Diversity in Education
Required Readings
Course Text:Bucher, R. D. (2015). Diversity consciousness: Opening our minds to people, cultures, and opportunities(4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.
Chapter 4, "Developing Diversity Consciousness"
Optional Resources
Article: Schoorman, D., & Bogotch, I. (2010). Moving beyond 'diversity' to 'social justice': The challenge to re-conceptualize multicultural education. Intercultural Education, 21(1), 79-85. Retrieved from the Walden Library using Education Research Complete.
Culture Shock or Growth Opportunity
For this week's Discussion, consider the following scenario:
You hold a position as the assistant director of a community-based program that supports urban youth and their parents with services for literacy, academics, financial planning, parenting, and other social needs. The community you serve is very diverse in terms of cultural and ethnic background, language, and economic status.
Your director has recently hired a new staff member, Andy, who has a great deal of experience working with young people but comes from a very homogeneous small-town environment. You must supervise Andy and help him adjust to the working environment of your center. In your initial conversations, you find that Andy is very open to learning how to work with diverse groups but does not have this experience.
Post: How would you help your new staff member adjust to his new work environment? What specific strategies might you and the rest of the staff use to help Andy be successful? What additional information might you need to know about Andy to be most effective?