Awareness of Cultural Issues While Advising

1
Awareness of Cultural Issues While Advising

• Presented by
• Sheema K. Majiduddin, Ed.M.
• Counseling and Career Services
• Edison Hall 100

2
History

• Founded in 1966 by NJ Dept of High Ed
• From the beginning to the mid-late 70s
  90-95 of the student body were primarily
• White
• The rest of the student population
  Approx 5-10 of the student body was
• African American

3
A Changing Nation
4
MCC Application Form

• Used for state and federal reports.
• Reports put together by institution.
• Enrollment Report
• Racial/Ethnic Group
• Hispanic of any race
• Black or African American
• American Indian or Alaska Native
• Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander
• Asian
• White
• Two or more races

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MCC Ethnic Breakdown
MCC Office of Institutional Research

• Spring 2007
• 40.2 - White
• 19.5 - Hispanic
• 15.6 - Asian
• 10.4 - Black
• 0.2 - Amer. Indian
• 14.1 - Unknown

• Fall 2006
• 40.3 - White
• 17.7 - Hispanic
• 15.1 - Asian
• 9.5 - Black
• 0.2 - Amer. Indian
• 17.2 - Unknown

Enrollment Report
6
MCC Ethnic Breakdown

• Fall 2006 and Spring 2007 Enrollment Report

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Ethnic Beings

• How students identify themselves
• The role it has on advising

Blaine Harding, Colorado State University
8
Wilsonisms

• Domestics vs. Imports

Domestics Sense of belongingness May be
bi-lingual or English may be the dominant
language May be experiencing cultural
schizophrenia while attempting to juggle two sets
of cultural expectations May be the first in the
entire family to attend college Or May the first
to attend college in US
Imports Sense of displacement, loss of
community, Families may be splitpart in the
homeland and part here Go from being majority to
minority may be experiencing fear/anxiety and
some degree of culture shock English is NOT the
dominant language
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Communication style differences
Asian Americans And Hispanics
Whites African Amer.
American Indians
1. Speak loud/fast to control listener 2.
Greater eye contact when listening 3. Head
nods, nonverbal markers 4. Quick
responding 5. Objective, task oriented

• 1. Speak softly
• 2. Avoidance of eye
• contact when
• listening or specking
• to high-status
• persons
• 3. Similar rules
• 4. Mild delay
• 5. Low-keyed, indirect

1. Speak with affect 2. Direct eye contact
(prolonged) when speaking, but less when
listening 3. Interrupt (turn taking) when
can 4. Quicker responding 5. Affective,
emotional, interpersonal
1. Speak softly/slower 2. Indirect gaze when
listening or speaking 3. Interject less
seldom offer encouraging
communication 4. Delayed auditory
(silence) 5. Manner of expression,
low-keyed, indirect
Counseling the Culturally Different Sue Sue,
2002
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Communication Styles of Cultural Groups
Rosado, Luis A. (2005) Cross-cultural
Communications A Latino Perspective.AE-Extra.
January. Available online. URLlthttp//asstudents
.unco.edu/students/AE-Extra/2005/1/Art-1.htmlgt. Cr
eated 8 December 2004. Updated 28 January
2005. Accessed 9 July 2007.
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The Advising Relationship

• Approaching students as just individuals (i.e.
  ignoring their cultural identities), or
• Approaching students as though their cultural
  identities were necessarily the most salient
  aspect of their current challenge (i.e. ignoring
  their individual identities)
• Miss the complexity of the whole student
• Personal experiences as advisors

Aaron H. Carlstrom, Kansas State University
12
Stereotypes/Over-simplifying

• Cultural identity is made up of a myriad of
  aspects
• While we can learn something from generalizations
  about cultures, we must not allow these
  generalizations to cause us to stereotype or
  over-simplify our ideas about others.
• Video clip

Leigh Cunningham, Kansas State University
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Self-Awareness

• How have you benefited from your racial or ethnic
  status?
• How are you seeking to broaden your experiences
  and knowledge of different multicultural groups?
• Have you considered what it may feel like to be
  the only in a rather large setting?
• Do you know how it feels to be appointed the
  representative of your race because you are the
  only in a setting?
• How are you going to continue to understand
  yourself as a racial or ethnic being in society?
• Are you consistently seeking knowledge about
  multicultural affairs?

Cornelius K. Gilbert, University of Wisconsin
14
Listening Empathically

• Assuming differences allows us to hear from the
  others point of view

Aaron H. Carlstrom, Kansas State University
15
Focusing on Meaning

• Did we understand what the student meant to
  communicate
• Did we communicate what we meant for the student
  to understand
• Meaning is based on interpretation of others
  behavior (verbal nonverbal) and interpretation
  is often culturally bound.

Aaron H. Carlstrom Kansas State University
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How to guard against misinterpretation

• Do not assume sameness.
• What we think of as normal or human behavior may
  only be cultural.
• Familiar behaviors may have different meanings.
• Do not assume that what we meant is what was
  understood.
• Do not assume that what we understood is what was
  meant.
• We do not have to like or accept different
  behavior, but we may find it helpful to
  understand where it comes from.
• Most people do behave rationally we just have to
  discover the rationale. (Although it is important
  to keep in mind that a preference for rationality
  can be a culturally bound preference).

Storti, Craig (1994). Cross-Cultural dialogues
74 brief encounters
with cultural difference. Intercultural Press.
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Exploring Competence

• Exploring ones own competence is an ongoing
  process
• Questions to ask yourself

Aaron H. Carlstrom Kansas State University
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Exploring Competence

• What cultural ground do I share with this
  student?
• What cultural differences do I acknowledge,
  respect, and welcome?
• What cultural differences do I fear, resist,
  dismiss, or minimize? How do I manage these
  differences during the advising session?
• Do I behave or think differently with this
  student than I do with other students?
• How comfortable am I, as a person of culture,
  with this student?
• Do I view the student as expert of his/her own
  cultural experiences?
• Do I attend to the use of language in the
  advising meeting to make sure terms have a shared
  understanding?
• Do I inquire, in a culturally appropriate way, if
  what I am saying is useful to the student?
• Do I check to see if I am reading nonverbal cues
  correctly?
• Do I check to see if my cultural perceptions are
  accurate?

Plummer, Deborah, L. (1995). The therapist as
gatekeeper in multicultural counseling
Understanding ourselves as persons of
culture. Journal of Psychological Practice, 1,
30-35.