Read the attached opinion article from the Star Tribune. Then let's discuss.
http://www.startribune.com/opinion/commentary/70662162.html?page=1&c=y
Should they be asking students to consider these issues? Should all citizens consider these issues? What would be the arguments against the task force's goals mentioned in the article?
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I think the inductive conclusions the author makes are exagerated and wrong (i.e., University will resemble communist schools in China). If anyone knows any good cognitive science studies showing innate bias please share. I think that research is the premise to building an argument that these questions should be raised. That and a study on nepotism and privilege in the U.S. compared to other nation states.
ReplyDeleteI don't know of any studies that show innate bias on the part of teachers, though I'm sure there are some. I do know of some that show students with self-imposed bias. In these studies (which I will cite when I get home), it was found that minority and female students who should perform at the same level as white male students did not. If I recall correctly, perceived cultural norms (say, that women aren't good at math or science, or that African American students aren't really good at anything academic) were influencing students performance, regardless of what the teachers views were. This problem was solved in the study by assessing in such a way that the students would not consider their ethnicity or gender to be a disadvantage. This could be something as simple as not asking students to bubble in their ethnicity prior to a standardized test, or telling students their responses would be graded based content rather than writing ability (something the study found to intimidate African American students). Like I said, I'll cite it later today so you all can read more.
ReplyDeleteTaggart, don't forget how cool and trendy it is to say things you don't agree with are Communist or Socialist. Or just put a Hitler moustache on the persons picture.
I first read about these studies in "What the best college teachers do" by Ken Bain. Here are a few references to the actual research:
ReplyDeleteClaude Steeles study:
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/199908/student-stereotype
*Most of Steeles work deals with this topic, he has many other publications out there.
Also see:
Shih M., Pittinsky T., Ambady N. (1999) Stereotype Susceptibility: Identity Salience and Shifts in Quantitative Performance. Psychological Science. 10:80-83.
A little fun fact is that all these studies are based off the work of Kenneth Clark (1930's-40's), which was central to Thurgood Marshalls arguments in Brown v. the Board of Education of Topeka.
Great Sources. I sent a support e-mail to the Dean of the college mentioned in the article (Dr. Quam). She replied that she will be writing a rebattal opinion sometime this week in the Star Tribune. I will post that when I see it.
ReplyDeleteI have found that it is hard for individuals not to have bias based on their own experiences. Even when discovered, biasness is hard to avoid, but it is better than remaining willfully ignorant of them.