Let's get started on how the author viewed diversity once she returned to college as a freshman. As the author continues to interview students about their social networks, she is now interested in the diversity among those students. Many of the students she interviewed could name someone from a different ethnic group among their close circle of friends. However, this information did not match her observations, so she probe a little deeper and upon further questioning, she found out that these people were not in fact close friends, but someone they knew from a class or extracurricular activity. Here are some of her other findings on diversity:
1. Five of six white students had no members of another racial or ethnic group in their close social circles.
2. Five of the six minority networks contained one or more minorities in the group.
3. Some relationships were developed by built-in biases through special interest clubs (international student outings, sports teams, sororities, fraternities.
4. Minorities (people of color) ate alone a little more often than non-minorities.
5. People of color were ten times more likely than whites to eat in a group in which they were the only person of a different race/ethnicity at the table.
6. The networks of Caucasian students included more whites, and those that included people of color were primarily "mixed", comprised of people of various ethnicities.
7. Of the white students, white males often did not eat with those students of different ethnicities.
I wonder if she had seen these trends in the classroom as an instructor, or did she not think about such things. Were her classes ethnically mixed? If not, then perhaps she would not have seen these trends until she was forced to see them because she was looking for them. What do you think?
I wonder what the overall percentages are of minorities and caucasians in college. Those numbers might change how I look at her observations. As a one time teacher in public schools I remember talking to some Latino kids about why the cafeteria groups were segregated many replied that that was where they were the most comfortable. I also see with many of the Latino students I work with that a common first language is a huge common thread.
ReplyDeleteI, too, would like to know more about the school's diversity. I often ate alone, because my schedule did not align with my friends' schedules. I choose to eat alone rather than make a new friend for twenty minutes each day.
ReplyDeleteGina and Ashley--I completelboth of yy agree with our assessments. As Gina wrote, language can play a huge part in segregating students from each other if they speak a different language (and that's the only language they speak). Students are comfortable being with other students who are "like" them. As the author mentioned, the international students tended to stick with other international students because they related to them as being outsiders. As Ashley mentioned, she ate alone, because of a different schedule than her friends. I, on the other hand, ate alone in school because my friends had different schedules, and it is hard to just go up and strike up a conversation with someone you don't know.
ReplyDeleteI think college freshmen are unsure of themselves in a new environment and tend to gravitate towards people who will make them feel more sure of themselves -- ie, people who dress the same, like the same entertainments, have the same issues, because this validates the student's own choices to him/her self. It takes a certain level of maturity to befriend someone whose culture and experiences are different, and thus challenging to one's usual preoccupations. That's hopefully what college does -- broadens perspectives. In my experience, most freshmen just aren't up to that challenge until they've become sure of themselves in the new college environment and can relax enough to spread their wings.
ReplyDeleteSandy--exactly! Uncertainty is what often keeps students and adults from forming friendships and relationships. This kind of sums up the latest posting I just added. I think all species pretty much react in this same manner.
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