General Education/Institutional
Models
Common Core Requirements
American Pluralism And The Search
For Equality
SUNY Buffalo
This one-semester course in American
culture is targeted for students' sophomore
year, and thus ideally follows the global
and cross-cultural scope of the Undergraduate
College course in World Civilization.
Its goal is to create an intense intellectual
awareness of the enriching aspects of
cultural pluralism and respect for difference
as well as of the negative consequences
of prejudicial exclusion--to prepare
students to live in a self-sustaining
and productive manner within the mosaic
of cultural experiences in our society.
The course does so by a detailed examination
of key texts focusing on five categories
of American experience--race, gender,
ethnicity, class, and religion.
The rationale for the course is overwhelmingly
empirical. All students need to know
about the changing nature of American
society, to understand the issues associated
with diversity, and to appreciate the
richness of pluralistic cultural experiences
in our nation. It is critically important
that college graduates understand the
forces that work to exclude a minority
or gender-differentiated presence, as
well as the facts and causes of discrimination
based on religion, class, or ethnicity.
Because American Pluralism and the
Search for Equality is a pioneer course
for which textbooks are lacking, the
course committee has created an anthology
of resource readings for the course.
Compilation of the anthology began in
1988. This anthology continues to be
expanded and revised by the faculty
teaching the course, based on their
experience with the readings in class
and on new insights brought to the committee
by new members. The course has also
been unusual in its careful attention
to faculty development for the teaching
of these complex and sensitive materials.
A four-week faculty development workshop
for instructors was convened in the
summers of 1989 and 1990, focusing on
the course content and pedagogy.
Currently in its second pilot year,
the course has drawn faculty from American
Studies, African-American Studies, English,
History, Law, Modern Languages and Literatures,
and Psychology.
Sample Course Descriptions
Ruth Meyerowitz, Department
of American Studies
This section focuses on class, race,
gender, ethnicity and religious sectarianism
from historical and literary perspectives.
We examine the problems faced by non-dominant
groups in the U.S. and evaluate efforts
to create a more egalitarian, inclusive
and pluralistic society. The course
uses lectures, readings, presentations
by students, films, small group discussions
and exercises to explore these issues.
In addition to the core readings, we
read two historical novels which show
the way these issues shape people's
lives in the 20th century.
Lucinda Finley, Law and Jurisprudence
In this section of American Pluralism,
we deal with issues that affect us both
personally and as a nation. We explore
how U.S. society understands and reacts
to differences in race, gender, ethnicity,
class, and religion. We examine these
issues from both historical and contemporary
perspectives. The course places particular
emphasis on exploring and understanding
current policies of both governmental
and private institutions. We also examine
the legal disputes resulting from these
differences.
David Gerber, History
How have class, gender, religion, ethnicity
and race influenced the identities and
actions of Americans and the formation
of American society and politics? We
attempt to answer this question by examining
these categories from three perspectives:
1) as they have been experienced and
evaluated by "insiders" and "outsiders";
2) as they have existed, past and present,
in American Society; and 3) as they
have continued to reappear in longstanding
public controversies. In the final section
of the course, we give detailed attention
to the histories of race, ethnicity
and class in America.
Stefan Fleischer, English
This is a course about human differences.
In this section of American Pluralism,
we explore how class, race, gender,
ethnicity and religion affect a person's
identity. These are all matters about
which everyone in the class has opinions,
some strongly held, some fuzzy and ambivalent.
In order to clarify how opinions get
constructed and how one gets the information
on which opinions are based, we study
the present American social situation
at the national, local and personal
level. We pay special attention to the
influence of mass media on how we think
about ourselves and how we value what
we do.
Goals and Standards
(Approved by the American Pluralism
Subcommittee November 19, 1990)
(Accepted by the Curriculum Committee
November 29, 1990)
Preamble
Focusing on contemporary and historical
issues of race, ethnicity, gender, social
class, and religious sectarianism in
American life, the purpose of this course
is to examine the multicultural, multiethnic
nature of American society from the
viewpoints of both men and women and
of people of diverse ethnicities, social
classes, and religious creeds. Conceived
to serve as a basis for informed discourse,
the intention behind the course is to
provide undergraduate students with
an intellectual awareness of the causes
and effects of structured inequalities
and prejudicial exclusion in the United
States and of processes leading to a
more equitable society.
Goals for Students
- The course should build on the understanding
of world cultures developed in the
World Civilization course.
- A goal of the course is to develop
within students a sense of informed,
active citizenship as they enter an
American society of increasing diversity
by focusing on contemporary and historical
issues of race, ethnicity, gender,
social class, and religious sectarianism
in American life.
- A goal of the course is to provide
students with an intellectual awareness
of the causes and effects of structured
inequalities and prejudicial exclusion
in American society.
- A goal of the course is to provide
students with increased self-awareness
of what it means in our culture to
be a person of their own gender, race,
class, ethnicity, and religion as
well as an understanding of how these
categories affect those who are different
from themselves.
- The issues introduced by the course
need to be understood not in isolation
but in the context of American institutions,
history, culture, and values.
- The five categories of race, ethnicity,
gender, social class, and religion
need to be understood not in isolation
but as these categories overlap.
- A goal of the course is to introduce
students to the diversity of significant
scholarship focusing on issues of
race, gender, ethnicity, class, and
religious differences.
- A goal of the course is to expand
students' ability to think critically,
and with an open mind, about controversial
contemporary issues that stem from
the gender, race, class, ethnic, and
religious differences that pervade
American society.
- A curriculum on diversity must bring
about an awareness of the enriching
aspects of cultural pluralism as well
as mutual respect for the integrity
of other people's life experiences.
- A goal of the course is to provide
students with an intellectual awareness
of diverse visions of the future as
well as processes leading to a more
equitable society.
- The course should provide a common
intellectual experience for undergraduate
students.
Procedures for Achieving Goals
- American Pluralism and the Search
for Equality should be based in the
disciplinary expertise of the faculty
who will teach the course.
- Approval of courses as fulfilling
the American Pluralism requirement
for undergraduate students shall be
the responsibility of the Undergraduate
College Curriculum Committee.
- All courses fulfilling the American
Pluralism requirement for undergraduate
students shall be listed as sections
of UGC 211, American Pluralism and
the Search for Equality.
- Faculty who teach sections of American
Pluralism and the Search for Equality
are strongly encouraged, although
not required, to participate as members
of the American Pluralism Course Committee
and in appropriate faculty development
seminars.
- It shall be the responsibility of
the American Pluralism Course Committee
to develop and maintain a set of core
readings covering the five categories
of American experience with diversity
(race, gender, ethnicity, social class,
religious sectarianism) and to make
these available to faculty who wish
to use some or all of the core readings
in teaching American Pluralism and
the Search for Equality as well as
to the students enrolled in the course.
What Sort Of Courses May
Be Offered As American Pluralism Courses?
How Do These Differ? What Do They Have
In Common?
Two types of courses, UGC 211 and cognates,
may be offered as American Pluralism
courses. The attachments that accompany
this packet provide formal explanations
of the differences between these two
types of courses in the form of statements
and resolutions approved by the Faculty
Senate. In addition to reading these
statements and resolutions, you may
also profit from these less formal remarks
about the two types of courses.
UGC 211 is a new course dedicated to
an exploration of the United States
as a pluralistic society which should
be guided by the following pedagogical
and intellectual goals.
- Analysis of all five mandated conceptual
categories (race, gender, social class,
ethnicity, and religious sectarianism),
though not necessarily to precisely
the same extent in each case.
- The dominant perspective will be
that of your discipline, but we expect
you to draw at times from other disciplines
as well.
- While we do not expect every course
section consistently to look at the
historical development of American
pluralism, we would like UGC 211 sections
to employ both historical and contemporary
perspectives.
- The effort should be made, through
classroom presentations and/or classroom
assignments, to assist students in
connecting their personal and family
histories and their own current lives
with historical and contemporary events
and social processes affecting the
society in which they live.
- The readings should offer diverse
types of analysis and viewpoints.
We suggest, for example, a mix of
the following: first-person testimonies;
historical documents; historical analysis;
analytical treatments of, or polemics
relating to, contemporary social conflicts;
materials revealing or analyzing stereotypical
representations of various social
groups; and visions of the future,
drawn from, for example, utopian or
distopian literature.
UGC 211 sections are scheduled by the
Undergraduate College in consultation
with the departments. The faculty and
student FTEs are credited to your department.American
Pluralism Courses (UGC 211 or co~nate)
- continued
Cognates
You may derive cognates from existing
departmental, disciplinary courses,
or you may create a new departmental
course. We do not conceive of the cognates
as current courses unchanged in content
and pedagogy and repackaged to justify
presenting them as options for fulfilling
distribution requirements. Rather we
hope that any course you propose that
is rooted in your existing offerings
will be, to a greater or lesser extent,
reconceptualized from the viewpoint
of your discipline to meet the particular
challenges of American Pluralism. We
expect, too, that cognates will deal
with all five of our mandated conceptual
categories. But considering the difficulties
of covering all five at length, we ask
only that three be developed in depth
in any cognate course. While the remaining
two conceptual categories need to be
alluded to, they do not have to be central
to, nor constant factors in, the course's
developing analysis. We also recognize
that the categories overlap, often substantially,
as they interact in the world and are
present in your pedagogy.
Cognate courses are scheduled by departments
in consultation with the Undergraduate
College. Faculty and student FTEs are
credited to your department.
In general, the following five criteria
apply to both types of courses:
- While international, comparative
analysis may be very useful in presenting
some material, your American Pluralism
course should be about the American
experience.
- The course should be seen as a 200-level
offering.
- There are no mandated readings that
you must assign. You create your own
reading list.
- You must incorporate the writing
requirement established for the new
undergraduate general education curriculum.
A brief statement describing that
writing requirement is appended.
- Prior to teaching a UGC 211 section,
faculty are expected to participate
in a faculty seminar sponsored by
the Undergraduate College. These seminars
are intended to assist instructors
in preparing to teach the course.
Faculty who teach cognate courses
are not required to participate in
these seminars, but are strongly encouraged
to do so. Faculty development seminars
were offered during the pilot period
of the course and all instructors,
independent of their degree of expertise
on American pluralism or aspects of
it, found them very helpful. They
provide an informal context in which
to exchange ideas about all aspects
of teaching. Proposals for Cognate
Courses for American Pluralism and
the Search for Equality
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