Two Steps Forward, One Step Backward: Must This Be the Future of Diversity?

Autor/in	Butler, Johnnella E.
Titel	Two Steps Forward, One Step Backward: Must This Be the Future of Diversity?
Quelle	In: Liberal Education, 99 (2013) 3 PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0024-1822
Schlagwörter	Higher Education; Role of Education; Problem Solving; Diversity (Faculty); Minority Group Teachers; Access to Education; Females; Social Networks; African American Teachers; Racial Bias + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Hochschulbildung; Hochschulsystem; Hochschulwesen; Bildungsauftrag; Problemlösen; Education; Access; Bildung; Zugang; Bildungszugang; Weibliches Geschlecht; Social network; Soziales Netzwerk; African Americans; Teacher; Teachers; Afroamerikaner; Lehrer; Lehrerin; Lehrende; Racial discrimination; Rassismus
Abstract	Johnnella Butler writes here that the title of this article "Two Steps Forward, One Step Backward," expresses the "wicked problem" of diversity as a concrete goal in higher education. The concept of the "wicked problem," is a term coined in the late 1960s by social planners. Consulting Wikipedia, as so many of our students do, we find from the entry for "wicked problem" that "wicked" does not connote "evil" in this instance, but rather refers to problems that resist resolution. "Moreover, because of complex interdependencies, the effort to solve one aspect of a wicked problem may reveal or create other problems." Defining a wicked problem is itself a wicked problem. "Every wicked problem can be considered to be a symptom of another problem…. The problem is not understood until after the formulation of a solution." Yet, "wicked problems have no given alternative solutions." Here, Butler discusses faculty diversity, a wicked problem spawned by efforts to address the problem of minority access to higher education, has in its turn spawned several lateral wicked problems for faculty of color. Butler urges faculty and administrators of color, in particular, to come together around the qualitative and quantitative data that tell us that, unfortunately, the experiences of forty years ago still hold true for women today. She further encourages faculty to assess their positionalities on campuses and to decide, in concert with others, which pieces of the problem--and the possibility--each person can tackle in order to advance engaged diversity as compositional, intellectual, philosophical, social, cultural--and imperative. (ERIC).
Anmerkungen	Association of American Colleges and Universities. 1818 R Street NW, Washington, DC 20009. Tel: 800-297-3775; Tel: 202-387-3760; Fax: 202-265-9532; e-mail: pub_desk@aacu.org; Web site: http://www.aacu.org/publications/index.cfm
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01