Student Diversity

Hey all! I am sorry this is a little late (car appointment and so no access this morning). I wanted to concentrate on the readings in Barnett with this post because I found all three of them to be interesting and pertinent in a way which I feel we have neglected to discuss up to this point. As to Bean, I felt it to be a little repetitive this week since we have already done so much with small group work as a class (which has been extremely beneficial in a way that reading about the groups wasn't. You have all had such great activities!!!). He offers some interesting insights, but I feel we have covered them together in some way already.

What struck me most about the readings in Barnett this week was the idea of student diversity. I feel that many teachers are under the impression that students are students, and in one sense they are. You have to treat them equally on the basis of decent humanity, but the students themselves are very diverse for many reasons. The reading I felt to be most eye-opening was the one by Shen. I had never heard the difference between Asian students and American students with respect to writing put more clearly before. I had been told about the difference in the idea of what constitutes plagiarism, but the difference goes so far beyond that! In a way, I feel that it is a tragedy to think of Asian students having to adopt a new "self" in order to be successful in writing in English. I have to wonder what the larger consequences are of this adoption of the new "self." Does this mean that in expecting the students to all respond to argument in the same way that we are destroying some kind of innate culture? I am not sure how to respond to this article simply because I am not sure it is right to ask Asian students to become a multiple personality of sorts. Am I just taking it too literally or seriously? I mean, on one hand, I feel that they have an added benefit of expanding their understanding based on multi-cultural outlook, but I wonder if we are sending the wrong message in asking them to subordinate their own cultural views of writing. It is a question I intend to give more thought and attention. However, the article was very helpful in learning how to explain English writing to an Asian student. I hope it will help me not only with my class but also with tutoring ESL students in the student success center.

The other articles in Barnett also made me realize there are other differences concerning culture which are within our own society. The idea of class in Lindquist's article is very intriguing. I am still finishing the essay, but I think that looking at class status is important when dealing with a variety of students and their writings.