Michigan State University Extension
Diversity and Pluralism - D1120024
12/95/
ERIC TITLE NUMBER: ED339032 AUTHOR: Yonke, Jean Mullin
TITLE: Sensitizing Students to the Dynamics of Race and
Class.
YEAR PUBLISHED: 1991
NOTE: 20 p.; Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the
Conference on College Composition and Communication (42nd,
Boston, MA, March 21-23, 1991).
ABSTRACT: To prepare students to live in a diverse world,
writing teachers must create a non-threatening environment
in their classrooms and introduce the issues of race,
ethnicity, and class in reading and writing assignments.
One assignment that a writing teacher used successfully
both in a writing workshop course for less proficient
writers and in a course entitled "Writing: American
Minorities" was a personally based essay in which the
students discussed a racist, sexist, or unfair incident
that they had experienced or witnessed. Students were
encouraged to maintain a reasonable tone of voice
throughout the essay to avoid alienating the reader. First
drafts of the essays were edited by students without the
same type of experience. Students were graded on the
quality of their prewriting activities, peer editing,
rewriting skills, and the final draft. Examples from
student papers demonstrating the willingness of students to
recognize racism both in themselves and in others and to
reject the unfairness of racism are given. In addition to
personally based compositions on race and class issues,
writing teachers can sensitize students to the complexity
of race and class diversity through literary texts.
Realistic novels, short stories, and historical readings
dealing with racial issues can enrich students' perceptions
of the importance of race in U.S. history and culture. This
writing assignment also works well in a course that uses a
traditional anthology. (The essay assignment is attached.)
(RS)
KEY DESCRIPTORS: Black-Stereotypes; Classroom-Environment;
Higher-Education; Racial-Discrimination; Social-Class;
Student-Attitudes; Writing-Teachers
KEY DESCRIPTORS: *Cultural-Differences; *Racial-Attitudes;
*Reading-Material-Selection; *Social-Stratification;
*Writing-Composition; *Writing-Assignments
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