "
"[Where] I went to high school there was a real distinction between the Black groups, the White groups, and the Asian groups. The White group was usually on the top of the class, a lot more in advanced classes, and Black groups weren't. Here there's a real mixture and I've seen them in all classes. It makes me feel better."
"We have our own group, but we do blend in with both [Black and White groups]. So we're kind of neutral, in the middle ground. You know, it's like our color (laughs). I think we get along with both groups."
"The major problem is that everybody thinks it's a problem to be different. I mean, you go into a group, you feel comfortable with a group, and you find yourself having a lot of things in common. I don't think it's such a big problem. You know, we talked about segregation and all that stuff. But if I go into a White group, I feel really stressed because I feel like I have to try harder. But I think that if I just accept who I am, and don't worry about trying to fit in, then I would be a lot better off. Instead of thinking 'Oh, they're different from me, and I shouldn't be here,' or the difference of 'They're segregating me. They're taking the defensive.' If I don't go in thinking about Black, White, Asian or whatever, I do better, and not worry about this group, that group."
"It disturbs me to see [segregation] on campus, especially in the Pit. When I go to the Pit, I can see that Asians hang out here, the line is right here. And that just disturbs me. That's why I think I tend to not go to the Asian crowd. When I decide not to go to the Asian crowd, they look at me and like, you know, "Why aren't you coming to us?" and I wish I could tell them, "I don't want to exclude myself just to that group." I think that if a non-Asian person would see me in the Asian group, they would not approach me even more. That's why I tend to not just go toward [Asian friends]. So there are advantages and disadvantages to belonging or not belonging to this group."
"I think it is [an issue] on campus. I think the reason that I have more in common with a Japanese person than an American person is because we kind of have the same background- coming over here, having to make the same experience when we grow up, and being Asian American. But it's like, I think- it's really hard to- I know we have different cultures, but I think what groups us most is the fact that we have the same background when we came over here. Our experience as Asian Americans here does make a link between us that seems natural to us."
"Questions are like ice breakers, like 'Where are you from?' Even if it's another state. If I was sitting next to somebody, and it was a White person and I wanted to start a conversation, I would say, 'Where's your hometown?' or something like that."
"I had an interview to get into [our academic program]. And the interviewer broke the ice by asking me where I was from. Then we went on to talk about the food because he wanted to know about the food of Vietnam, and that made me feel really comfortable."
"I just wish that teachers wouldn't think that we're all smart, because that puts a lot of pressure on us. Sometimes it is an advantage but, sometimes they assume 'She's going to do well, so she doesn't need the help' or something like that. I wish that they don't have that same mentality. So that's another stereotype about Asian Americans- they study all the time, and they should be making good grades, so I don't need to worry about them. I mean, it's a good stereotype, it's a good thing to be, but... it [sometimes] does make it easier to ask for help, because they think 'It's not going to be a dumb question.' I think that, stereotypes like that, you know, things like that, being smart, there's good and there's bad."
"I like the conferences where they allow you to sign up for a day. We had an English teacher who had a conference at the beginning [of the class] where we were just talking, and we had a conference at the end. I thought it was kind of neat to meet, at least twice, throughout the semester even if you didn't have any questions. But [it was good] to have a conference at the beginning that was required and a conference at the end that was required. You don't even have to talk about the course. You can talk about anything, 'How are you doing?' and 'How much work do you have?' something like that. It was so much more comfortable."
"Just talk to the students about where they're from."
"I think it would be good for the professors and TAs to attend something done by the Asian students. For instance they have a 'Journey to Asia' every year. They could attend that if they would like to know about where the student population, the minority population came from, how they view society. They can just read the DTH to get the information."
"Tell the young teachers not to get hung-up on majority or minority- just act themselves, you know. Most of the time that helps a lot more than getting hung up on the minority and the difference and worrying about, you know, trying not to offend somebody. You end up doing that anyway, because you're nervous, and you're trying too hard."
"Everyone has different experiences on campus, and you can't really make a generalization about how everyone is being treated."
If you're gay or bisexual, you're still a person. People think of it as a lifestyle choice, and they find it very difficult to understand once they find out someone's gay. It's funny, you hear people say, "Well I've never known a gay person." I laugh and I say, "You certainly have. If you went to school with more than a hundred people, chances are you knew one gay person.
Sexual orientation is one of the sources of "invisible" diversity in your classroom. The invisibility of this minority can bring with it particular pressures for the students involved. A gay man or a lesbian woman must decide whether or not to "come out" to the class, and each choice presents them with specific problems: if they decide it is too dangerous to do so, they must create a persona in class that fits the heterosexual norm. These students are in the position of having to lie about the normal events in life that any other college student makes the topic of daily conversation, such as how they plan to spend the weekend, whom they are dating, what the "ideal mate" might be like. If a student decides to "come out" to the class, he or she may face open hostility in class. Snickers, overtly homophobic comments and bald statements of distaste for these students are still widely condoned in the classroom, even in a culture that no longer accepts such language or actions about racial or gender differences. Such comments come amid a climate of hostility and often in a situation where the student is still struggling with his or her sexual orientation.
Homophobic statements or actions in class may occur more often in humanities classes such as english, psychology, sociology, anthropology, political science or foreign languages because students are often encouraged to discuss their personal responses to controversial topics in these classes. However, even in science or math courses, informal conversations among students while working together may give rise to potentially hurtful comments. The ground rules of your class are very important in such situations to keep discussions civil and to avoid stressful interactions between your students (see Chapter 2). Any derogatory comment made by a peer can make further work with that person very difficult for the gay or lesbian student, and can lead to a perception on the part of that student that he or she is not welcome as a member of the class. This may have a great impact on that student's ability to absorb class material, and may also affect his or her willingness to consider entering a field where the norm seems to expressly exclude gays, lesbians or bisexuals.
It is important to realize just how
"invisible" this kind of diversity is, and that there will likely be
quite a number of gay or lesbian students in your classes, of which you may
never be aware. The simple guidelines below are designed to make interactions
between you and gay or lesbian students easier and less threatening and your
class atmosphere far more comfortable for everyone.
significant other or partner not boyfriend or girlfriend (this forces "coming out")
sexual orientation not sexual preference (this implies people are gay just for the fun of it. Gay and lesbian people do not feel they have chosen this: this is who they are by nature).
not lifestyle
(again, this implies choice. As one man put it:
"Living on a lake is a lifestyle, being gay is a life.")
Quotes from interviews with B-GLAD
members on UNC's campus
"The professor who was presenting was just assuming that the entire class- that his or her audience was all straight- that no one there was gay, lesbian or bisexual. That's something that needs to be handled and avoided because it really does alienate the members of your audience who are gay, lesbian or bisexual."
"In a course when we were talking about Greeks, and we were talking about the way homosexuality was viewed in Greek and Roman culture. [The professor] would always use the term "they," but not in referring to the Greeks, but only to homosexuals. He used "they" [because] it makes him a whole lot more comfortable saying "they" because he's heterosexual. He thinks that by making himself more comfortable, he's making his audience more comfortable because he assumes that they're all straight. And it does make an all-straight audience more comfortable, you know. At the same time the members of his class who are gay- it's not conducive to [their] learning. Especially if you're already dealing with trouble over your orientation. It's even harder if you have to deal with it being brought up like this in class, and have that alienation reinforced in the classroom. "
"It's easy to assume that you're dealing with it in the abstract when no one's talking about it. Professors need to understand that they can't just deal with the problem in the abstract anymore."
"I would tell all young teachers that they have to assume before they ever open the door that there are hidden minorities in the classroom. You know you can pretty easily tell how many African Americans you have, how many women you have, how many people of color, how many white men you have- you can't tell what people's political ideologies are [or] what people's sexual orientation is, [and] you often can't tell what people's disabilities are. You may know in advance that you have a learning disabled student, but often you won't know, you have to assume before you walk through that door, that those people are there. They call it "the heterosexual assumption"- you assume everyone's straight. You have to change that assumption and wipe it out and walk in the door being totally open to the idea that you do have hidden minorities in your classes. Also, in course planning be sensitive to the hidden minorities. "
"I had one class [where the topic was marriage and family] and it took me most of the semester before I was able to talk about non-traditional families. The professor was asking about who people were going to marry, and what they were looking for in a spouse, and she asked me-I raised my hand; this was going to be my big coming out moment-she said, "So what would you be looking for in a woman as far as sharing responsibilities?" I said, "Well first, I wouldn't be looking for a woman," and she didn't skip a beat, which is good, because I thought some of the people in the class did. I always gauge my professors for that and I felt that I was gauging her safely. It might have tripped her up a little bit, but she made every effort to make it look like it didn't trip her up. She had actually planned to do a section on nontraditional families but still, just the assumption that when you're talking to a student they're going to be marrying a person of the opposite sex, that they're going to be marrying period, is an assumption most professors make. But if a student is in a class with role models, and looking for a way to fit into a subject, in history or sociology (women have known this for a long time), if you use only male-oriented language, you know "he, he, he, he, he," you start not seeing yourself in the picture, and that's the same thing happening to most gay people. It doesn't involve that much of a change in the language to make that much of a change. To say "your partner" or "your significant other" - yeah it's a few more syllables, but you know, what's the cost? It's small, to make sure that you're including all of your students in the conversation. "
"It does happen that someone snickers or "oooh's" or something like that. "
"We had discussion sections and the topic of homosexuality came up and there were some snickers and stuff, and the discussion leader sort of laughed along with it, and didn't address the topic or situation at all. Instead of at the very least saying "Well, you know, you have to have respect," and making some comment to waylay that heterosexist behavior, instead he just sort of went along with it. He probably felt the same way, or uncomfortable standing up to it. The result is the same, there needs to be some education, some way to be more responsive. "
"I hear comments all the time. In class, they make fag jokes, [they do so] on campus and in general. That's really hard to deal with. If I was a lesbian, or I was gay or bisexual, and I was sitting in that class and I heard that-you know, people are exposed to that throughout their entire life. I've heard from all my friends how hard their lives have been from hearing negative comments like that. You hear it in the media, you hear it candidly in conversation. "
"There was mention of homosexual themes in this course [I was taking], and people would snicker, you know. They joked around "oh yeah, two guys, fags" you know, using that word. And the teacher kind of glossed over it. The instructor really didn't do anything about it. I wish that person had really handled it very assertively in making some comment towards diversity or pluralism, or even some of the historical basis of it. I wish that [the professor] had more training in that sort of thing, even to be able to handle the situation. Because the class got unruly, and I really don't feel that the professor had control of the class for the rest of the period. People kept making jokes, I'm sure that one or two people felt very uncomfortable in that class. I felt uncomfortable because nothing was said, and I wish I could have stood up in the class and said "It's not a funny issue, it's a real life issue and chances are that you know someone who's gay." The glossing over of [the fag jokes] in class was very detrimental to anybody in class because that's what perpetuates it. When we ignore the problem, the problem is perpetuated. "
"Another thing that [really bothers me] is when a person stands up or is going to respond to a question in class and the first thing they say is "I'm not gay, but" That is just as heterosexist and homophobic as calling someone a faggot, or a dyke or whatever. Most people don't even think about it that way. You know, it makes me want to stand up and say "I'm not straight, but-"
"I have had quite a few people say "significant other" instead of "boyfriend" or "girlfriend" that can make a difference. It really indicates that the professor is aware of the fact that there is a variety of relationships, including gay relationships etc. "Boyfriend" and "girlfriend" is still inclusive, but at the same time "significant other" has other resonances. It's not as traditional, it doesn't sound as intimate as girlfriend or boyfriend does, it sounds a lot more scientific or technical, but at the same time it does make a difference. It's so wild how those simple phrases, those little things can make a difference. "
"Other terminology that can definitely be avoided is "sexual preference." That makes a lot of people very uncomfortable. It's "sexual orientation." Because preference indicates the choice causation- that you know, they chose to be gay and they prefer this lifestyle. "Lifestyle" is another word that needs to be avoided. Because living on a lake is a lifestyle, being gay, lesbian or bisexual is a life. There's a difference. Every single human being on this earth has a unique lifestyle; that's what it comes down to. You cannot generalize about an entire population, whether they be straight or gay. "Lifestyle" and "sexual preference" indicates a choice. Most people who have come to terms with themselves have already been through all of that, have been through this trying to change process and all of the pain that causes: [they] can tell you that it's impossible to stop being gay. It's like being "ex-straight" you know: "I overcame those emotions, and now I'm gay."
"There was a class in which AIDS and sexual practices came up. A topic that came up was about some sexual practices that happen between gay men, and high-risk dangerous ones that came up, and it sort of upset me that it wasn't addressed that not all gay men participate in those sorts of activities. In a very, very subtle sense I felt that gay men were still being demonized for spreading the AIDS virus."
"It's tough [to deal with such issues in class]. I think that HIV should be an issue dealt with in the classroom. The only thing that kind of grabbed me about [an exam the student had to take] was that I thought it was a little stereotypical that the one time we really focused on a gay couple, one of them dies from AIDS instead of having a gay couple live together for 20 years or 30 years and one of them dies of old age. AIDS has now become an equal opportunity infector. It could have dealt with an unmarried straight couple- you've got a lot of the same issues in there. "
"The worst thing about being gay is that the coming-out process is an ongoing process all your life. Most people consider that when you come out, you come out to your parents, and most of your closest friends know and you're not worried about- you're not harboring that horrible fear that the next person you meet is going to know that you are gay, that's usually when you are "out" when you are past that fear. BUT it is an ongoing process because every time you meet a professor or a TA- it comes up eventually, especially if you are around them a lot you're going to have to come out. If they don't already know, you're going to have to let them know. For example if you're gay, and you're having relationship problems and it's affecting your grade and you go and sit down to talk to your TA about it, or your professor, and you say, "Look, I'm having problems in my personal life and having trouble finishing this paper." If you have to go into specifics, you worry about how they are going to react. That's hard to deal with. Especially if you feel you have to lie, like a lot of people feel they have to do, and say "girlfriend" or "boyfriend" just because of that fear of a homophobic reaction. This is always, always a possibility in the mind of a gay, bisexual or lesbian student: being discriminated against by the administration, or a professor, just because they're gay. Even though there's a policy against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, that doesn't mean that it doesn't still go on. "
"I can't imagine not being able to be who I am. You know, not being able to express my feelings openly in public. Even if you're out, that's a real hard thing too. In general, the general population, if they see two men walking across campus holding hands, they're pointed at, you stare. You have to deal with it. You know it happens to handicapped people all the time, it happens to inter-racial couples. It's all pretty much discrimination. Discrimination plays itself out in different ways. "
"I've been called "faggot" on campus. I've had death threats phoned in on my answering machine and things like that."
"[In one undergraduate class] it just naturally came up in class discussion. The professors were really approachable- they were able to see parallels between discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and discrimination on the basis of gender and race. When we were discussing the importance of women in history, they were able to see the fact that gays and lesbians are often erased from history as well. For the first time I felt really comfortable speaking out on gay and lesbian issues in the classroom. When I'm in the classroom, I always have a red flag go up saying "Is it appropriate? Is it appropriate?" when I know perfectly well, when I can see the connections myself. In fact often I feel like people are going to feel like I'm throwing it in their face, and that I have an agenda. I do to some degree, but I don't bring it up unless I feel it's relevant and I see a connection. I've actually caught myself deliberately not saying something even though I thought it was appropriate. "
"Overall, especially over the years, although you may not be harassed in particular, you may run into it today, and maybe in another month later, and then the next year. It builds up and it just a level of frustration develops and you feel as if you're being harassed, even though it's not coming from any one person in particular. It can make the whole learning environment difficult. It's something that I've come into contact with enough so that I felt like, my educational experience was impaired by it. Because I was just always on the defensive, and I was always looking behind me to see if someone was pointing. I developed a thick skin- some people drop out. I've known people who have dropped out. Overall I think my reception here has been not hostile, but not receptive. If I was going to err, I would err toward the side of hostility among classmates. This is the first time most students meet people who are openly gay. They don't know how [to react], and so I give them allowance for the first semester. But after they've been here for two or three years, there's just not much of an excuse for it."
"I know of so many tenured faculty members, gay and lesbian tenured faculty members in a social setting, who are not out on campus at all. They are worried about the respect of their peers. They don't have anything to lose job-wise, I feel, but they feel that they would lose their peers' respect. Proactive statements on the part of faculty would make a big difference. Even if it's just symbolic- students here need more "out" gay faculty. There's gay faculty here, but not "out" gay faculty. Proactive stances taken by faculty members who are in positions of power, and straight faculty members to say that "We are supportive, we are not going to take action against someone who is gay," would be helpful. "
"I think group discussion plays a very big role in [making people comfortable enough to stand up and say things should be different]. It depends on how big a class it is. In class of 200 people that's not really possible, but maybe breaking up into small groups. For me, [it was important] just having a chance to speak out, and not having to raise my hand and say "Well this is what I want to say," but having an opportunity- being provided the opportunity to say something in class, in group discussion."
"In the best class I've ever been in we always sat in a circle, and we were facing each other. In the beginning I was very, very uncomfortable, we were all staring at each other, and we all didn't really know each other. But a large part of our grade was discussion, and a large part of the class was discussion. A lot of it was us giving presentations, and breaking up into smaller groups, and I think that really is what helps people to make their views known. It takes a while; some people are more apt to speak out and some people aren't, but it kind of gives everyone a chance to say something. That's probably the best thing- it helps the students feel important, like what they have to say is important."
"[Homosexuality issues] are coming up more and more. It's become a focus of national debate with gays in the military, gays in history, all of these things are going to be coming up in some dramatic fashion in the classroom. The University just got a $170,000 grant for devising a Gay and Lesbian Studies Program, and that's going to become a huge topic of debate when those courses actually begin. We're going to see campus tensions rise, and a lot of discussions going on about it and professors may have to deal with this in the classroom, in any classroom, even those that don't have that as a topic. Especially during Awareness Week, Celebration Week. You're going to have a lot of people wearing gay T-shirts, and they're going to be identifying themselves as gay openly for the first time. They're going to walk into their Poli Sci class and probably surprise a lot of people, and there'll be murmuring and snickers. I know a TA who wore a T-shirt to teach his class and he got some questions, and some raised eyebrows, and some snickers. And he was supposed to be in charge of that class."
"Including, where appropriate, gay and lesbian people in literature, in history, in education, in science and mentioning tit's similar to the African American experience: mentioning that someone was African American empowers people in the class, it really gets them interested. Mentioning that a common author is gay may be scary to someone, because you wonder, "Is it appropriate?" Well, figure out a way to bring it in that is appropriate. It's a challenge. When you're dealing with literature, with people of different cultures, it's perfectly appropriate to say when a gay author has made contributions. It takes some extra work, but it's worthwhile because it will include some people in your class who aren't used to feeling included. That's a really important thing, especially if you get them interested in the subject. You may help people to actually pursue your subject if they feel, like "Wow, there's some space for me here." It's appropriate in a lot more places than people might think."
"You've got valid experiences. Something that can be included is that you can bring in your experiences and draw parallels with those of your students. Look for parallels- you know you may not be gay yourself, but you may have been in a relationship that people didn't approve of or your parents may have rejected you for one reason or another, and you know how that feels. You've got to draw the parallels, even though you may not see it right off the bat, they're there. Because the two are really the same. So if you're having trouble understanding where this is all coming from, you can usually draw from your own experiences even though they seem different at first."
"It was when the TA made the connection between me and a real place that the students also got more interested. Then they asked me questions about it. I think it was just that they didn't know how to deal with this person. I was their first international person."
"I think [the Americans] don't realize what a major step you took in your life just coming here. How hard it is. I mean they travel from state to state, but that's not the same. You took a huge, huge step and it'll change your life and your thinking and everything. They see you as anyone, any student. They don't take into account that step you've taken."
It is of course problematic to speak of "International Students" as if they could be presented as a homogeneous group. Our international student population includes people from all continents, with a diversity of cultures, races and languages that makes such a grouping difficult. These students do, however, often share similar problems of adjustment to American life and the American classroom.
The international students' most common reaction to classes here is the surprise that teachers expect active participation in discussion, and even make it part of the grade. Most international students come from educational backgrounds that value lecture-style presentations over class discussion, and it may take these students a number of weeks at the beginning of their stay in the US to find the courage to speak in class. Since they do not automatically share an understanding of what will be required of them in an American class, it is useful to find out who they are at the beginning of the semester, and to review the syllabus in detail with them. Such an orientation to your class will make it much easier for any international student to adjust to the "American style" of teaching and learning.
The problem most often mentioned in interviews with international students is that they are made to feel very alien in their classrooms. This happens either when they are explicitly singled out by the teacher as foreigners, or when their classmates ignore them because they do not understand how to relate to international students. In both situations, international students feel that no one in the class has made an effort to get to know them as individuals, and that simply by coming from a different culture or part of the world, they will always be marginalized.
A teacher has the power to change these relations. It is most useful to ask the student to come to office hours to learn more about him or her. Then the teacher can relate class materials to the international student's experience and ask the student questions which show everyone in the class that the special angle this student brings can enrich the topic at hand. It is important not to single out the student to "represent" his or her country. When asking a student about his or her experience, stressing the student as an individual rather than as a representative of a country will encourage the student without making him or her feel alien.
What international students want is to feel that their experience is as important to the class as any other student's. Again and again in the interviews, the international students said that if only the teacher and the other students would come to them with questions and show that they are curious to learn more about what the student's home country is like, then the international students would feel more included. Even students who at first thought they would like to "go under" and appear as American as possible explained that when the TA or the professor made it clear that they were not American and that they had a special angle on the class topic, their relationship with everyone in the class improved. Often it was simply that the other students did not know how to go about starting to ask questions. When the teacher encouraged the international student to speak about topics in his or her own experience, and incorporated the new experience into the classroom, the American students reacted with enthusiasm and curiosity.
Students from other cultures can
often have unexpected reactions, both negative and positive, to things that
happen in your classroom and to American customs. If you have several
international students, it is even possible that there could be tensions between
them because of traditional enmities or a clash of cultural values. Getting to
know your students at the beginning of the semester can prevent any such
underlying tensions from surfacing in your classroom. If the students feel that
you have a personal interest in them as individuals, then they will not feel
hesitant about coming to you to explain a problem that they may be having in the
class, of which you could not even be aware. Establishing a safe classroom
atmosphere through the ground rules of discussion, and keeping channels of
communication open in your office hours will give students the chance to adjust
to your classroom more quickly.
Quotes from interviews with International students on campus
"I'm always sort of in a ghetto of international students in the back row... mainly because we all live together. The Americans who sit around me are people who've been on an exchange to another country and it sort of filters down to the front of the class. It sort of goes by degrees, all the people who must be native to North Carolina must be in the front. It really struck me that everyone around me was from overseas or had been overseas as part of their studies."
"It depends on the size of the class. The problem is more if you have a bigger class like 25 or 40 people. You feel really lost in this crowd of people. The first thing you're looking for is somebody you know from the international orientation ... and then if you've found somebody, then it's not that easy to get to know somebody else."
"[After a while] I was quite accepted in the discussion groups, but not in the classroom. I had the impression that I first had to fight so that they would look at me. I was sitting there beside all the others, and they wouldn't even look at me. "
"In my language class I had problems at first, because I could understand what the teacher was saying in Spanish, but when he explained something in English, I had problems. When I asked the students, they really were quite annoyed with somebody asking them. They were impatient that they have to tell me again what I was supposed to do. It was much better when I talked to the Spanish professor. He told the TA and afterwards the TA mentioned it a couple of times, and he asked me some things about Europe. Then people really, at the end of class, they really got more interested. "
"I think we're very very alien as an international student. I think this annoyance comes from college kids because they just can't place you and they don't know why you have difficulties."
"In my English class they work together in groups. It's a little bit strange, I mean, in Hong Kong we don't do that. It was really a difficult transition for me. I really didn't know what I should do in the group. If I came up with any ideas, I would talk about that and people would just ignore me. But the teachers they might not be aware of that."
"In one class it was the same problem you mentioned, that I came up with a new idea and I really thought it was something new. They listened to me but that's it... class went on. I mentioned [my idea] and everybody was happy that I did that, but then they went down the same path [as before]. My idea was kind of ignored. That was a little bit disappointing."
"The teacher could have encouraged the students to accept other people's ideas. They should do that because the other students, maybe it's because of race, they don't want to welcome your ideas because maybe they think you're Asian, you're not a native speaker. I felt that sometimes I was set aside because I was not a native speaker. I don't think the teacher was aware [that they were shutting me out]."
"I had a different experience. Because I'm not a native speaker, they were all the more attentive to what I was saying. They were like, "She's French, let's see what she has to say."
"There are different problems for undergraduate international students than for graduate students. When you look at the statistics, you can tell that there are more [international students] in the graduate schools- there are not many freshman, or undergraduates. For me it's a problem. I mean the teachers, or the students, they may not be used to working together or studying together with international students. They are not used to accepting international students in class. So sometimes I really feel excluded. So when I first arrived here, I really thought about transferring to another school because my friends in other schools, they don't have this problem. I feel that UNC doesn't have the experience of accepting international students."
"One thing that really bothered me was when the professor asked me to read my midterm out loud to the class 'because it was so good.' I felt like a monkey who can do tricks for everyone. I mean you probably need encouragement, they want to flatter you and give you a sense of confidence. But that's not how to do it. Singling you out makes everything worse. It doesn't encourage you. It's flattering when you realize that they're treating you exactly the same as anybody else. "
"By the third class, the professor has figured out that you're foreign. Well in this one class, he told two students at the end of each class to stand at the door and shake hands with everyone, to get to know them. All of the students were supposed to do this. But the first time he chose just me and this American student, and then he never did it again. The other students didn't have to do this. It was like he wanted to introduce E.T. to these down-home students."
"One time, I was doing a report on Jonathan Edwards and afterward the professor said to the class "Isn't it wonderful that this person is able to experience and comprehend the Puritan tradition." You know, as if he was saying, "and him being a foreigner!"
"My general feeling is that the subtler the professors are in encouragement and being available, the more they do it after class, the better. Talking to people personally, or telling your advisor or your home department about your good progress would be good. But ask the student first. I mean, that encouraged me, when the professor asked if he should tell my department about my progress and how well I was doing in his class. Make it clear outside of class. Be generally available. Have the tact of doing it personally instead of in front of everyone."
"Sometimes I had the feeling that people would be forming stereotypes about me, immediate stereotypes. 'He's like this so that must be Belgian.' If I was different, or studied a topic that was 'out of the way' or unusual it was because I was Belgian. You know, 'Studying that theory equals Belgian equals foreign and strange.' "
"At the beginning I was 'the French one.' They didn't remember my name for the first two or three weeks. It's definitely a problem with international people. [They have] an immediate stereotype, but after they get to know you, it's different."
"In [one class], the TA was referring to the War of Independence and somehow made a comment about how it was my fault, and I said, 'it wasn't my fault- I'm Australian! We didn't exist!'
"The style was sort of different. I had the impression that there was not a hierarchy like it is at my home university. They keep telling each other jokes, and it's just loud and everybody just says whatever comes to their mind. It is a little bit chaotic. At first I thought it was good, but I prefer it if it's quiet and everybody thinks twice about what he's going to say. If it's chaotic it's harder and, especially if you're the only international, it's harder to speak up. If the whole thing were better structured, it might be easier, especially in the beginning, to speak up. "
"The whole European approach was very different. I had to get into their way of thinking to get my ideas out. It was easier in one class because the professor pointed out that I was from a different educational tradition and let me read something I had done. That encouraged me."
"For me it was the participation of the students. The French system is lecturing. Eventually maybe someone will ask a question. Here, it's like jumping in. I think it's great, it's really great. But I'm just not used to it, so when they leave 20 minutes for discussion at the end I'm like, 'Oh no, that's the long part.' "
"I found out that the professor [in the US] actually really cares about the students, that he will involve himself a lot more with the students. And also that the class in general participates a lot more. I kind of like that, I like the back and forth atmosphere of the classes here. It's a lot better."
"In the French system, you go all the way through from the beginning to the Ph.D.- you don't go out. Whereas here, everybody stops after the Master's, and spends years working. So I'm 22, and they're from 35 to 48. It's because the French system's different. I don't have those 10 years experience. The professor might ask questions like "Well, professionals do this or that, what do you think about that?" I don't have this experience. I mean I have more diplomas than any of them, so they sort of admire me too, but I don't have the experience they do. "
"One of [the older students] even told me that he could be my father but it puts [us into] some kind of power relations. Because we worked together [on a presentation] and he knew better and he made it clear that there was a power difference. He made it real clear- 'he could be my father and he had the experience.' This American made it very clear that I might be the little French one but he knew. It's not really an international experience, but I'm younger than them because of the international difference."
"I feel really good, it's kind of well, metropolitan would be too much to say, but, really it's multiracial, there are tons of people walking around at lunchtime and, so I feel it's really a big crowd, but you're a part of it."
"[In the graduate programs] the groups are so much smaller, and we work so hard, so we've got to create this family style relation. There's no choice, we've got to do it to survive. Everybody supports each other, which is not the case for undergrads."
"Yeah, we lack the interaction between the undergraduate students. For example, in my geography class now, I still do not know anyone in it, after the whole semester."
"My feeling on campus generally was that people were very nice. When they find out you're a foreigner, they're really flattered that you're studying here. That's really nice. "
"When we come we have to fill out so many papers. People don't take into account that we have to spend so much time at the beginning doing this... that's killing. I mean I spent two weeks doing that and I thought, when is this going to end? You're doing twice as much as the average American coming into the program."
"The teacher should draw the advantage of listening to the internationals in the classroom, and try to ask them 'how is it in your country' or try to compare and get the best out of that. The international student feels better for it if someone recognizes the richness of his being here. It can only be better for everyone. Whenever they have a chance of making a comparison, they shouldn't miss this chance."
"[Getting the students to respond in class] requires a lot of patience. Some international students don't make it very clear, so the other students are like "phhhhh??here he speaks again." When the international students are not very clear or they speak slowly, then I felt a little impatience from [the other students]. I think [the professor] could have made it clear that having this international person talk was a plus, was something great, and we're lucky to have this one with all the experiences. It's all the more valuable. If he had made it clear to everyone that, in a way, it might be interesting because it's an international student, then they'd be more patient. I thought it wasn't very nice of other students to react that way. "
"They should pay more attention to you, ask you more questions about your home country- what the differences really are. It's good for international students, and also good for the other students. "
"[There are some international students] who have a really, really heavy accent and I guess Americans have a really hard time understanding them. Maybe it would be the responsibility of the TA or teacher to recommend that he study more English, or join a discussion group."
"Both the international [student] and the TA, both of them bear responsibility, to have teaching or get help. I guess the international undergraduates, they have to take more responsibility. If you want to know more, and you want to get help, you really have to go to the teacher. The teacher won't come here and say 'Oh, you're an international student? Do you understand my lecture?' or 'How do you feel?' It is really important for the teacher to take the first step and say 'Are you OK in my class?' The teachers should take the first step to help the international students. That's very important for the international students."
"The TA or professors, they should make use of the international students. They should assign a student to someone from France or from Hong Kong. They should get information from them, like, 'How does your educational system work in your home country?' So that in the future, if they have an international student, they will know [what concepts students from different systems know]. And that would help [the teacher] place them at a certain level, and know how to treat them [in class] because they already know this, and how they can be helpful. "
"It would be useful for any international student, when they first come, to have a kind of an interview with the department to find out more about [the student's] background. That information should be given to the teachers in the department."
"If the TA makes a point of asking you where you come from, and letting the other students know you're somebody from a different part of the world, they'll react well. They just don't realize what your problems are. They don't connect [where you come from] to a real culture."
"One of the profs told them [the students in the class] about the fact that I was from Germany, and so two people came over to me, and grabbed me and said "I just came from Germany!" and told me all about it. That was really good. I had thought I would prefer to go under in that course with American students and not to be noticed. But I had this experience and it was better. It helps if you're recognized."
"I agree. At first I didn't want it, but when it happened it really was better. I thought I would just sit here in the back and put my baseball cap on backwards and look American. But when my professor pointed it out [that I was Australian] during his lectures on Southeast Asia, it got people interested in talking to me, whereas before they thought I was an American and they didn't. "
"I lived for one week on one sentence: 'Do you take your notes in English? Wow!' That takes some thinking on the part of the professor. To have made the connection, 'Oh, she writes in English, but this is not her native language.' It sounds so simple and so silly but it was really kind of recognition of me. Things like that are really nice."
"Relax! Don't be so nervous. Keep cool and not be influenced by us- by the presence of so many people. My point of view is that here, [at UNC] the students really want to learn. In general they're really nice."
"Yes, I think they should probably just relax. The best teachers just starting out with their early lectures are the ones who don't get too excited about it, and accept that they're going to make some mistakes and acknowledge it. That's just going to happen- people who are really really uptight, it makes them hard to approach."
"[Teachers] should know where they want to go, and they should allow for time just to let people contribute to it. With the relaxed atmosphere should come a goal for the end of the day."
"If they have a really tight syllabus, they should think about their syllabus. Because I think it doesn't make sense if you do something nice with people, or have a discussion or read an additional story, and everyone's happy with this lesson. Then next week you have to do twice as much work in one class because you're all falling behind, or you have to tell the people 'OK, we are two hours behind, and you have to do this during the weekend.' That's what I was told, and then I really hated the TA. You should have the flexibility to drop something to make time for the extra work."
"I think in general it would be a good idea if the syllabi weren't so packed. Then you wouldn't have to drop things. You could start from the beginning with less reading and really, sometimes I just have to say, that less reading is more. It's to me really a question of quality- and I have the impression that sometimes quantity is in the first place, or comes before quality."