Gradatorium: This
is a C
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Here's the introduction and body paragraphs from the C paper.:
Multicultural environments are becoming more popular in the United
States each year. As "The World Fact Book of Intelligence"
reports on the Central Intelligence Agency's web site, for every 1000
U.S citizens there was an average of 3.5 immigrants coming into the
U.S .in the year 2000(Central Intelligence Agency website). People are
continuously coming into the United States, from other countries for
several different reasons. One fairly popular reason for coming to the
U.S. is because of the liberal arts education's that are available.
Foreign exchange programs offered through universities allow for different
ethnic groups to study in U.S. universities. Partly because of this,
multiculturalism is becoming an issue in some higher education institutes
in the U.S. Another reason for the emergence of multiculturalism is
the increase of diversity in the U.S. Diversity in this case refers
to the fairly recent equality of rights given to African Americans and
the growing equality of women. James A. Banks, a principal architect
of multicultural educational reforms writes, "Nearly half about
(45.5%) of the nation's school-age youths will be young people of color
by 2020."(Webster 21). These issues are creating questions as to
whether or not educational reforms need to be made in such institutes
in order to make students more prepared for the diversity they may or
may not face when pursuing their higher education and lives in the U.S.
The purpose of this paper will be to find out whether proposals for
such reforms are relevant to undergraduate students.
An ethnic group can be defined as a set of individuals within a larger
population that intermarries; shares common national origins, language,
religion, or other cultural traits; and is recognized by its members
and others (Berkowitz and Berrington 18). A key phrase in this definition
is "recognized by its member and others". The interpretation
of this phrase to me implies that culture is something that is chosen
by an individual and should be respected by other individuals. However,
culture is a choice and therefore should not be forced upon anyone.
It is a person's personal rite to choose which culture they wish to
follow, so it should also be an individual rite to choose whether or
not they wish to take courses in universities that study another culture.
Of course enhanced knowledge in another culture will help students to
respect different cultures because they have some understanding of them,
however, lack of understanding of another culture doesn't guarantee
that individuals can not respect other cultures either.
Yehudi O. Webster, associate professor in the sociology department
at California State University and author of Against The Multicultural
Agenda, states an interesting argument held by contemporary educational
reformers: "Mind and society are inseparably connected. Hence,
because educational practices significantly shape the mind, they would
have to be reformed, if social relations are to be transformed."(Webster
169). This is a very strong line of positive reasoning for those seeking
educational reform, relating to teaching of other cultures, in Higher
Education. It is also interesting that an author like Webster, who is
arguing against the need for a multicultural education requirement,
would incorporate such a quote in his text. It is true that the mind
is what allows people to function, and functioning is key in society.
Therefore, it is necessary for people to enhance their knowledge of
cultures in their mind, in order to understand the growing number of
different cultures surrounding them. Henry A. Giroux, director of the
Waterbury Forum in Education and Cultural Studies at Penn State University
and author of many books pertaining to multiculturalism in education
writes, "Educational theorists demonstrate as little interest in
cultural studies as cultural studies scholars do in the critical theories
of schooling and pedagogy."(Giroux 230). This statement supports
the idea that culture and education are in fact separate issues. A solid
relationship between the two has not yet been established. A solid relationship
needs to be established between the two in order for multiculturalism
to be better understood by students. Diversity is a major issue in universities
because of the growing number of people from different cultural backgrounds
attending. Some sort of agreement needs to be made between these two
issues in order for the issue of diversity to be resolved. Such a proper
relationship would include an understanding by educational theorists
of the way in which cultural differences relate to the direct education
of students, and an understanding by cultural studies scholars as to
the way in which the learning of cultural studies would be most beneficial
to students. Educators need to recognize the impact that cultural diversity
has among student's education and cultural studies theorists need to
devise a way to help ease the impact cultural diversity is having on
students. The question I raise from this is, should such an academic
requirement be instituted and is it absolutely necessary?
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Here are comments from different teachers on how they would grade this
paper:
-
This paper earns a C in part because a project is emerging, though
it does take several paragraphs to do so. In the beginning paragraph,
the writer raises a number of important questions about multiculturalism
and education, but confuses the discussion by relying on statistics
that are only generally related to the real issues of the essay.
The writer really starts to find his way when he cites Yehudi Webster
as a source. The Webster source allows the writer to connect the
issue of culture with the larger issue of how, and how well, a society
with many cultures functions. At this point, it starts to become
clear that the writer's questions about multiculturalism and higher
education are linked to questions of the efficient functioning of
American society at large. This is not an obvious connection to
someone who has not done research in the field, so the writer really
achieves something through the discussion in the second body paragraph.
-
One of the characteristics of a C research paper in 301 is the
introduction of important sources without the ability to fully control
them. In his research, the writer came across a discipline called
Cultural Studies, and because he was doing a project on multiculturalism,
assumed that Cultural Studies would be relevant. Unfortunately,
the writer confuses Cultural Studies proper with the general study
of culture, as if it were a branch of sociology or anthropology.
In fact, Cultural Studies is a version of literary studies that
originated in Marxist studies of popular culture. It is relevant
to the writer's project, but because he confuses CS with studies
of multicultural education, the real power of the discipline can't
manifest in the current draft. A B-level paper would have to recognize
the disinction between Cultural Studies and studies of multiculturalism,
and an A paper would begin to be able to explain the difference
between the two to the reader.
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