How undergraduate students of color experience multicultural education

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Title How undergraduate students of color experience multicultural education
Publication Type dissertation
School or College College of Education
Department Educational Psychology
Author Lee, Jinna
Date 2011-05
Description One of the stated purposes of multicultural and diversity classes is to provide students of color with positive educational experiences. Little is known, however, about how students of color experience multicultural education, particularly in the undergraduate diversity classes that are increasingly prevalent on college campuses. Using constructivist grounded theory and critical race theory, this study examined multicultural education as experienced by undergraduate students of color. Specifically, this study investigated what characterized positive and negative experiences in multicultural classes and how students of color felt about multicultural education through interviews, a focus group, and an online survey with 17 undergraduate students of color. Many themes emerged, including the importance placed by students of color on discussions about racial inequality and the role of the professor in creating a safe environment in which students felt their personal experiences and knowledge were valued. Students of color discussed both the harmful consequences of negative experiences of multicultural education and the potential for positive multicultural education experiences to uplift and transform. Students, despite criticisms of the ways in which multicultural education is currently implemented, voiced overwhelming support for the inclusion of multicultural and diversity classes in the curriculum. Included in the discussion are limitations of the study and implications for future research, practice, policy, and social justice.
Type Text
Publisher University of Utah
Subject Education; Higher; Minorities; Multicultural; Qualitative
Dissertation Institution University of Utah
Dissertation Name Doctor of Philosophy
Language eng
Rights Management Copyright © Jinna Lee 2011
Format application/pdf
Format Medium application/pdf
Format Extent 862,475 bytes
Identifier us-etd3,24770
Source original in Marriott Library Special Collections ; LC8.5 2011 .L44
ARK ark:/87278/s61267d2
Setname ir_etd
ID 194796
Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s61267d2
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