Wed, 19 Oct 1994 11:09:22 -0700 for <socgrad@ucsd.edu>
Subject: Re: school colors
To: socgrad@UCSD.EDU
Date: Wed, 19 Oct 1994 14:09:19 -0400 (EDT)
From: Karen T Farquharson <farquhar@isr.harvard.edu>
I watched the program "School Colors" intently and agree with a lot of what
has been said by contributors to this list.

I wonder if it's a good idea to have African-American Studies, Latino
Studies, and/or Asian Studies departments at the high school level, but I
also empathize with the instructors' desires to teach students about their
specific histories.  The fact is that in general non-European world views
are not emphasized. Courses may have a module on England, and another model
on Africa, and a third on South America, despite the differences in scale.
As aperson of mixed race, I didn't see myself (or anyone of color) in the
classroom curricula until college, and even then, only in the social
sciences.  

One of the things that leapt out at me was that the students of mixed race
(7%, if I remember correctly) are pretty much excluded from all ethnicity
days. It is as if mixed race people have no ethnicity!  It seems that they
have to choose a race to become friendly with, due to the extreme
segregation at the school.  I guess that this is how it is in life, as
well.  Ironically, the person giving the valedictory
(?) speech at the end was of mixed race.

Karen