Diversity Issues in Education
& International Education
PRESENTER
Francis Offiong, Ph.D.
Webster University TN Campus
Diversity Issues in Education &
International Education

Co Presenter:
Tina Prelow, Ph.D.
Physician Behavioral Hospital
Shreveport LA
Objectives
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
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Understand ~
- the foundation of education
Discuss ~
- diversity concepts affecting education
Examine ~
- some of the key issues in education
Explore ~
- current diversity initiatives in U S
education
Diversity Issues in Education
Background:

The world is a rich and diverse place
full of interesting cultures and people.

U S is a multiethnic and multicultural
society where people live and learn to
treat each other with fairness and
respect
Diversity Issues in Education
Background:
 The 21st Century global concept of
organizations includes educational institutions.


U S organizations and educational institutions
are affected with the paradigm shift to
multiculturalism.
While respecting the values of diversity of the
market that every one operates within.
Education


John Dewey, a prominent American
philosopher and educational reformer, whose
ideas are extensive and influential in
education, in his publication “Education As a
Necessity of Life” (1916) wrote that ~
Education is primarily a transmission
through communication and that
communication is a process of sharing
experience till it becomes a common
possession.
Education

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The broad phases of education:
Formal Education
- Public Education
Informal Education
- Family education
-Religious and moral education
- Informal education historically began
with the Greeks and Romans before western
education
Public Education

Classification:
- Elementary Education
- Secondary Education
- Post Secondary or Higher Education
Post Secondary Education

1.
2.
3.
Formal types:
General Education
Vocational Education
Graduate and Education
The American System of
Higher Education

1.
2.
3.
Distinctive Characteristics:
Autonomy
Competition
Responsiveness
(means paying attention to students,
faculty, alumni, Foundation,
corporation and government)
{Derek Bok, 1986}
Examples of some US
Educational institutions’ Goals
1.
2.
3.
4.
Developing effective communication
Strengthen problem solving capacities
Improve analytical abilities
Develop awareness and understanding
of the contemporary world
The American Educational
Institution
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Comprises of:
The Anglo Saxon Whites, African Americans,
Hispanics and American Indians and Asian
Americans etc.
Every race shares each other’s racial and
ethnic group’s diversity in colleges/
universities.
However race is one of the most volatile and
divisive issues in American higher education.
Diversity In Education


According to Research and Developmental Education
Publication; vol. 23, 2009;
The 19th century brought substantial
changes and chaos to American Higher
Education.
Despite the European and English heritage,
American colleges and universities were
shaped by the North American, geographic,
political, social and religious conditions
( Seldon,1960)
Diversity In Education (contd)


Despite America’s long tradition of being the
melting pot, multicultural appreciation and
global citizenship remain as foreign concepts
in many U S colleges and universities.
The nation’s growing changes in
demographics have propelled the need to
understand diversity and its related issues in
education.
Multiculturalism


Multiculturalism has been a center of the
national debate and a challenge on campuses
as well as in public-school curricula.
Beyond political correctness, a working
definition of “multiculturalism” begins with
the recognition that the US cultural heritage
does not begin and end only with intellectual
products of the western Europe.
(Marable,1995)
Multiculturalism

The debate therefore across the
academy concerning “Multiculturalism”
relates to the proper approach to the
teaching of different cultures, ethnicity
and gender issues, and their integration
within core curricula.
The Institutions
Many colleges and universities have
incorporated in curriculum:
 African American studies
 Hispanic American studies
 Asian American studies
 Native American Indian studies
 Latin and central American – Caribbean
studies
Multiculturalism and
Education

The cultural foundation of the United
States draw much of their creativity and
originality from African, Latino,
American Indian and Asian elements
(Marable ,1995)
Multiculturalism and Civic
Education

American advocates of multicultural
education want to transform the entire
school curriculum to make it more
inclusive and less bias but their central
interest is in the social studies program
and especially the teaching of history.
(Melzer, Weinberger and Zinman, 1998)
International Education Issues
#1
The issues of education in industrialized
countries has been how to establish greater
formal equality of opportunity for all.
 #2
Designing an inclusive educational system that
makes provision for individual differences called diversity is a challenge.

Second Part of Presentation
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

International Education Issues
Diverse Issues in the U S Higher
Education
Some Diversity Initiatives
International education Issues

-
#3
Individual Continents have different
education model:
The U S uses - American Model
Europe uses i) Western European Model
and
ii) Eastern European Model
The American Model



American model:
Consist of~
- Primary education Level
- Secondary Education level
- Post Secondary Education Level
The Western European model

The Western European model
has with it a transfer of a
selected elite from primary to secondary
academic school before the end of
mandatory schooling. Such a transfer
has until recently typically taken place
after four or five years of primary
school
The Eastern European model

The Eastern European model
is based on a unitary school
(Einheits-schule, ecole unique) that
integrates all types of schools covering
compulsory school age, be they
academic or vocational.
(Holmes,1980)
Diverse Issues in Education
Prevalent issues:

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Increasing cost of post secondary education
Inadequate funding for education
Inequalities of educational opportunity
Faculty Issues
Quality education
The Multiculturalism factor
The stereotypical portrayal of minorities educational qualifications
Issues –Key findings


The Morrill Act of 1890, closely followed by Plessy vs
Ferguson six years later encouraged states to create
the dual systems of public higher education.
The record of efforts to achieve equal educational
opportunity brought into existence Title VI
enforcement of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The
level of participation in colleges and universities has
not been proportional for black, Hispanic, and
American Indian students who do gain admission to
traditionally Anglo, four-year institutions.
Racial Dilemma in Education


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Race is one of the most volatile and
divisive issues in American higher education.
The racial situation manifest itself in many
ways, from incidents of prejudice on campuses
to policy decision concerning affirmative
action to debates on the introduction of
multicultural elements in the curriculum.
Examples are prevalent in the students
admission process to law schools and colleges
The Faculty Issues


As the number of non whites attending
institutions of higher education increases,
most colleges and universities are committed
to increasing the minority representation of
their faculties.
Such efforts reflect in part the commitment
by the institutions to expand opportunities for
minority scholars.
Faculty Issues


As of 1985, there were a total of 19,451 fulltime black faculties. Of this total,
approximately 11, 178 were employed in white
institutions and 8, 273 in traditionally black
institutions, HBCUs.
What is most interesting about this
contemporary distributional pattern is that the
problems associated with professional growth
are fundamentally different depending on
which of these academic environment black
faculty find themselves in.
Under Representation of
minorities

A troubling trend in ‘Law School
Diversity’ shows a decade of declining
statistics of African American and
Mexican American student enrollment at
US Law Schools. [Diverse Issues,v.26, 2009]
Funding of minority institutions
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Although education in the U.S. is a state function the
federal government has been asserting in terms of
financing and programming. Another categorical
issue in education is funding.
Currently, minorities are concentrated in institutions
with the fewest resources and they are less likely to
graduate or transfer than their majority colleagues.
The education system that many blacks attend are
not properly funded and often times under funded.
Diversity Initiatives
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According to Diverse Issues in Higher
Education publication, p.19, April 2009:
The United States needs more lawyers from
underrepresented racial and ethnic groups to
serve a client pool that is increasingly diverse.
It is a challenge that law schools and the
legal professions have been addressing for
some time, and one in which a measure of
success has been achieved.
Diversity Initiatives in
Education
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
In a 20 year period that started from 1986 1987 academic year, minority in law school
grew from 12550 to 30557, an increase of
14.3 percent.
Yes , there are more minority law students
today, but the number required to serve an
increasingly diverse America is a long way
from being realized.
Initiatives

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Liberal Education and America’s Promise
(LEAP) is an initiative that champions the
value of a liberal education—for individual
students and for a nation dependent on
economic creativity and democratic vitality.
The initiative focuses campus practice on
fostering essential learning outcomes for all
students, whatever their chosen field of study.
Liberal Education, Winter 2010, Vol. 96, No. 1
Initiatives

The American Association of Colleges
and Universities (AAC&U) has
introduced an initiative based on the
concept of ‘Inclusive Excellence’ to
guide a national movement and campus
efforts to make the success of diverse a
focal point.
Initiatives

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Inclusive excellence’ as –
i) a focus on student intellectual and social
development
ii) a purposeful development and utilization
of organizational resources directed at
student learning
iii) attention to the cultural differences that
learners bring to the educational experience
that enhance educational enterprise (Journal of
the Association for the Study of Higher Education, spring 2008, v.31)
Multicultural Education
Initiative
The Center for Multicultural Education
at the University of Washington, Seattle
WA, focuses on research projects and
activities designed to improve practices
relating to equity issues, inter group
relations, and the achievement of all
students.- University of Washington, College of Education

publication, 2010.
Conclusion

The theoretical framework of the issues
as broadly discussed revealed the
prevalent practices of the twenty first
century education especially in higher
education.
The End
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
Thank you
Q &
A