Bilingual/Multicultural Education, Part VI--The Final Class Begins

From 6/2/03:

The State of California requires 12 units in 4 specific courses to get a CLAD--cross-cultural language and academic development--certificate. Sacramento State "requires" 15 units; I dropped the one course not required by the state and today started the final course--Multicultural Education.

If the first two reading assignments are any barometer of the tone of this class, I'm in for a long month. The first was an article about unearned white and male privilege in society--no facts in the article, just unsubstantiated statements that pass for empowerment.


The second is from a book called Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire. Reading the first chapter, I got the impression I was reading the Communist Manifesto, what with all its class warfare references. Shortly into the chapter came the references--Hegel, Marx, Engels, and Mao!!! And keep in mind, these are the reading assignments given on the FIRST DAY OF
CLASS!

I'm hopeful that such assignments are not going to be the norm. However, I'm mindful of a quote whose originator eludes me: "Hope is all you have left when you're tired of being afraid."

Actually, that class ended up being exceptional. The instructor tolerated, accepted, validated, challenged, and encouraged views and opinions different from her own. Especially given the title of the course, I fully expected a "hate whitey" course. Instead, it was the antithesis of such a course. I was so glad to be done with that program, but at least this particular course ended it on a good note.