Diversity: Explicit Example

Student Lounge College Life
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<p>So I know it's all over the place on CC, but oh well. Colleges are always inundating us with how great diversity is and how their admissions reflects racial and ethnic diversity. They want people of all different backgrounds to come to campus and enrich the community. They want discussions in and outside the classroom to reflect this racial and ethnic diversity. Well just food for thought: how do you think people would react to the following potential scenario. It's an explicit representation of how the university wants diversity to come into the campus.</p>

<p>Imagine you're in a Freshmen seminar discussing a literary work. There's one black student and the rest are Asian or white. Everyone has given their opinion on the work except the black kid who has sat silent the entire class period. The professor or discussion leader turns to him and says, "OK Jamal, we'd all like to hear the black perspective please."</p>

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<p>I dunno about in class discussions, but out of class discussions I've had have definitely been made better by diversity.</p>

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<p>Diversity is overrated. I just want my classmates to be intelligent. Don't care what they look like, where they're from, or how much their family makes--just if they're smart.</p>

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<p>no one should be forced into participation. It would be OK for the teacher to say: "DeShaun, would you like to give us the black perspective?"</p>

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<p>
[quote]

Imagine you're in a Freshmen seminar discussing a literary work. There's one black student and the rest are Asian or white. Everyone has given their opinion on the work except the black kid who has sat silent the entire class period. The professor or discussion leader turns to him and says, "OK Jamal, we'd all like to hear the black perspective please."

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</p>

<p>I think to myself, “The black perspective? There’s only one? Jamal speaks for his race? He doesn’t speak for himself? Jeez, I’d like to know the black perspective on the intermediate value theorem!”</p>

<p>Diversity is a misguided goal. It is based on a “7-layer salad” mindset: if I can’t see diversity, then it’s not there. Of course, any one who is actually a college student knows that there’s diversity everywhere; you don’t have to search for it. I was relaxing one time last year in my floor’s lounge with my hallmates when the topic of Americanness came up. I suddenly realized that we had one Indian, one Pakistani, two Chinese, one Korean, and one Chicano in the same room. That’s diversity. However, the “7-layer salad” diversity advocates would say, “there isn’t enough because there are too many Asians.” How absurd. If you count the number of languages we could speak natively in that room, you’d have six languages, including English. That’s not diverse?</p>

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<p>Colleges look for diversity in a lot of ways. Ethnic, national, political, ideological, socio-economical, etc. The main positive to diversifying a campus is that it brings in a wealth of differing experiences, opportunities, and interpretations. Education isn't always about learning from teachers in classrooms--a lot of it is learning and working with your peers, and learning to analyze your own responses to the subject matter.</p>

<p>The situation with a teacher asking for the "black perspective" would fly in the face of any diverse college's goals. Instead of categorizing and quantifying races and groups, colleges that work towards diversity look to shake people out of the mentality that entire groups of people can be stereotyped into one "perspective." I think most people would react to a question like that poorly, and with good reason. Colleges don't admit students because they want them to "represent" their race or economic status or region, but because with a wide array of backgrounds and ideologies, they're hoping that the class as a whole will be exposed to a variety of individual opinions and experiences.</p>

<p>I agree with post #2--my own experiences meeting people with backgrounds or opinions radically different than my own have been really eye-opening, and I would say I'm better for them. It seems like a natural step to recreate those experiences within an academic environment.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
no one should be forced into participation. It would be OK for the teacher to say: "DeShaun, would you like to give us the black perspective?"

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<p><em>pukes</em> .</p>

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<p>That's stupid. Asking one black person what the black perspective shows a lack of understanding that not all people of one race are the same. I wish a professor would have asked me that. I'd love to leave a verbal barrage of insults on him/her.</p>

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<p>Agreed, randomgrandeur.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
The professor or discussion leader turns to him and says, "OK Jamal, we'd all like to hear the black perspective please."

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</p>

<p>God that is so offensive... I could only imagine how horrified and embarrassed I would be if the professor turned to me and went "Okay [Easy], we'd all like to hear the really good-looking and charming perspective please."</p>

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<p>His name is Antwan not jamal or deshaun</p>

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<p>I'd probably have to get up and leave if I were asked to give any race's perspective. Race shouldn't have much to do with a personal opinion.</p>

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<p>
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"Okay [Easy], we'd all like to hear the really good-looking and charming perspective please."

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<p>So please do us all a favor and wake up BeKind.</p>

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<p>There's a fairly thought-provoking essay called "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack", by Peggy McIntosh (Wellesley):</p>

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I think whites are carefully taught not to recognize white privilege, as males are taught not to recognize male privilege. So I have begun in an untutored way to ask what it is like to have white privilege. I have come to see white privilege as an invisible package of unearned assets that I can count on cashing in each day, but about which I was "meant" to remain oblivious. White privilege is like an invisible weightless knapsack of special provisions, maps, passports, codebooks, visas, clothes, tools, and blank checks.

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<p>^ White</a> Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack - This wasn't typed in flawlessly, but it doesn't seem like content was lost. One of the points McIntosh raises is that</p>

<p>
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21. I am never asked to speak for all the people of my racial group.

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<p>Whatever beef you may or may not have with the piece--and I imagine it could hit nerves--it's an interesting read, particularly for those who have grown up in fairly homogeneous communities. Might bring on a few "Huh..." moments.</p>

<p>OP: Are you suggesting that your scenario is representative of the reasons for which colleges aim to increase campus diversity? If so, I have to agree with the second paragraph of post #7. I think I understand your point, but this just isn't a situation that can be boiled down to one student in one classroom without really losing its essence. The fact that this scenario actually does occur (and I'm sure of that) only speaks to what an important + misunderstood goal diversity can be. </p>

<p>
[quote]
I suddenly realized that we had one Indian, one Pakistani, two Chinese, one Korean, and one Chicano in the same room. That’s diversity. However, the “7-layer salad” diversity advocates would say, “there isn’t enough because there are too many Asians.” How absurd. If you count the number of languages we could speak natively in that room, you’d have six languages, including English. That’s not diverse?

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</p>

<p>I agree. But again, talking about one classroom or one living room obscures the point. When a campus has hundreds, thousands, sometimes tens of thousands of students, and major segments of the population are still missing, or are totally swallowed up by the majority, that's problematic for multiple reasons. And the problem that you're describing can work the other way, too. Try searching for "divers" (Ctrl/Apple + F and type in "divers") within the text of Jonathan Kozol's "Still</a> Separate, Still Unequal: America's Educational Apartheid". Not the point of this thread or of your post, I know, but do realize that the 'opposite' of what you describe can be just as misguided.</p>

<p>I also think that most colleges genuinely want diversity in more than just a racial/ethnic sense. That's not to say that race/ethnicity can't or don't play a large role, but the OP's idea of what campuses are looking for (and bragging about having) seems narrower than my own understanding.</p>

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<p>What the hell is male privilege? Like subsidizing girls' covers at parties? Or fighting in war? Or paying alimony?</p>

<p>I can think of female privilege. Like skating by on life on just one's looks.</p>

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<p>Peggy McIntosh's essay raises a lot of insightful observations both about race and gender dynamics. She does a lot to elucidate the knee-jerk response against assertions of male or white dominance, naturally, no one wants to believe they are in a position that consciously or unconsciously dominates and subjugates another person. She also draws out the difference between personal and institutional racism. A person in a position of white privilege might not be personally racist, but might also enjoy the benefits of institutional racism. It's an important distinction, and it helps stop the knee-jerk response.</p>

<p>An example of male privilege might be the ability to assume that women who work hard to further their career arrived where they are by "skating by on their looks." White privilege might be akin to assuming a black lawyer, who worked hard to further his/her career got where s/he was by "skating by on [race]" during law school. Achivement gap studies have shown that environment and expectations have an extremely concrete effect on performance, and that minorities of any description often suffer under a system that doesn't adequately address their situation. In another post on this forum, a female student described how her teacher [falsely] attributed her science work to her boyfriend's help.</p>

<p>It's hard to argue that in the workplace and in academia, to an extent, minorities function in an infranstructure that's not especially geared to support them. McIntosh's point is that so much of white privilege and male privilege are unconscious--they don't reflect so much on the person in the position, but on the society that fosters the environment. Colleges are diversifying to try and build more inclusive and aware communities, and to try and eradicate some complacency from the system.</p>

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<p>
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An example of male privilege might be the ability to assume that women who work hard to further their career arrived where they are by "skating by on their looks."

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<p>So are you saying the office eye-candy is a big bad myth? Of course there are pretty girls who work hard to get where they are, but it doesn't mean that there aren't a boatload of girls that get hired for being hot in careers that others would have to work much harder or be much more qualified for. Not mentioning the myriad of jobs that depend almost exclusively on looks--dancers, cheerleaders, waitresses and bartenders in certain venues, hostesses, strippers, etc. etc.</p>

<p>As a personal anecdote, my ex-girlfriend had Wall Street guys bending over backwards to help her out with connections and the like after only having met her once in person; no resume or nothing. Our school was nowhere near New York and certainly not a hotbed for Wall Street activity. She worked hard and was smart, but there's no way a girl of markedly lesser attractiveness would have guys tripping over themselves to help her out.</p>

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<p>"So are you saying the office eye-candy is a big bad myth? Of course there are pretty girls who work hard to get where they are, but it doesn't mean that there aren't a boatload of girls that get hired for being hot in careers that others would have to work much harder or be much more qualified for."</p>

<p>There are outliers in everything....</p>

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<p>To assume from this very stupid and inane example that diversity is not necessary is the stuff idiocy is made of.</p>

<p>Diversity in the form of AA may be outdated but there are many types of diversity. Many Many types. To pass judgment on them all...</p>

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<p>I'm just saying that in many arenas, female professionals have to work much harder to establish themselves and their credentials as legitimate, and even after securing a position, are often dismissed as being somehow lesser than their male counterparts, something I think parallels the experiences of many minorities in the American workplace as well.</p>

<p>People are hired due to aesthetic qualities, but I don't know if I would say it's as widespread as you do. Of course, we've had different experiences, so you may very well have seen more of it than I have. I think it relates to the double standard of male/female behavior: a man might not be discredited or thought worse of for hiring an underqualified female secretary, but a woman would almost certainly face more scrutiny for hiring a boy-toy receptionist or something.</p>

<p>It's a tricky web to untangle, as I think McIntosh states very eloquently. For every man or woman trying to work against the system, there's another willingly ready to exploit it, either by continuing to hire underqualified candidates, or by winning a position knowing that they're an underqualified candidate.</p>