The main question that I am focusing on for my research is why there is a lack of observable diversity in the field of historical education, both the educators themselves and the content taught in classes. My research will look into how historical education and the employment of ethnic minorities in said field will change based on current information.
Why this question?
There are a few reasons I picked this specific topic, given that I am very interested in the field of history and have already begun creating content which aim to increase general interest in this field and expand the availability of niche parts of history to a larger audience through media. And having experience attending both secondary school and university-level courses related to historical education, I realized that the representation of minorities in that field is not very visible and that there needs to be an improvement in the diversity of topics (especially related to history outside of the West, e.g. Africa, Asia and Oceania).
How will your professional/internship/organizational/course work inform your inquiry?
Certainly my experience within the field of history allowed me to see for myself the lack of ethnic minorities within the field. Although I have spent most of my life in Hong Kong and it is only natural that most of the other students are of Chinese descent, but it was during my trip to Virginia for an international history bowl competition where I discovered that the vast majority of participants in the US were white, and not indicative of the statistics of the ethnic makeup of the country. While I am not blaming academia or anyone for this reality, I do hope that more of the ethnic minority population of the states can become interested in the wider scale of history, and not be limited by the narrative of a nationalistic viewpoint that began in 1776.
What fields matter most in your inquiry?
Almost definitely the field of history. However, I will also like to look into fields related to that such as archeology and museum studies. In a wider view of things, I will also like to touch upon the diversity of educators in academia since it will certainly be related to my area of interest.
In “Creating culturally responsive environments: ethnic minority teachers’ constructs of cultural diversity in Hong Kong secondary schools”, Ming-tak Hue and Kerry John Kennedy wanted to tackle the challenge of Hong Kong’s increasingly growing ethnic minority students and how the teaching environment can adapt to this changing reality. Part of Hue and Kennedy’s research included interviewing secondary school teachers of varying ethnic minority descent, ranging from Canadian to Pakistani. The researchers then used their responses to create a model to allow educators to re-manage their teaching habits and deepen their understanding cross-cultural education.
Even though it is well known that Hong Kong is an international city, the vast majority of the population belong to the Chinese ethnicity (as high as 95%), while there is a growth in ethnic minority students within the public education sector (School of Education Statistics Section, Education Bureau, 2012). However, while this number only makes up 1.94% of the city’s primary and secondary students, the more important issue faced by the educational system is that there is a quick growth of non-Chinese speaking students, from 0.71% (2008/2009) to 1.43% (2011/2012). However, many of the city’s schools are not prepared to tackle this problem, and the combination of a lack of ethnic minority teachers as well as the tendency for ethnic minority students to underperform educationally remains a major problem.
Studies have shown that there is a gap between ethnic majority and ethnic minority students’ in terms of academic performance and employment opportunities (Darling-Hammond, 2006; Frankenberg, Lee, & Orfield, 2003), and that in order to close the gap, the social connection between ethnic-majority and minority students needs to be achieved by the host society (Stanton-Salazar, 1997; Yosso, 2005). To achieve this, several Hong Kong schools already looked for ways to respond to the cultures of ethnic-minority students, and mainly of those who come from low socio-economic backgrounds. While in many Western countries the increase of ethnic minority teachers to assist ethnic minority students is common, that is not so much the case in a relatively homogenous city like Hong Kong. However, one of the most important aspects of having ethnic minority teachers is the understanding and help they can offer to the students, such as dealing with racism, increasing tolerance, the promotion of multiculturalism, slowly ridding cultural stereotypes, and increasing the perception of Hong Kong as a multi-ethnic society.
The study among the interviewed teachers also looked into the experiences of ethnic minority teachers through a social construction of reality. There were three parts to this experience that Hue and Kennedy looked into, which were the changes in space (the community of ethnic minorities), the place (classrooms), and the time spent in classrooms. This was done to allow the teachers to relive their former teaching experiences and explore a narrative to help their future in assisting minority students.
The findings then showed that teachers from an ethnic minority background became even more aware of their own ethnic identities as well as becoming more aware of the “minor acts of racism” within Hong Kong’s educational system as well as the larger society. The goal was then to transform the educational system according to the idea of “cosmopolitanism”, the idea that in order for Hong Kong to become recognized as a truly international city, it must create a space for non-Chinese speakers to take part and feel accepted. Part of this can be achieved with tackling Hong Kong’s trilingual problem in education, since ethnic minority students will have to become fluent in the official languages of Cantonese/Chinese, English as well as their native tongues. The ethnic minority teachers explained that in order to truly help the non-Chinese speaking students reach academic success and attend tertiary level education, English and more importantly Cantonese (the native language of most of Hong Kong’s population), must take part in their daily lives.
I specifically chose this article because it is directly tied with the readings that we have done in the past week, how diversity is becoming more and more important because our perception of it is also becoming more clear. Being from Hong Kong and having friends of ethnic minority backgrounds, I believe that the research shown in this article is essential to assist Hong Kong’s population in moving forward from the traditional belief that the city is universally Chinese-speaking.
Article:
Hue, M.-tak, & Kennedy, K. J. (2013). Creating culturally responsive Environments: Ethnic minority teachers’ constructs of cultural diversity in Hong Kong secondary schools. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 34(3), 273–287. https://doi.org/10.1080/02188791.2013.823379
Common sense seems to dictate that a fair and equal society will have all parts of society represented in the workplace, but that is not the case in reality. In Gundemir’s article focusing on ethnic and racial diversity, it is argued that the increase of ethnic minorities in places of leadership in the workplace not only indicates a progressive change in modern corporations, but in terms of the economic aspect, their inclusion is linked to a growth in creativity, an increase in quality decision making, as well as enhancing the company’s performance.
I used the template of “Common sense seems to dictate” to indicate the “they say” portion, since the article used several sources to back the author’s views and that only compounded the views on diversity in the workplace that we have today in society. I believe that it will be very easy to transition to the “I Say” portion after using this template.
Response #2
The readings from Gundemir et al and Austin/Pisano really do play a part in providing more evidence in my belief that there needs to be an emphasis on innovation as well as the prioritization of the diversity of ability within corporations. My reasoning for this belief is based on commercial competition, and if the leadership of major corporations are unwilling to even experiment with the idea of hiring neurodiverse individuals with extraordinary gifts because of a traditional sense of conformation, rival companies will exploit that and pursue this reformed approach, which will lead to their companies outpacing the conservative mindset of the former company. These articles, and more specifically the article by Gundemir et al, are similar to the “Why Diversity Matters” reading from the previous week, and I believe that articles with more examples of success with employment diversity will help a lot. Personally, I think that my experience studying in Syracuse allowed me to understand the value of diversity within the workspace, especially since my program included students from countries from Asia to the Americas.
Out of the assigned readings I personally found the topic of organizational culture to be the most interesting. As the term culture has a very loose definition and can be molded based on the values and beliefs of different societies, organizational culture is not too dissimilar to the traditional sense of culture that we often perceive in religious and ethnic groups. In Watkins’ article, he pointed out the different responses to what the term organizational culture is, with some concluding it to be either a product of incentives or compensation. However, the quote that I find the most compelling and the closest to my perception of what organizational culture means is the one by Abdi Osman Jama. Jama stated that, “An organization [is] a living culture…that can adapt to the reality as fast as possible.” If we are to agree that the point of the organization is to survive, thrive, and provide meaning for its participants, adaptation and change according to reality is the utmost necessity and should serve as its defining feature. The only disagreement I have with Jama is that the quote and Jama’s definition defines an ever-changing culture, one that has no solid base or root in what created the culture in the first place. Whether the organization is centered on business, culture, religion, or any other goal, there has to be a set of “rituals” and origin story that cannot be changed. The stability of the origin point and meaning for the organization will prevent the final disintegration of the organization itself, since the organization loses all meaning when its sole purpose is simply based on adaptation to change and the unknown.
Response to #2
Why Diversity Matters proves once again that racial and gender diversity in the workplace, in general, brings positive financial benefits. Based on McKinsey’s Diversity Matters report, the examined companies were all based in countries with large populations of diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds. This makes perfect sense since to appeal to the larger market in the Americas and the United Kingdom, representation within larger corporations provides both a better image as well as generate interest among ethnic minorities. However, coming from an East Asian background, the focus on racial diversity is not as prominent an issue as over in the West, especially due to the relatively homogenous ethnic structures of China, Japan, and Korea. Having spent most of my life in Hong Kong, which is already one of the more westernized and ethnically diverse cities in East Asia (with significant Filipino, Indonesian and Indian populations), I have noticed that minority ethnicities constantly fluctuate between 6~8% of the city’s population, and the lack of government assistance in assimilation, linguistic and communication issues prevent ethnic minorities in Hong Kong from being seen or represented in career fields outside of low-skilled labor. In this reality, the combination of low numbers and lack of financial capability means that the value and pressure placed on businesses in Hong Kong or the larger East Asian sphere to adopt the stance of having more ethnic diversity within the workplace is especially low compared to the West.
Hi, my name is Tim and I’m a recent graduate from VPA’s Industrial and Interaction Design program. I’m from Hong Kong and I am taking this course as well as some other design courses to fulfill the studio requirements. Spending the last five years in Syracuse was truly a life-changing experience, especially with meeting people from all fields of study as well as having the chance to study abroad in Poland and Central Europe. As for myself, besides my major in industrial design, my main passions and interests are history and playing the cello. Besides this course, I will be taking part in an internship for a design company assisting the Mini car brand as well as working on further videos for my channel on historical education. Since I have returned to Hong Kong from Syracuse since the early months of the pandemic last March, I have been taking online classes since. I believe that the most important part of learning asynchronously is having a strict schedule as well as self-control, especially since you have to keep track of the work by yourself and communication is slightly more difficult. However, no matter how strange times have become, I believe it will slowly improve and I look forward to working with all of you.
