Diversity Facts: If we could shrink the world to 100 People while maintaining the same ratios:

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Diversity Facts If we could shrink the world to
100 People while maintaining the same ratios

• 57 Asians
• 21 Europeans
• 14 from the Western Hemisphere
• 8 Africans
• 52 would be female
• 48 would be male
• 70 would be nonwhite
• 30 would be white
• 70 would be non-Christian
• 30 would be Christian
• 89 would be heterosexual
• 11 would be queer

• 6 would possess 59 of the worlds wealth and all
  6 would be from the U.S.
• 80 would live in substandard housing
• 70 would be unable to read.
• 50 would suffer from malnutrition
• 1 would be near death, and one would be near
  birth
• 1 would have a college education.
• 1 would have a computer.

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Continuing the Investigation

• More than a million people will not survive the
  week.
• 500 million people have been imprisoned,
  tortured, are starving or have experienced war
  first hand.
• 3 billion people are not free to exercise their
  chosen religion.
• 75 of the world lack adequate food, shelter,
  and/or clothing.
• If you have any extra money (even the change in
  your car) you are among the top 8 of the worlds
  wealthy.
• 3/5 of the world can afford zero consumer goods.

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Making Privilege Happen

• Although privilege is attached to social
  categories and not to individuals, people are the
  ones who make it happen through what they do and
  dont do in relation to others.
• The consequences of privilege must be understood
  as lived experience that both damage people in
  the moment and accumulates over time to affect
  not only their behavior, but also their
  understanding of themselves and life itself. And
  no matter what form privilege takes, it involves
  everyone in one way or another. Johnson, p. 58

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The Heterosexual Questionnaire

• M. Rochlin, Changing Men, Spring 1982
• 1. What do you think caused your
  heterosexuality?
• 2. When and how did you decide you were a
  heterosexual?
• 3. Is it possible that your heterosexuality is
  just a phase you may grow out of?
• 4. Is it possible that your heterosexuality
  stems from neurotic fear of others of the
  same-sex?
• 5. If you have never slept with a person of the
  same sex, is it possible that all you need is a
  good gay lover?
• 6. Do your parents know that you are straight?
  Do your friends and/or roommate(s) know? How did
  they react?

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• 7. Why do you insist on flaunting your
  heterosexuality? Cant you just be who you are
  and keep quiet about it?
• 8. Why do heterosexuals place so much emphasis
  on sex?
• 9. Why do heterosexuals feel compelled to seduce
  others into their lifestyle?
• 10. A disproportionate majority of child
  molesters are heterosexual. Do you consider it
  safe to expose children to heterosexual teachers?
• 11. Just what do men and women do in bet
  together? How can they truly know how to please
  each other, being so anatomically different?
• 12. With all the societal support marriage
  receives, the divorce rate is spiraling. Why are
  there so few stable relationships among
  heterosexuals?
• 13. Statistics show that lesbians have the
  lowest incidence of sexually transmitted
  diseases. Is it really safe for a woman to
  maintain a heterosexual lifestyle and run the
  risk of disease and pregnancy?

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• 14. How can you become a whole person if you
  limit yourself to compulsive, exclusive
  heterosexuality?
• 15. Considering the menace of overpopulation,
  how could the human race survive if everyone were
  heterosexual?
• 16. Could you trust a heterosexual therapist to
  be objective? Dont you feel s/he might be
  inclined to influence you in the direction of
  her/his own leanings?
• 17. There seem to be very few happy
  heterosexuals. Techniques have been developed
  that might enable you to change if you really
  want to. Have you considered trying aversion
  therapy?
• 18. Would you want your child to be
  heterosexual, knowing the problems that s/he
  would face?
• It is precisely in the way these questions are
  asked that power and privilege happen.

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Making Privilege Happen

• The Heterosexual Questionnaire
• What is the authors key point?

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Power and Privilege

• Power as Repressive
• Power and Coercive
• Power as Constitutive

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Making Privilege Happen with Language

• Cultural Capital
• The Ascribed Characteristics of the Speaker
• Symbolism

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The Ascribed Characteristics of the Speaker

• Ones social location shapes
• If, when, and how often one gets to speak
• Flies dont enter a closed mouth. Anzaldua
• Ones expected/learned speech patterns
• The value placed on ones words.

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Language and Cultural Capital

• How one speaks
• Grammar, accent, inflection
• Style, confidence, affect
• The value of language capital
• Employers frequently mentioned concerns about
  applicants language skills and educational
  training... Wilson, p. 304.
• Ways of speaking are linked to beliefs about
  knowledge and ability.
• Often these are raced/classed assumptions.

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Symbolism

• Symbolism- the use of symbols to represent ideas
  or qualities.
• Everywhere one seeks to produce meaning, to make
  the world signify, to render it visible.We are
  not, however, in danger of lacking meaning quite
  the contrary,we are gorged with meaning and it
  is killing us. Jean Baudrillard

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Race and Symbolism (Moore)

• Obvious Bigotry
• Color symbolism
• Ethnocentrism
• Passive tense
• Politics and Terminology
• Loaded Words and Faint Praise
• Qualifying Adjectives
• Speaking English

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The Sports Mascot Issue

• What is the purpose of a Symbol?
• Symbols bind together the individual members of a
  group.
• Separate groups from each other.
• Schools and sports teams often use mascots as key
  symbols.

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Issues of School Symbolism

• Symbols of the confederacy.
• The use of Native American Symbols/Images
• Gender Symbolism

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Symbolism Activity

• Read Lets Spread the Fun Around by Ward
  Churchill
• Pose Questions raised by this piece.
• Select a question with which to start.
• Discuss questions.

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Educational Attainment
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Educational Attainment

• 84 of all adults (25 years ) have completed
  high school.
• 26 of all adults have completed a bachelors
  degree.
• College completion rates for young women (25-29
  years) exceed those of young men (30 compared to
  28).

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Post-Secondary Education Statistics Gender
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Post-Secondary Education Statistics Gender
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Race in The United States People of Hispanic
Origin may be black, white, or Asian. The second
percentage for whites is whites not of Hispanic
Origin.
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Race at Cal Poly Pomona
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Educational Attainment by Race 2000
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Post-Secondary Education Statistics Race
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Post-Secondary Education Statistics Race
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Educational Attainment, Income, Race, Gender-
2001 Census Data
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Educational Attainment, Income, Race, Gender-
2001 Census Data
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The Costs of Gender Bias

• Grades and Tests
• Academic Enrollment
• Academic Interactions and Special Programs
• Health and Athletics
• Career Preparation and Family Parenting

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Practical Ideas for Confronting Curricular Bias

• Seven Forms of Bias in Instructional Materials
• 1) Invisibility
• 2) Stereotyping
• 3) Imbalance and Selectivity
• 4) Unreality
• 5) Fragmentation and Isolation
• 6) Linguistic Bias
• 7) Cosmetic Bias

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Confronting Curricular Bias

• Recognize it.
• Demonstrate how both privileged and oppressed
  groups are harmed by bias.
• Recognize how it carries over to interpersonal
  interactions.

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Are All College Degrees Equal?

• Institutional Inequity
• Quality of instruction
• Class size
• Name brand recognition
• Connections to the larger community

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Understanding Privilege- Avoidance, Exclusion,
Rejection and Worse

• Consider the stories told in the Cole and Testa
  Text
• Deborah Stern - From City Kids, City Teachers
  Reports from the Front Row
• Sherman Alexie- Indian Education
• Andrew Lam- Show and Tell
• What do these stories tell us about privilege,
  avoidance, exclusion, rejection and worse? Be
  sure to note positive as well as negative
  messages.

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Understanding Privilege- Avoidance, Exclusion,
Rejection and Worse

• The Tangible Costs of Privilege
• Consider the implications of Kozol and Williams
  articles when examined together.
• Break into groups of 4-6.
• Link the readings of Kozol and Williams. For
  example, Given what Williams reports employers
  expect, what are the implications of differential
  access to quality education?
• Report to class

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Understanding Privilege- Avoidance, Exclusion,
Rejection and Worse

• Now return to your groups.
• Consider the same set of issues, but include
  Sadker and Sadkers observations.
• What conclusions do you reach about educational
  inequity?
• What measures to reduce educational inequity have
  been effective?
• What else could we do?

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For Whom is Privilege a Problem

• Everyone.
• It shapes how we behave.
• It shapes how we are treated and treat others.
• Privilege takes its toll on moral integrity.
• Privilege affects all aspects of social life.
• Privilege costs society as peoples different
  skills and abilities are not recognized and
  developed.

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Why Dont Dominant Groups See Privilege as a
Problem

• 1) Because they dont know it exists in the first
  place.
• 2) Because they dont have to. They are insulated
  from the problems of privilege.
• 3) Because they want to hang onto it.
• 4) Because theyre prejudiced.
• 5) Because theyre afraid.

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Strategies Used to combat Inequity.

• 1) Appeal toward the privileged persons sense of
  decency and fairness, their good will to the less
  fortunate. Also known as the Do the Right Thing
  approach.
• 2) Its socially irresponsible not to. (best
  talents, profits etc).

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The Problem of Individualism- or the Myth that
Everything is Somebodys Fault

• Why does talking about privilege seem so risky?
  In part, it is tied to the myths and ideologies
  in which we believe.
• Key myth Individualism

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The Ideological Impacts of the Myth of
Individualism

• Individuals control their destiny- you can
  control your life.
• If you just work hard enough you can get ahead.
• If you understand individuals you understand
  social life.
• Everything is somebodys fault.

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Johnsons Theory of the Path of Least Resistance

• Social structures set the rules of the game.
• People tend to do what is easiest. Following a
  specific set of rules is usually easiest.
  Certain behaviors are engendered by specific
  rules.
• To change systems of power and resistance one has
  to take a path of greater resistance.

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How Systems of Privilege Work

• Three key Characteristics of Systems Organized
  Around Privilege
• 1) They are dominated by privileged groups.
• 2) They are identified with privileged groups.
• 3) They are centered on privileged groups.

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How We Convince Ourselves that We Dont have
Problem with Inequity Anymore

• 1) Deny
• 2) Blame the Victim
• 3) Call it Something Else
• 4) Its Better this Way
• 5) It Doesnt Count if you Dont Mean It
• 6) Im One of the Good Ones
• 7) Sick and Tired

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Group Discussion Exercise

• Break into Groups of 5-6.
• Using the readings discuss the role that
  education, and public policy (government) play in
  constructing the rules or the paths of least
  resistance.
• How do social institutions like education and
  public policy take paths of least resistance in
  regards to the larger culture.
• What would a path of greater resistance look
  like? How would your path improve social
  situaitons.