DIVERSITY IN AMERICA:

TEACHING STUDENTS TO KNOW, TO

CARE, AND TO ACT IN GLOBAL TIMES

James A. Banks Kerry and Linda Killinger Endowed Chair in Diversity Studies

and Director, Center for Multicultural Education

University of Washington, Seattle

To Know ,To Care, To Act

Statistics on Immigration to the U. S.

Between 2006 and 2015, 81.6% of the legal immigrants to the

United States came from nations in Asia and Latin America,

9.7% came from Africa, and just 8.2% came from Europe (U.S.

Department of Homeland Security, 2016).

In 2015, people of color made up 38.4% of the total U.S.

population (U.S. Census Bureau, 2016).

There were 11.1 million undocumented immigrants in the United

States in 2014. This number has been steady since then (Pew

Research Center, 2016).

Percentage and Number of People of

color in the U. S., 2015

The total U. S. population in 2015 was approximately 321.5

million. Non-Hispanic Whites were 61.6% of the population;

People of Color were 38.4 percent of the population or about

123.5 million people.

Asians Now Outpace Mexicans In Terms of

Undocumented Growth

Asians now represent a third of the foreign-born

population in the United States—equal with the Mexican

foreign-born population. They also represent 14 percent of

the unauthorized population. That number will grow in the

coming decade.

Indians, South Koreans, and Chinese among the fastest-

growing segments of undocumented immigrants.

Percentage of Students of Color in US

Public Schools, 2014

A 2014 report by the National Center for Education Statistics

indicated that students of color accounted for 50.3% of the public

school student population in that academic year (2014).

This is the link to the full

report: http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2014/2014051.pdf

States with Majority Students of color in 2013-

2014 in Public Schools (Listed alphabetically)

1. Alaska

2. Arizona

3. California

4. Delaware

5. Florida

6. Georgia

7. Hawaii

8. Louisiana

9. Maryland

10. Mississippi

11. Nevada

12. New Jersey

13. New Mexico

14. New York

15. Texas

States with Majority Students of color in 2013-

2014 in Public Schools (Listed in descending order of

percentage of minority students)

1. Hawaii

2. New Mexico

3. California

4. Texas

5. Nevada

6. Arizona

7. Florida

8. Maryland

9. Georgia

10. Mississippi

11. New York

12. Louisiana

13. Delaware

14. New Jersey

15. Alaska

Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the

Oppressed

States that we must teach students to read

the word and the world. Reading the word

requires basic knowledge and skills.

Reading the world requires that students

question assumptions, paradigms, and use

knowledge to make the world more just and

humane.

Many People Have Multiple

National Commitments

Aihwa Ong, “Flexible Citizenship”

Will Kymlicka, “Multicultural Citizenship”

Worldwide Immigration

The number of people living outside their nation

of birth grew from 120 million in 1990 to 244

million in 2015.

Migrants who lived outside their nation of birth

made up 3.3% of the world’s population of 7

billion in 2015.

Source: United Nations International Migration Report 2015

Immigrants to Europe from its

Former Colonized Nations

The Empire Strikes Back: Race and

Racism in 70s Britain. Centre for

Contemporary Culture Studies,

University of Birmingham, UK, 1982.

Top Ten Countries with Largest Number of International Immigrants (2015)

6

7

8

8

8

9

10

12

12

46

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

Spain

Australia

Canada

France

United Arab Emirates

United Kingdom

Saudi Arabia

Germany

Russian Federation

United States of America

in millions

Source: United Nations International Migration Report 2015

Harm J. De Blij (2008), The Power of Place: Georaphy,

Destiny, and Globalization’s Rough Landscape

De Blij challenges Friedman’s

argument that the world is flat. He

distinguishes

Globals

Mobals

Locals

Balancing Diversity and Unity

(1)

Diversity and unity should co-exist in

a delicate balance in democratic

multicultural nation-states.

The Need to Balance Unity and

Diversity (2)

Unity without diversity results in cultural repression and

hegemony (Cultural Revolution in China, 1966-1976; Break

up of Soviet Union, December, 1991).

Diversity without unity leads to Balkanization and the

fracturing of the nation-state (August, 1947, the partition of

India which led to the establishment of three sovereign

states: Islamic Republic of Pakistan, People’s Republic of

Bangladesh, and the Republic of India).

The Resurgence of Religion in the

Developing World

God is Back: How the Global Revival of Faith is

Changing the World by John Micklethwait &

Adrian Woodridge. New York: Penguin Press,

2009.

Nations Represented at the Bellagio

Conference (2004)

Brazil

Canada

China

Germany

India

Israel

Japan

Palestine

Russia

South Africa

United Kingdom

United States

Intersectionality

Describes the ways in which the

variables of diversity intersect and

interrelate. These interactions are

myriad and complex.

Democracy and Diversity: Principles and Concepts for Educating Citizens in a

Global Age

Download at Center for Multicultural

Education

http://education.washington.edu/cme/

CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION AND GLOBAL

MIGRATION

Talaris Seattle Conference, June 22-26, 2015

Nations Represented at Talaris conference:

Brazil - Canada - China - France - Germany - Israel - Kuwait - Lebanon - Mexico - Norway -

Singapore - South Korea - Turkey - United States - United Kingdom

Interactive Nature of Cultural, National, Regional, and Global

Identifications

Global

Identification

Cultural

Identification

National

Identification

Regional

Identification

The Individual

Deculturalization

Joel Spring, Deculturalization and the Struggle for Equality:

A Brief History of the Education of Dominated Cultures in

the United States.

Angela Valenzuela, Substractive Schooling: U. S.-Mexican

Youth and the Politics of Caring

William Greenbaum, “Hope and Shame”

Five whacks from a ping-pong paddle for speaking

Spanish.

Indian students forced to stand on a milking stool in a dark

from in a cellar for speaking Paiute, her native language.

Amy Gutmann, Democratic Education

Schools should provide students with

Civic equality

Recognition

Toleration

Martha Nussbaum:

Cosmopolitanism: “[Cosmopolitans’]

allegiance is to the worldwide community

of human beings.”

Kwame Anthony Appiah

In the final message my father left for me

and my sisters, he wrote:

“Remember you are citizens of the

world.” But as a leader of the independence movement in what was

then the Gold Coast, he never saw a

conflict between local partialities and

universal morality—between being a part

of the place you were and a part of a

broader human community.

Cosmopolitanism: Ethnics in a World of Strangers. New York:

Norton, 2006, p. xvii

MAJOR GOALS OF AN EDUCATION FOR GLOBAL

CITIZENSHIP AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

To Know (Knowledge),To Care, To Act

Ella

Baker Fannie Lou

Hamer

Daisy

Bates

Rosa Parks:

“People always

say that I didn’t give up my seat

because I was

tired, but that isn’t true…the only tired

I was, was tired of

giving in.”

Marian Wright Edelman & Audrey Lorde

Martin

Luther

King,

Jr.

James Baldwin “Stranger in the Village”