CAPITAL TIMES, April 5, 1991
Proposed diversity requirement causes mixed emotions
Karen M. Putt
Capital Times Staff
Imagine being required to take as
many as 12 additional credits to
complete your degree requirement That
possibility could become a reality for
Penn State Harrisburg students by 1994.
In a report submitted to the provost
and faculty council on diversity, a nine
member faculty task force suggests
adding a diversity requirement to the
graduation requirements at Penn State
Harrisburg.
The report proposes a requirement
calling for students to take either three
credits in "culturally focused" courses or
12 credits in "culturally enhanced"
courses. Culturally focused courses are
defined as those that "devote all class
time to cultural diversity material," and
culturally enhanced courses as those that
"devote at least 25 percent of class time
to cultural diversity material."
The report proposes a two step
implementation process. Step one
requires "all candidates for baccalaureate
degrees who are admitted for the Fall
1992 through Summer 1994 semesters,"
PSH hosts
Robin Price
Capital Times Staff
The children of Cyprus and Israel
drew detailed pictures, excellently using
line, texture and spatial reality. The
pictures by Aborigine children were
ordered and symmetrical.
These were some of the
observations of Linda Ross, assistant
professor of art and education, as she
described pictures of the biblical Noah's
Ark flood currently hanging in the
humanities division gallery.
The artists, 10 and 11 years-old and
from eight different countries, took part
in a study conducted by A 1 Hurwitz,
chairman emeritus in art education at the
Maryland Institute of Art and a major
authority on children's art around the
world.
The children had 45 minutes to
depict the story of Noah's Ark, using
any medium available. Most chose
watercolor or magic marker. The study
took Hurwitz three years to complete.
Of all the art, Ross said the Korean
children's work is by far the most
sophisticated in design, realism, and
handling of the water color. The Korean
art is very "intimate and imaginative,"
Ross said.
Ross's personal favorite was painted
by a 10-year-old Hungarian gypsy girl
who is considered retarded. This painting
shows excellent balance of color and
design, Ross said.
All children have a natural sense of
balance which they later lose, Ross said.
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to take at least three credits of culturally
focused courses or six credits of
culturally enhanced courses. Step two
would be for all degree students admitted
for the Fall 1994 semester or thereafter
to be required to take a minimum of
three credits in culturally focused courses
or 12 of culturally enhanced courses.
According to the task force a diversity
requirement is needed to help prepare
students for working in a multicultural
society, a need the current curriculum
does not meet. Though existing courses
could be "altered" so they may be seen as
cultural diversity courses, new courses
may also be created.
"The goal of the cultural diversity
courses is to encourage students, through
their study in all disciplines, to develop
respect for others, (a) by considering the
various historical backgrounds, cultural
and scientific contributions, social,
economic, psychological, and political
situations of a wide range of other
peoples, and (b) by valuing the impact
of the global community," the report
said.
Simon Bronner, professor of
American studies and a member of the
international children’s art exhibit
Linda Ross admires children's art work.
Ross added the U.S. to the exhibit
by including "Noah's Ark" pictures
painted by youngsters from
Middletown's Kunkel Elementary
School. Ross said the "flood story" is an
archetype familiar to most cultures.
Hurwitz's study shows "cultural,
conditioning" inherent among
youngsters from the same countries, as
displayed in the similarities of their
themes and motifs, Ross said.
Ross said that of the pictures on
task force, said a diversity requirement is
"something that has to occur."
"I'm concerned with the cultural
climate here," Bronner said. "Right now
courses dealing with diversity issues are
electives. There's a need for diversity
courses to be seen as a priority to change
the campus environment and make it
more multicultural.”
The task force report will face much
discussion and revision before any
requirement is implemented, and any
changes made in curriculum must first
be approved by faculty vote. One
problem which must be corrected in the
report is the process that has each
division or school submitting proposals
for existing courses or new courses to
the academic affairs committee to
identify them as "diversity courses."
According to Theodora Graham,
associate professor of humanities and
English and chair of the faculty council,
the committee did not agree to this
procedure and voted unanimously at its
Feb. 27 meeting that "degree
requirements should not be imposed
upon divisions or schools at our
campus.”
display, the works by the Maori children
of New Zealand are the best example of
cultural motifs. The decorative patterns
of spiraling and wavy lines are very
similar in style and color in each of
these works.
Hurwitz's comparison also shows
that the most sophisticated artwork
comes from students who have an art
program in their schools.
"The students who had some art
training showed further cognitive
photo by Elin Marcel
"If the proposal would go forward as
it is," Graham said, "it would put an
undue burden on an already hard working
committee."
While the task force report will be
under fire with both the faculty council
and acadmic affairs committee, students
have different reactions to the proposed
requirement, ranging from indifference
and strong opposal to support of the
proposal.
"I think everyone here is old enough
to realize sexism, racism, etc. are
wrong,” said Kurt Deery, a junior
mechanical engineering and technology
major. "We all have our own views and
opinions. Why have a class telling you
to change them? Besides, I only have a
couple of electives now. I don't know
where I'd find time for diversity courses.”
Other students, like Ben Adler, a
junior secondary education major,
supports the need for diversity courses.
"I think the idea is a good one," Adler
said. "Realistically, you need to have
courses on [diversity] if you're going to
come out of college with any social
understanding."
development," Ross said. Although
these children's work is usually more
skillful, their pictures aren't always as
imaginative as the untrained students.
For example, Ross said the art from
Kenya (where the children had little or
no art training) is the least advanced of
all in terms of spatial relationships.
"The Kenyan art done by 10-11
year-olds is equivalent to that of 6 or 7
year-old U.S. children's art," Ross said.
But Ross added, "The Kenyan art is
much more individualized than the
Middletown children's art," as she
pointed out the similarities of the
watercolor boats and rainbows painted by
the Kunkel School children.
"Rainbows are typically American,"
Ross said. The sun, however, is a design
depicted universally.
Rebecca O'Malley, a 25-year-old
elementary education major, duplicated
Hurwitz's study with 7-8 year-olds at the
"latchkey" program where she works.
O'Malley said the American children's art
"seemed more hurried, as if they just
wanted to finish the assignment. The
other cultures personalized the story of
Noah much more."
Although each child interpreted the
story differently, a child from Cyprus
painted the only picutre of the storm as a
destructive force.
"Cyprus is an island," Ross said,
speculating that perhaps this child has
experienced the destructiveness of a
storm.
The exhibit will be on display
during the month of April.