Wed, 19 Oct 1994 09:24:42 -0700 for <socgrad@UCSD.EDU>
Date: Wed, 19 Oct 1994 11:24:30 -0500 (CDT)
From: Melanie Lowery <mlowery@comp.uark.edu>
Subject: Re: school colors
To: Chiquita Collins <chiquita@psc.lsa.umich.edu>

I agree that multicultural education, taught with the proper goals
in mind - to teach respect, understanding, interest, etc. for "other" 
groups - is a good thing. What I saw in this documentary, and what I have 
seen in practice in several other places, is lacking completely in 
scholarly rigor and used to further segregation, not to ameliorate it. 


On Wed, 19 Oct 1994, Chiquita Collins wrote:

> I also watched this documentary, and I thought that it was an 
> excellent reflection of race and class segregation in society.  
> I disagree with Melanie's statement that culture specific courses 
> (i.e., Chicano, African American) did not teach 
> respect for another culture.  In most cases, these classes are developed 
> to supplement what "core" course (i.e., History, English Literature) 
> often neglect-- the contributions of African Americans, Native Americans, 
> Asian Pacific Islanders, and others (I hate the use of minority) to 
> these subjects as well as society.  Many times, as seen in the film, 
> instructors neglect scholarly work and instead teach how the vent anger, 
> or their personal opinions.  I do agree that multiculturalism taught out 
> of context, courses that teach separation from other racial groups, is 
> not beneficial for any group.
>