Hogan's article

I just wanted to go more into my thoughts on diversity education, with Hogan's article in mind.

Hogan mentions in his abstract that "diversity courses in higher education were effective in improving students' intergroup tolerance". I agree and disagree with this. I am currently enrolled in Multiculturalism and its Critics. It is for an analysis of values gen ed. It may be because it is a political science course and I have no interest in political theories and views whatsoever, but with no exaggeration it has been my least favorite class at Wesleyan thus far. Hogan mentions implementing multicultural curriculum requirements. If that class was one of the requirements, I would hate the topic. If I was not simultaneously enrolled in this course, I would probably completely loathe the topic. The readings and books he chooses are not very appealing to me, and how the class is structured, only 2 or 3 students, who are political science majors, talk and discuss. While they may be getting a great experience, it hinders it for everyone else because not everyone has as much background knowledge in poli-sci as they do. Diversity and multi-culturalism is a very touchy subject, and in order to have a positive effect, the classes need to be structured in such a way. I am not the only person with this opinion in the class, I have talked to 5 or 6 other students and they find it just as awful as I do. I do believe that diversity education is a good thing and could have huge effects, but I think it would take a lot of work, screening of classes and content, and teaching style of certain professors to have a positive accomplisment.

In class we mentioned how business majors lack diversity education for this major. During the break I had a short discussion with Sandy about this and wanted to expand further. After this semester, there is only one more class I need to take to complete my business major, so I feel I can legitimately talk about the lack of diveristy in business education. I think that it should be stressed more since most business fields, such as retail, will have a rather diverse workforce. If I had not taken this class, the only thing I would know about it is one chapter's worth in my organization and management class, which is a total of 21 pages, consisting of a lot of pictures and diagrams. I did not get the full effect or learn anything memorable in that chapter. The only other thing I recall was racism in terms of Human Resources Management and company policies. Brittany did mention that there is a diversity in the workforce class that exists here, but from everytime I looked at business courses to take, I do not recall seeing it offered, because I know I would have wanted to take it. That still does not discuss diversity in the workforce including peers or subordinates. I think everyone should experience it first hand and that it is not something you can learn from a textbook.

Education majors have to observe classroom settings. I think that the same should be done in businesses. Over the past 2 summers I have been a supervisor at Chicago Special Events (street and music festivals in the city). I was the supervisor of up to 50 temporary workers picking up some extra cash in the summer. Temp positions pull a VERY diverse amount of people. I really appreciated that experience and I firmly believe it will help me in the future while working in management positions.