When anyone thinks of college, they think of going off somewhere far away, being away from loved ones and familiar places and traditions. But no one really thinks about the different ideas or viewpoints that come with college. No one would like to be far away from cherished ideas or familiar thoughts or the safety of knowing that they will have people around them with the same beliefs. Some students must be educated about the world and the differences in cultures and peoples of America. Prominent universities around this nation have establishes certain classes that help with educating students on different ways of thinking. Before then we had to rely on spontaneous trades of ideas between students, now we have multicultural education.
Multicultural education is an important and fundamental part of a student's world experience, but multicultural is a broad term and many people think that it means difference in race(Grant, 8). This is not entirely true, when one talks about multicultural he or she is also talking about difference in gender, county of origin, religion, social setting, sexual orientation and personal tastes and beliefs. Multicultural education is built on the foundation that the students taking them will learn something new from a viewpoint opposite of their own viewpoint. For a long time, at many universities, minorities were invisible(Ball,xiii). Their voices were ignored and their perspective was nonexistent. Although colleges and universities were integrated, there was still a wall built up between the different races.
In April 1989, the wall between white students and minority students was torn down. At the University of Vermont, the ALANA, a group of African American, Latino, Asian and Native American students occupied the offices of the President, the provost and other high-ranking officials at the UVM(Ball,xiii). The members of the ALANA, for the longest time, implored for the university to give the student body insight and education on the views and perspective on minorities and other sub-cultural groups(Ball,xiii-xiv). Finally the ALANA took action and stormed into those high officials' offices and demanded that attention be paid to the struggle and conflict of students who were not necessarily white or male. After days of deliberation and discussion, the ALANA and the president agreed on the multi-cultural courses(Ball, xiv).
Unfortunately things did not go smoothly, while all of the other colleges and institutes at the UVM accepted the terms of the MC courses, the college of Arts and Sciences, the largest college in the UVM, refused to have Multicultural courses. For the college of Arts and Sciences it would take the most funds to start a multicultural curriculum. The faculty after months of many proposals to the UVM finally established a new method(Ball,xv). Instead of creating new classes, and hiring new professors, they would classify some classes as Multi-cultural, and modify other classes to include more interesting figures in reading and discussion. Students seeking a degree at the University of Vermont would have to take at least one multicultural course(Ball, xv).
This system was eventually adopted by the University of Georgia. Franklin college of Arts and Sciences students are now required to take at least one multicultural class in order to receive a bachelor's degree(website). These courses are vital for UGA because The University of Georgia is not very diversified. Our demographics show that we have a majority of white students, who originate from Georgia(Thomas, interview). The University of Georgia is also strongly Christian and predominantly female. One cannot truly learn much if the college he or she goes to is not diversified. With multicultural courses, a student has a opportunity to gather different beliefs and to experience a different way of thinking while satisfying a degree requirement. Multicultural education is not supposed to be seen as a throw away course(Thomas). These courses are supposed to be challenging. These courses are supposed to keep students on their toes and Multicultural courses are meant to take apart a student's beliefs and to identify if they are true and concrete or if they are not(Thomas,interview). While all students come out of these courses with a new knowledge of a different viewpoint, some relish the knowledge and open their minds further; while others are grounded to their original beliefs.
Many students have complaints and have apprehension towards multicultural courses or learning something new, but every student who goes through at least one multicultural course is affected. The times have changed from being blind or being biased, with multicultural courses, one gets a close-up of a racial, gender, or religious personality and what makes them real. These courses are not asking students to throw away their personality and their known views, but to listen to people who have never been able to speak and who have a lot to say.
Grant, Carl A.,ed. Research and Multicultural Information. London, Washington D.C.: The Falmer P, 1992. 7-17.
Ball, Howard, S.D. Berkowitz, and Mbuelo Mzamane., ed. Multicultural Education in Colleges and Universities. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1998. xiii-xv.
"Descriptions of Courses Approved by the Franklin College Curriculum Committee to Satisfy Multicultural Requirements of the College." Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. 2007. University of Georgia. 23 Oct. 2007
Thomas, Kecia M. Telephone interview. 22 Oct. 2007.
