Cross Cultural Issues in Education: Learning through listening
Mike Havens and Noah Happe

This was one of the most intense classes that we have ever taken. The hours were back breaking,  we put in about 12 hours a day for five days. We interviewed 25 stake holders and what we wanted to find out was why the Latino and African American drop out rate from highschool was so large in Oregon.


Learning Experiences:

This class was a great experience for Noah and I.  I think it really opened both of our eyes to problems that we did not think were that large. We also believe that students of color are taken advantage of and not given opportunities that other students have.


All of the stake holders said  that the drop out rate was high because the staff did not match the students in "race" or culture, the books being used did not touch on their culture, there was a lack of teaching materials, and a lack of teachers.

The distircts we visited were:
Portland
Independence
Salem/Woodburn
Corvallis
 


All these reasons are very good excuses but what we wanted to know is what is happening right now to make a diffrence if anything?  We also think that it all starts with one person so if everyone could do just one thing it would make a whole lot of diffrence in someones life.

Useful Links for more information:

Strategies for Hispanic/Latino retention in high school.
Information on Oregon's public schools.
Helping children understand differences in others.
Check out the "News" link on the OBEMLA (Office of Bilingual Education and Minority Language Affairs at the US
Department of Education).
Infomation on the CIM and CAM system in Oregon