Running Head: BECOMING A MASTER STUDENT: A MULTICULTURAL ANALYSIS

Kelsey Heiple Becoming a Master Student: A Multicultural Analysis November 26, 2012 Georgia Southern University Dr. Grigory Dmitriyev

BECOMING A MASTER STUDENT: A MULTICULTURAL ANALYSIS ABSTRACT

The following multicultural analysis of the textbook Becoming a Master Student by Dave Ellis is an attempt to determine the degree to which the author has accommodated for multicultural education. Attention is given specifically to the cultures of gender, sex, and sexual orientation as well as ethnicity. In analyzing these cultures, the goal is to identify the presence of equal or unequal representation, biases, prejudices, stereotypes, and silencing.

BECOMING A MASTER STUDENT: A MULTICULTURAL ANALYSIS Becoming a Master Student: A Multicultural Analysis

Multicultural education is a topic at the forefront of educational discussions today. Americans want to ensure that students are treated fairly and exposed to the different cultures that make up our great country. One aspect of this, that many probably fail to consider, are the textbooks that are used in the classrooms. Frequently the main source of information in the classroom, the textbooks themselves are subject to unequal representations, biases, prejudices, stereotypes, and silencing that may have a negative impact on a students learning and overall perspective. The textbook I chose to analyze was Becoming a Master Student written by Dave Ellis. This textbook was written as a means to help students develop and learn techniques to become better students. Meant for students beginning their journey in postsecondary education, the textbook covers everything from making the transition to college, time management skills, note taking, test taking, communication techniques, and encountering diversity on campus. At Chattahoochee Technical College, where I work, this textbook is required for students taking COLL 1500 Student Success and Orientation. It is important to note, also, that the students taking this class are extremely diverse. Chattahoochee Technical College, Georgias largest technical college, is comprised of eight campuses, each with varying student demographics, and boasts an enrollment of approximately twelve thousand students annually. Understandably, the demographic of one of these classes on one campus might differ greatly than that on another campus. Therefore, it is important to be aware of the cultural nuances, or lack thereof, in the textbook so as to be sure of what students are being exposed to. The first culture I analyzed in Becoming a Master Student was gender, sex, and sexual orientation. My goal was to analyze both the verbal and visual texts of the textbook to discover

BECOMING A MASTER STUDENT: A MULTICULTURAL ANALYSIS

how the culture was represented and identify any biases, prejudices, stereotypes, or silencing about the culture. One of the first things I noticed was a statement towards the beginning of the book in which the author indicated a serious effort to eliminate sexist language. Specifically, the author stated, As a strategy for avoiding sexist language, this book alternates the use of feminine and masculine pronouns (Ellis, 2009, p. 4). Interestingly enough, this statement concluded a section about getting used to the new look and tone of the textbook in order to get the most out of it. This shows that the author recognizes a history of sexist language and has made a conscious effort to avoid that in support of multicultural education. There are, in fact, additional instances in the textbook where the author makes obvious efforts to provide equal representation in terms of gender. Besides the frequent substitution of he/she and his/hers, there is an effort to avoid stereotypes by using examples of women in positions that are typically held by men. For instance, in a section about people who have mastered a specific skill, the author makes mention of a master carpenter. Understandably, the majority of people who read this may automatically assume that the author is referring to a male because we typically visualize fields such as carpentry to be male-dominated. However, the author actually states, The master carpenter is so familiar with her tools, they are part of her (Ellis, 2009, p. 43). Notice the author refers to the carpenter as a female as a means to avoid the stereotype that only males can be carpenters. The visual texts also support the authors attempt to provide equal gender representation. Throughout the text, there are pictures representing both males and females. At the end of each chapter, specifically, the author provided a picture and short profile of someone notable who had become a master student. Of the twelve individuals profiled throughout the textbook, there were the same number of profiles of males as there were females. Another interesting visual text was

BECOMING A MASTER STUDENT: A MULTICULTURAL ANALYSIS

in the section on how to study while spending quality time with your children. Stereotypically, most would assume that a picture here would be of a woman with her children. However, the picture that accompanies the tips on how to study with your children is of a male with, presumably, his daughter (Ellis, 2009, p. 139). The only questionable content I found, regarding gender, was in the chapter about communication. The content in the section addresses how to disagree with someone without his becoming angry or your becoming upset (Ellis, 2009, p. 239). The use of his in this sentence concerns me as it obviously implies that a male will become angry upon disagreement. While I am sure this is used solely as an example and no stereotype of men being disagreeable was intended, it is interesting given the authors efforts to avoid sexist language as well as the other instances in which he avoided stereotypes. The use of a gender-neutral pronoun such as them would have been more appropriate. In addition to the stereotype, the lack of content regarding sex and sexual orientation was worrisome. The failure to include this cultural segment is evidence of silencing. The second culture I analyzed in Becoming a Master Student was ethnicity. My goal in doing this analysis was to discover how the author accommodated for various ethnicities, by means of verbal and visual texts, and identify any biases, prejudices, stereotypes, or silencing about the culture. As for the visual texts, ethnicity as a culture is well-represented. The aforementioned master student profiles located at the end of each chapter show a balanced mix of various ethnicities. Interestingly, there is an entire chapter dedicated to diversity in the textbook. One section of this chapter focuses on how to build relationships across cultures, with cultures, in this context, being used to refer to different ethnicities. It is apparent that this is the case as

BECOMING A MASTER STUDENT: A MULTICULTURAL ANALYSIS

evidenced by the authors statements regarding cultural norms. For instance, when discussing personal space during a conversation and how Americans might prefer to have a little distance, the author notes that, in Iran, people may often get so close to you that you can feel their breath (Ellis, 2009, p. 275). The author continues by bringing attention to other various cultural norms while highlighting ways to look for similarities among cultures as well as providing suggestions on how to speak and listen with sensitivity. While this is a great way for the author to provide representation of various ethnicities and inform others of how to build working relationships with them, it is interesting that this content is only present in this chapter. With further regards to ethnicity, it is evident that silencing is not an issue as the author acknowledges students of varying ethnicities throughout the content of the textbook. For instance, he dedicates an entire section in the chapter about reading to English as a second language students. In this section, the author provides suggestions for students whose first language is not English to be able to effectively learn the language with more success. However, the problem with this is that the author is assuming anyone that is not a native English speaker has issues with the language. This is stereotypical and the author should have been more careful in addressing an issue such as this. While there very well may be students who find this information useful, there might be others who find it offensive to assume that, because they are non-native English speakers, they must need additional support with reading and writing. The concern I have with the presence of ethnicity as a culture in this textbook is what some may consider a cosmetic bias. Taking into consideration the aforementioned stereotyping, the efforts to bring attention the cultural norms of various ethnicities, and even the visual texts that show students from different ethnicities, it is evident that the author is attempting to feature the culture. However, throughout the twelve-chapter textbook, there are only a few mentions of

BECOMING A MASTER STUDENT: A MULTICULTURAL ANALYSIS

ethnicity and few attempts at truly providing equal representation. This, coupled with the stereotyping regarding non-native English speakers, makes me believe that the author is not fully presenting an unbiased perspective. In other words, the aforementioned cosmetic bias is an attempt by the author to recognizing the culture although he may harbor bias towards it, evidenced by the stereotyping of English as a second language students. Overall, it is my belief that the author makes an honest effort to provide a textbook fit for multicultural education. In terms of gender, sex, and sexual orientation, his efforts were very evident and were consistent throughout the content of the textbook with the exception of sex and sexual orientation. Prefacing the text with his statement about avoiding sexist language shows that he acknowledges the need for equal representation. Unfortunately, it seems inclusion of sex and sexual orientation as cultural groups worth acknowledging was not as significant. His efforts with regards to ethnicity, however, I found to be rather lackluster. There could have been more consistency and content in acknowledging various ethnicities as opposed to just visual texts and few mentions. In all, however, I found the textbook to have a generally positive perspective with regards to multicultural education.

BECOMING A MASTER STUDENT: A MULTICULTURAL ANALYSIS References Ellis, D. (2009). Becoming A Master Student (12th ed.). Boston, MA: Wadsworth.