WELCOME TO ROSS DIETERLE WEB SITE FOR
Cross Cultural Issues in Education: Learning Through Listening

OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
ES 499 SPRING BREAK 2001 CLASS

During the week of March 25-29, 2001, students in the Ethnic Studies Spring Break Field Course were given opportunity to learn about cross cultural issues in education.  One of the key objectives for this class was to come up with answers to why students of color are dropping out of school and why the dropout rate is so high in Oregon.  Course work used a non-traditional approach to learning that blurred the boundaries between instructors, students, communities, and researchers.  In effect, all those involved became teachers.

Bright and early Sunday morning, the week started off by heading to Portland for our overnight retreat.  On the way to Portland from Corvallis, participants were given the chance to interview a fellow classmate.  This served as a means to break the ice, as I am sure that it helped many of us feel more comfortable.  After arriving at Portland State University, we spent the rest of the day discussing and developing an array of skills that became very important in the everyday functions of the class.  These skills were developed through activities focused on action learning, active listening, and collaboration.  One of the items discussed on Sunday was the importance of listening. We learned that "listening creates speaking", while "not listening creates silenced voices".  Personally, this key concept will prove of value for future applications in my life.

My name is Ross Dieterle and I am a student at Oregon State, majoring in Business Marketing with a minor in Ethnic Studies.  The reason for choosing to take this course was because I was interested to see if topics discussed might somehow relate to the business world.  In addition, it was my desire to become more informed on what issues students of color face in education.  After finishing this class, I found that I have gained an invaluable insight into cross cultural education.  This course helped us as college students to better understand some of the problems that students of color face in school, beginning at the elementary level all the way through high school.  Throughout the week, we learned how to work better as a group/team, instead of as individuals, and focused on one KEY phrase "Twenty as One".  Presented below are things learned that can assist in improving education for students of color in Oregon.

The area that I found to be most interesting while taking this class was that of issues involved in the education of Latino students in Oregon.  With a 60 % Latino student population attending Woodburn schools and similar numbers in Independence, officials need to work to improve education for these students.  In the week, opportunity was provided to interview Latino students, Latino and Anglo teachers, and Latino parents who have students attending schools in Woodburn, Independence, and Corvallis.  Listed below are some of the issues as well as programs that were discussed.  Numbered links to various sites containing more information on each subject follow.

Again, these are just a few of the main things discussed in our interviews.

Having the opportunity to speak with individuals from three different school districts listed above was significant for me, in that it provided valuable information which I had not been aware of.  It gave me a chance to listen, learn and then reflect on how improvements can be made in the Oregon educational system to better help Latino students.  Hearing different people's perspectives on these items discussed was of value.  For instance, from our interviews in Independence and Woodburn, we learned how bilingual education is working in schools in those areas, while in Corvallis we had the chance to hear about how ESL performs in that school district.  Both programs appear to be successful, however there is opposition to both.  It seems it might be hard to determine which teaching style is better for the students, because students in both bilingual and ESL programs mention how helpful they are.  During this course we also discussed student dropout rates and, in so doing, I found the numbers startling.  It is very apparent that something needs to be done to help these students stay in school.  I agree with one interviewee that any student dropping out is unacceptable.  One large problem that may have an impact on whether students decide to finish school is the low teacher of color to student ratio.  The bottom line is that there are not enough teachers of color, specifically Latino teachers, within the schools today.  The reason for the shortage of these teachers is because it is hard to find bicultural and bilingual teachers and especially hard to find teachers who are both.

Three answers as to why there is not a large supply of teachers in these areas is 1) because school officials have not made the position look more attractive, 2) we need to push concerns of minorities forward, 3) salaries need to increase proportionate to responsibilities.  Another area that must be taken into account when looking at the education of Latino students is the school's climate.  For example, is it a good learning atmosphere, and are students comfortable talking to their teachers and other staff members?  Some schools are providing programs for students of color to become involved.  One particular program, Mecha, that was mentioned this week, can be found at Woodburn High School and was developed for Latino students.  When interviewing the Latino students, we learned about peer influence and how it may play a role in their continued education.  We learned that for the most part students encourage each other to stay in school.  Some factors that may cause Latino students to drop out are pregnancy, just attending school to learn English in order to get a better job, poverty, and migrant work.  Many students' education are affected because they must leave school and move with their families during busy times of the year for migrant work.

Parent involvement in a student's education is vitally important.  From course readings, as well as from our interviews, we learned that many Latino parents want their children to stay in school and be successful.  However, many times they do not get involved in their child's education for one reason or another.  Usually, this is because their level of education is so low that they are unable to understand what their children are learning in school.  Some parents also feel uncomfortable about speaking to teachers about a problem that their child is having because they fear that it may cause the teacher to have hard feelings towards their child.  Although many parents are hesitant to get involved, the Independence School District has a program called Libros y Familia (Books and Family), which many parents attend.  This program has been around for several years and offers such things as a nice meal and guest speakers as well as role models.  Programs like this are very useful and get parents involved in learning with the students.  After hearing about such a program, I am curious to see how it would works in other school districts within Oregon or even around the nation.

There are many problems for students of color within Oregon's educational system that must be addressed if we are to lower the continually high dropout rates.  Although I have focused on only one particular area of education, there are many more we learned about over this wonderful 5 day course.  It is my recommendation that you take the opportunity to read the other students' web pages, as I know they have provided other useful and educational information.

I would like to thank each and every stakeholder interviewed, for taking time out of their busy schedules to discuss the issues students of color face in the educational system within Oregon.  You have presented us with some very useful facts and opinions that we can now take and use to help make needed improvements.  As for me, you have opened my eyes to some things that I was not aware of and for this I am truly grateful.  In addition, I would also like to thank our course directors Erlinda Gonzales-Berry and Dwaine Plaza as well as our course facilitator Lisa Gaines for their much appreciated time and effort they devoted to make this course possible.  Last but not least, I would like thank my other teachers in this course (that's right, all you other students who took the course) for helping me get the most out of this class.  As important as what all of you have helped me learn in this course, you have helped me learn more about myself.  Although this class seemed really long at times and was very intense throughout the entire week, it was well worth the effort and I would recommend it to everyone whether you are thinking about going into education or even if you are majoring in some other field such as I am in Business.


Home Page