HB 1187, introduced by Rep. Porter requires the department of education to develop standards for cultural competency teacher training and requires school corporations and accredited nonpublic schools to develop policies concerning cultural competency training for school staff and students. As introduced, the bill requires school corporations to teach in a manner that serves the diverse needs of all students, including racial minority students; low social economic status students; English language learners; students who are exceptional learners (as defined in IC 20-31-2-6); and students of various ethnic or religious groups.
I am not terribly excited about this legislation – not because I am opposed to cultural diversity, but because I don’t think the legislation accomplishes much except maybe letting us feel good about how open and diverse we all are. My experience with school corporations, as a student and as a husband of a former teacher, is that they are awash in bureaucracy, red tape, and educational jargon. An obvious disclaimer has to be made here — I am a white male and so perhaps the cultural competency of teachers doesn’t mean that much to me because it was my culture that formed the baseline of my education. In addition, I figure that teachers shouldn’t need a lot of institutionalized instruction in these matters — rather they should come by cultural competency simply out of innate curiosity one would expect in an educator, basic politeness leading to a desire to understand someone of a different culture in an effort to form common ground, and an understanding that to be an effective educator, one has to speak to a student in a language (literal and metaphorical) that they understand.
That aside, I was interested to see some of the amendments offered for the bill on second reading. Rep. Clere offered an amendment that would mandate an extra $1,000 on a teacher’s paycheck for a period of 5 years if they took and passed a written test on cultural competency. This amendment was defeated by a 48-48 vote.
Rep. Thompson proposed an amendment that stripped away “religion” as a component of diversity. This passed 77 – 15. I wonder what the rationale for this is. Is it something simple, such as the idea that ethnicity is more of a driver of cultural diversity than the religion(s) of that ethnicity? Or is it something more nefarious such as a feeling that we shouldn’t be catering to heathens who reject the One True God? Or, more likely, something I have not thought of yet.
Rep. Thompson also proposed an amendment that specified that this did not apply to nonpublic schools which passed 52-42.
Update LafayetteLib has some withering, and accurate, comments about Rep. Thompson’s proposed Amendment #9 which states that “diverse needs” doesn’t include “harmful behaviors.” The “harmful behaviors” in question? Homosexuality, unmarried sex, smoking, underage drinking or getting drunk, using illegal drugs, and overeating. That’s right folks, being born gay is like shooting heroin. What utter horseshit. Perhaps the existence of this amendment demonstrates a need to rethink my position on the necessity of cultural diversity education.
Yes of course. My loving, monogamous romance with my beautiful, adorable wife — the relationship that has made me more successful at my job, more financially stable, more open-mind and caring towards others and has immeasurably improved the lives of our friends and family as well — just like shooting smack. Yup.
Coming from a small school, I can remember high school teachers telling stories about how they harassed openly gay people in high school. It made me VERY uncomfortable, but I didn’t feel like I had power to do anything about it. I’m not sure any amount of cultural competency can overcome bigotry though.
You know, I’d settle for just plain old “competency” once in a while. That would be refreshing, now wouldn’t it?
To bad we have no major available in “common sense”, we sure could use it.
Common sense rarely is, Tim.
Doug, if you notice the digest of the bill, Thompson proposed a ton of amendments and since he’s on the education committee (he’s a former teacher of 20+ years) he’s probably trying to kill the bill with a thousand cuts.
I think he’s part of the true-believers who think that HO-MO-SECHUALITY is dragging down our youth by recruiting.
I am lucky to teach in a school where diversity is valued — NOW. But I also taught for years in White County — you’d recognize the school — where diversity was when we talked about catholics versus the real protestant/ evangelical Christians. I started using stuff about Jews towards the end of my term there and they thought it was like some exotic people. Nevermind the % of Hispanics in that county now. And anything beyond that? NO WE CANT.
But Thompson really does step in it here — and Porter has pulled the bill for now.
Unfortunately, there are far too many teachers who don’t have competency in the AMERICAN culture. That’s why they aren’t really equipped to teach or defend its values. We should obviously understand and even appreciate all cultures, but how about starting with the one that made this country great?
Not exactly sure what you mean by “American culture.” Near as I can tell, it’s an amalgam of all the others, from the poor black bluesmen who gave us rock & roll to the Yankee religious zealots who became rich merchants and everything in between. If the teachers have an understanding of its component parts, they’ll probably do well.
I spent 35 years in the classroom,and what I learned is that the younger generation have their own culture and their own influences. When I first starting teaching in 1964,it was still an extension of the 50s where the teacher could be boring and the kids expected that and conformed.By 1970,I was the conservative and I was teaching radicals who were telling me that ‘all this’ was going to end.By the 80s I was the liberal again teaching little rightwingers.
I had a straw poll in my class in early 90s and I thought Clinton or Bush (the 1st one) would win,but Ross Perot got over half the votes and these were all the academic professionals-to-be group of students.I had no inkling that anyone was following the political debate,because it wasnt the kind of chat I overheard.That was also the time when Clarence Thomas was being very publicaly confirnmed as SC judge and some of the girls got interested in politics at that time motivated by feminism outrage and how women were perceived,and not just in the hearings.It was a populist trend I hadn’t noticed, focused on civil rights for everyone.Up to that time cvil rights meant only black vs white
What had already changed by the 90s was that gay students were generally no longer pariahs . (But I taught in metropolitan and suburban Chicago).
I think youth actually leads the way to understanding,but not necessarily when they’re still 16.When these 16 year-olds become adults,then there’s the change.Each generation seems to have its own insights which they weave into society.
I think just the mere presence of Obama as President will excellerate changes in perception .Culturally, a black president is the best thing that ever happened to the USA.The fact that Obama is super-smart and a great communicator makes him an even greater gift to cultural understanding on many levels.
I sat in my freshmen high school classroom in 1956 and watched on evening news a line of black students being ushered into Little Rock High School by the national guard,and now we have a black president. Im still rubbing my eyes.
It does move culture along when the Constitution is seriously enforced.Attitudes change with familiarity.
Deal with students as individuals and the group dynamics will follow suit.One innovative leader opens doors to many new ways of thinking,and after a while we don’t know who is influencing whom.
Dave, I am troubled by what you think American culture is. My own thought on that is that this is the one place in the world where we have set up a system — with the Bill of Rights, to protect the interests of the minority from the tyranny of the majority. We do not have a single religion, food group, lifestyle, profession, language, ethnicity, orientation. But our Constitution and the system we have created allows for that diversity.
One of the overlooked comments in Doug’s description of amendments is how Thompson removed religion from the list of cultural competencies needed for Hoosier students.
My question on that would be, is Thompson afraid that students would find out about any religion other than their own? Is he concerned about separation of church and state? Or does he just think there is ONE religion – evangelical protestantism – and therefore no need to talk about the others?
I believe that students will find their way back to their parents roots, but in this great pluralistic society, which in microcosm represents the whole world, our kids are best served when they are able to deal with people of all cultures, ethnicities, religions and orientations.
Of course, Indiana is hardly the best place to experience all those. I see it at Purdue all the time. The majority of students here are still all from Indiana — 50% from small towns and rural areas. And frankly they are shocked to see Muslims, Hindus, Asians, Queers and others. They have for the most part not even had contact with African-Americans. And their contact with Hispanics has been for the most part negative — check out what has been going on in Frankfort, IN.
So, yeah, Porter is trying to make sure that our kids have exposure to all kinds of people so that we can compete in the world and not be the unknowledgable hicks that we have come to be known as. I find that an admirable goal — although I doubt it will pass this session, simply because Thompson is bound to kill it with a thousand cuts.
But it makes my blood boil that he is essentially telling my LGBT students — and believe me they ARE coming out in every high school large and small — that they not only don’t exist, don’t matter — but their God-given orientation is harmful. Like they’re some defect needing to be cured. I won’t stand for that kind of ignorance, Rep. Thompson.
@Dave – I’m sure this will be simple, since there is universal agreement on what AMERICAN culture is. Perhaps the teachers can demonstrate competency by showing “Stripes” in class.
@Hoosier 1 – I generally agree with most of your post, except for:
>My own thought on that is that this is the one place in the world where we have set up a system — with the Bill of Rights, to protect the interests of the minority from the tyranny of the majority.<
Things like this just drive me up the wall. We are no longer living in 1795 and *many* countries have a bill of rights that protects minorities from the will of the majorities. In fact, the bills of rights of many industrialized countries provide substantially more protection to individuals than ours does. Maybe we should also demand international competency.
WRT the bill itself, I always suspect that bills like this – as well as the studies that promote such bills – are really promoted by people who will end up teaching the programs required to make teachers culturally competent. (Which, admittedly, doesn’t go to the merits of the bill, but it makes me suspicious nonetheless.)
Unfortunately, there are far too many teachers who don’t have competency in the AMERICAN culture.
Name three.
Peter, I’ll grant you that our Bill of Rights could use a tune up. But I challenge you to find many countries this free that also have to deal with the wide variety of minority groups. The most enlightened European nations have just begun to deal with diversity in their cultures/ societies and are not always that successful. Russia has multiple languages and cultures, but is becoming more repressive. India and China aren’t the best examples either.
While that sounds like jingoism, I just meant that we have historically tried to make room for those we disagree with — and that was the genius of 1787.
Ever since Alex Haleys book there’s been a keener awareness of culture heritage and uniqueness of who we say we are. That makes culture more divisive over all,
and we haven’t worked through it yet as a nation.Culture now includes classifications such as gender,race, political views and sexual orientations.
Now LGBT students are part of the discussion, but I bet 70% of Americans don’t recognize what that means,and when told, comprehend why people are grouped that way.
Now,we classify ourselves into a group as often as others assign us one.
And to use an Illinois reference:what goes in Chicago probably doesn’t go in Peoria.
So how does being a LGBT student affect the way in which Teacher X teaches Calculus? Or English Lit? Or Economics?
Sweet Jesus, everybody is different, that is undeniable, but you don’t need to create special “awareness” or “special needs” for all different levels of “diversity”.
I hate to be crass, but in the scope of say, Econ 101, does it really matter if Sally is black, Bob is an amputee, or Bill takes it in the ass?
Teach the class to whom ever enrolls in the same manner, common sense 101??
I think that if more people just treated each other in a respectful manner, the rest would work itself out. That, of course, would be well for politicians to remember as well.
Tim Zank posts:
I hate to be crass, but in the scope of say, Econ 101, does it really matter if Sally is black, Bob is an amputee, or Bill takes it in the ass?
……………………………………….
But we live in an age where denying special rights to some is as important to as many as demanding special rights for oursleves.
What will be the reaction when Muslims demand prayer rugs and free time from school for 4th grade boys so they can pray?
That may be the result of faith-based initiatives in a democracy. I, for one, would like it to see the reaction from the fundamentalist Protestants.Would they utter mea culpas?
Common sense,you say?
“I hate to be crass, but in the scope of say, Econ 101, does it really matter if Sally is black, Bob is an amputee, or Bill takes it in the ass?”
If you hate to be crass, then don’t be. That’s part of this lovely “common sense” you all seem to espouse, but we all know is NOT practiced in many settings. Thanks for making that clear here, Tim.
Look, there is daily bullying and harassment of the queer kid, the Hispanic, etc. Maybe if teachers were better aware of the cultures and needs of these diverse populations, they might be more attune to how their own language in class affects these kids.
Earlier I stated that Purdue is pretty rural and Hoosier. Let’s be honest, so is the teaching staff in most small/ medium non-urban schools. You’d be hard pressed to find a single minority staff person in Clinton Central or Montgomery County schools, although there are surely minority students — Hispanics and GLBT – the latter hidden of course, because people like Tim would harass them.
“because people like Tim would harass them.”
Why in the hell would I harass them, and why in the hell would you even say that about me? All I suggested is we probably don’t need to send teachers to special “awareness” training & classes to teach school. I would think 4 years of college in most cases will give a teacher a little knowledge in diversity.
My entire family is comprised of teachers from the College level down to the Elementary level. What they need is to be left the hell alone by overbearing administrators hell bent on sappy political correctness to secure more funds for even more ridiculous “touchy feely” horseshit programs.
Let them teach, that’s what the 4 year degree prepared them for and get the Feds the hell out of education.
My family is composed of teachers as well, and I doubt a single one of them would have used the phrase “Bill takes it in the ass”, to describe someone gay. They may not be the most tolerant people, but they have a little couth. If you’re willing to say that in print, I’d shudder to think what you’d say in person.
Look, I would agree with Porter that a whole lot of our teachers are middle class white peopel from suburban and rural areas. If you haven’t visited Monon or Clinton or Seymour or Richmond even, go take a drive and see what they know about people who are different from evangelical whites. I doubt very much.
I am no more interested in more paperwork than the next person, but as part of our regular professional development — 3-4 days per year- it wouldn’t hurt to throw diversity into that mix.
You must be a very perceptive (sarc) teacher, most people (me included) will say sarcastic, sometimes caustic things on a blog we would never say in person. I wasn’t “describing” an actual person who was gay, I was being flippant and irreverent as it sometimes gives the reader a chuckle. Call it artistic license.
Lighten up Francis and borrow a sense of humor, life is short.
Ok Tim, guess I’m a little touchy, since I have worked with young people who have attempted suicide, had emotional issues for years and had havoc wreaked in their lives for being gay, lesbian, trans or bi. Like the kid whose father beat the living shit out of him when he came out, and got no more support at his school or elsewhere. Or the kids who have lost the chance at further education because their families disowned them.
Guess I should just laugh off a comment that would clearly tell a young person in YOUR class that his life is not safe there.
Yeah,I take it seriously.
With that, I am going off this strand. Sorry to have become prickly on your blog, Doug.