Assignment Cultural Experience Paper

Rationale: One critical tenet in multicultural education is that schools should be models of democracy. As such, schools are expected to model and exemplify democratic values such acceptance, equality, fairness and justice. The belief undergirding this principle is that if schools teach and model these values they will eventually be reflected in society. This assignment is designed to help you explore how schools uphold this principle through their engagement and responses to individuals from culturally diverse backgrounds.

Assignment Overview: Interview a person who identifies him/herself as coming from a different cultural, religious, ethnic, racial, class or linguistic background than you. Base your interview questions on that person's educational experiences and compare his or her responses to your own experience. Then write a 3-5 page typed, double-spaced report responding to the following questions: How did the background and/or identity of my interview subject play a part in his/her educational experience? How do schools in the U.S. address cultural difference?

When choosing your person to interview, remember that the objective of this assignment is to discuss differences between individuals, and not differences between school structures. The point here is not to compare school systems (for example, the difference between attending a private school or a public school, or between attending a school in France and a school in China), but rather to understand how a person's cultural identity played a part in his or her schooling experience. For this reason, it is not a good idea to interview an international student for this assignment because your interview may focus on the differences between schools and cultures as you learn about different ways that schooling happens in the world-- a very interesting project, but not the objective of this assignment.

As you consider who to interview, think about what "cultural difference" might mean to you, and talk with your friends and classmates, look around your living or work place, and think about people who you know or know about who are from a different cultural background than you. Generally speaking, the best interviews are with someone who you perceive to be distinctly different from you.

INTERVIEW: Individuals experience schooling differently and to some degree receive different educations due (in part) to different cultural backgrounds and/or identities. Issues of culture, religion, ethnicity, race, and class contribute to the multiple experiences that individuals encounter while engaging in school. During your interview, try to identify the ways in which your interviewee has had educational experiences that differed from your own because of his/her background or identity. For example, you may interview a student who identifies herself or himself as coming from the working class, and who was tracked into lower tracked classes. Or you may interview a person who identifies as a member of a certain religion or denomination, or who comes from a different racial or ethnic background than you. Questions which focus on how this student experienced school should be the key element of this interview. You may also need to gather information that helps support why you consider this person to be different than you. Remember that the central objective of this exercise is to identify difference and to understand how that difference affects one's schooling.

PROCEDURE AND FORMAT: The paper cannot include everything that you learned from the interview, so you must select the ideas, information, and quotations from the interview to make an interesting and coherent paper. Like any paper, you should have an introductory thesis, a descriptive narrative, and a conclusion. You must include in the paper the following: (1) a thesis that presents your reasoned position on the findings of the project (i.e. how did your subject's difference make a difference in his/her schooling?) (2) some reflection on how your subject's experience differed from your own schooling experience. (3) a brief analysis of the educational implications of your findings. What has this interview taught you about the way schools work?

You must use direct quotes and/or paraphrases from lectures, Readings, Videos, and include specific names with citations/paraphrases wherever cited. Moreover, include the name/title of each written piece of work cited. These can be used throughout the entire essay, but you cannot write the CRITICAL UNDERSTANDING without connections as stated above; it is imperative.

FURTHER INSIGHTS On Cultural Interview Assignment

Biography/Autobiography of Schooling.

(A cultural interview of myself and someone else)

Suggested Length: 3-5 pages

Interview a person who identifies him/herself as coming from a different cultural (religious, ethnic, racial, class, gender, etc.) background from you about his/her educational experience. Look through your writings and journals from this course and reflect on your own story of schooling. Write a paper which reflects on these three guiding questions:

1.) How did the background and/or identity of my interview subject play a part in his/her educational experience? (biography) Part 1

2.) How does my background and/or identity play a part in my educational experience? (self-reflective autobiography)

3.) What are the educational implications of my findings? (Analyze, draw some conclusions, state claims or understandings from the material. How does this information affect your views of schooling as an educator/citizen?; What has this interview/self reflective project taught you about how schools work?)

Attempt to weave in readings/concepts from the course into your paper.

Please keep the name of your interview subject confidential. Do not mention your subject's name in class or in the paper. (pseudonyms are useful)

What I am looking for is discussion and reflection (based on topics from this course) of the schooling stories of someone else, combined with your own schooling stories. Obviously you can't write EVERYTHING. You'll have to make choices and craft your paper so it communicates effectively. Remember, don't just report the narratives; you must go beyond this and analyze and share what you have learned about education from this process.