Just How far We've Come (Class Assignment no. 6)

This week in class was a tremendous learning experience. The theory behind the "Human Relations" practice in education that Sleeter/Grant presented in the reading was fascinating. Even more interesting were the answers to the "Equity and Diversity Awareness" quiz, that proved to crystallize for me just how egregious the systemic barriers for people of disadvantaged groups are. As a matter of fact, my reaction to the results of the quiz were so charging that I would have blogged about it regardless of the assignment.

I got 11 out of the 15 questions correct, which is not too bad. As an ardent skeptic, not much surprises me about just how corrupt the network of bipolitical institutions in America are. However, the ones that I did get wrong were so shocking that it proves to color my picture of our nation in an even darker light, which really is something.

Specifically the 8th question:

"According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the median annual income for U.S. white men, 25 years or older, who have earned graduate degrees is $80,000. What are the median annual incomes for Latina and Native American women, 25 years or older, who have earned graduate degrees?"

The answer was "50,000 and 40,000 respectively." That is horrendous. I honestly did not think that the professional world was that cruel to people who had their degrees. I would hope my alarm is understandable. If the problematic attitudes that create these discrepancies are still at work in this day and age, then when will they end?

And then the more heartbreaking question that surprised me was the 2nd actually:

"Compared with white women, how likely are African American women in the U.S. to die during childbirth due to lack of access to prenatal care...?"

The answer is not twice as likely. It's four times as likely. This is an outrage. This is an outrage that teachers need to be knowledgeable about in order to successfully get to know and educate his/her repective class.

As a matter of fact, taking this quiz may help students understand one another better and what things their peers go through because of their respective differences. This is pursuant to the Human Relations approach posed in the Sleeter/Grant reading. Specifically, in handling the role the perception plays in the process of peer categorization (Allport).

One thing that taking this quiz revealed to me is the importance of the social justice portion of Multicultural Education. That is, in the long run, effective Multicultural Education--while I still contend the goal is still mutual understanding--should also aim to mitigate these systemic problems that create such a fragmented social in this country. it's just difficult to mend these fragements when you're unaware that they exist.

http://www.edchange.org/multicultural/quiz/quizNEW.pdf
--TAHS