Michigan State University Extension
Diversity and Pluralism - 11120087
12/95/
ERIC TITLE NUMBER: ED141471 AUTHOR: Claerbaut, David
TITLE: Ethnicity in the American University System.
YEAR PUBLISHED: 1977
NOTE: 11 p.
ABSTRACT: This paper examines the current state of
ethnicity in the American university system, using the
sociological
paradigms applicable to majority-minority relations in its
analysis. The English scholasticist-elite concept from
which the American concept of higher education grew,
focuses on white middle class cultural interests, and
arises out of a white, Northern European perception of
history, culture, and logic. This view of education has
been challenged by a more egalitarian concept which puts
forth the notion that education should serve the entire
society, by offering each citizen the opportunity to
develop his or her potential to the highest possible point.
The collision of these two views is at the core of much of
the majority-minoriy tension in higher education today. The
American university system is still largely controlled by
individuals who are deeply imbued with the
scholasticist-elite notion. The university has not made the
transition to the egalitarian concept. If the white middle
class, scholasticist-elite oriented population is viewed as
a majority group and the racial and ethnic minorities are
collectively viewed as the minority group, it is possible
to sharpen the focus on the problem by employing the
perspectives operative in majority-minority relations. The
current situation in the university system seems to fall
somewhere between conciliation and conversion.
Changes are due largely to governmental intervention in the
form of the enforcement of Civil Rights guidelines and
should move in the direction of pluralism and diversity.
(Author/AM)
KEY DESCRIPTORS: Class-Attitudes; Cultural-Pluralism;
Ethnic
Groups; Ethnicity-; Sociology-; Universities-; Values-
KEY DESCRIPTORS: *Attitude-Change; *Group-Dynamics; *Higher
Education; *Majority-Attitudes; *Minority-Groups
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