I looked at the list in August since I was teaching Freshman Seminar. I groaned at bit when it said that the class of 2012 was born in or around 1990.

My opinion is that growing up in the Post-PC era (and I'm not talking about the Mac revival) means learning that communication is often done in code. Those born after 1990 are brought up knowing the code, as institutions speak in code. Over the summer, I overheard George Will saying that one end of the ideological spectrum in the US tends to speak in terms of "equality" and the other in terms of "freedom." He's used this before, but the idea is that one can see how these terms have...thickened meanings and how they can be used in frames.

These topics do seem to have been covered in the classroom, but not in the context that it is something that needs to be overcome. In English classes, history, and Spanish I got views of multiculturalism but not in the context that there are so many negative things that come along with it. For instance, in English classes we read about slavery and "Uncle Tom's Cabin." We became aware about what happened in the past with people of different races but that was it. In my history class we learned about Brown v Board of Education and Plessy v Ferguson of "separate but equal." Sometimes it caused heated discussions but never in the depth of a college level course.
In the case of never being able to use the umber crayon and referring back to the flesh colored crayon, one was taught in the classroom to not discriminate. We learned from history that it was not right to judge others based on what they look like, but in the case of the doll test, children receive from the media subliminal messages that light skin is better than dark skin. Most of the children chose the lighter doll because they see in the real world that light skinned people are the leading people on the biggest tv shows, they see light skinned people having the nicest things and they see cartoons where the characters are light skinned. Perhaps when one grows up they learn that everyone should be treated equally (especially in this generation) but one still sees in society that white people do the best in life. Perhaps when this generation is leading the country that perspective will change.

Schools always having stressed multiculturalism in these students life has had a big impact on their classroom experience. Schools have been concerned with multiculturalism in many ways. Some schools, this involves a busing system where they bring students from different neighborhoods and bus them to other schools. Also, teachers have taught multiculturalism in their curriculum. With books about the history of slavery and then teaching about civil rights movements and its success, they are educating about multiculturalism and equality between cultures. Since they have always been around these different cultures, the students tend to believe in equality between cultures more nowadays than in the past. There tends to be a higher rate of interracial trust. This can be contradicted though when they have known all their lives about the wall being built on the border of Mexico. Students can look at this and realize that the country is trying to keep these people out. This could contradict what they have been taught about equality and they could wonder why they are taught that everyone needs to be looked at equally, but then again we aren't going to let these people into our country. The interracial trust that is gained while in school can be lost with the fact about personal privacy being threatened. It might not necessarily mean people of different races, but with personal privacy threatened, these students might develop mistrust with other students. The concern of teaching about multiculturalism and equality has shaped the lives of many students and changed the classroom experience, but other cultural events like the building of the wall can caused mixed views about multiculturalism to these students.

Multiculturalism is something that has beeen promoted throughout these students lives. They grew up having diversity week and being asked to study foreign languages and culture. It is necessary for these students to understand and act confidently in diverse areas. History classes now present more than one side of each issue, and teach not just what is fact, but alsot they teach culture. In world history as a freshman in highschool it was required that you do a study project on a religious culture different than your own, this promotes diversity.
By having schools promote such strong multiculturalism it has takne away from kids sense of national identity. Kids today do not understand exactly what it means to be an american, they have grown up learning about cultural pride at the expense of national pride.

I read the rest of this list and the list from last year on Beloit College's website as well and I honestly didn't understand a lot of it. I know that this list is put together by people who are older and who understand all of the cultural references which are made, but it really made me realize that we really DO have a completely different perspective than generations before us. It's like those lists you sometimes get forwarded in an email: "You Know You're From Colorado When..." and proceeds to list examples of things you wouldn't understand the majority of if you didn't live the culture. These lists are targeted at people who did live the culture and who realize how different the world we are growing up in is from the world they grew up in.

These cultural examples which relate to the "thickening" of our culture prove that progress is always being made every day on the ideas of racism, diversity, and multiculturalism. We're taught to respect other's differences and to appreciate culture. It seems as though it's become an almost trend to be "worldly", well-traveled, and knowledgeable about the many differences this world presents. We learn about it from the time we're in kindergarten and it continues through our lives (CLU's motto includes "creating leaders for a global society"). However, it seems ironic that the more worldly and respectful of other cultures we get, the smaller the world seems to be getting at the same time. There's western influence on every continent on earth. But how much have our views really changed? It seems to me that this election is proving that we truly aren't that different than the cultures before us. We're still judgmental, we still stereotype, and we're still outrageously hesitant to trust people who are different from us.

It is interesting how the rapid evolvement of technology is shown in the daily life of students. Looking at the list I could relate with a lot of the list but there were a few topics on the list that I was too old for. The topic, “Schools have always been concerned about multiculturalism” is very interesting. As far as I can think back, schools HAVE always been concerned with multiculturalism and celebrating diversity. Through the years though, I have been more aware of the attempts to create more diversity in the classroom starting off with Black history month and then becoming more inclusive with Hispanic Heritage Month, World AIDS day and Harmony Week. It is just fascinating to me to see the change before my eyes. Another topic that I was capable to see the changes for is “Personal privacy has always been threatened.” This one is very interesting because I don’t believe many Americans even really thought about their personal privacy being threatened until after 9/11 and the creation of the Patriot Act. Post 9/11 Americans are more cautious about who is listening in on their conversations or who is checking up on their financial records. I wonder what this list will look like for the incoming class of 2020 and how many of these topics on this list I will be able to relate to.

I don't really understand what the question is asking, but I'm just going to go for it.
Now days, I think in our classrooms, children are being taught about more than one side of an issue. Kids are learning about a variety of cultures and the teaching standards touch at least one side of each culture in regards to a major issue in the community. During the holidays, teachers cannot single out certain cultural celebrations such as, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Ramadan. We are given the choice to learn other languages and a majority of colleges require at least two years of studying a foreign language and there are also a variety of multicultural clubs around campus.
With schools having such a large culture "thickening", I think our children will grow up with a more accepting attitude of people from other cultures, instead of being narrow minded and deciding which culture is right and wrong. With people becoming more accepting of other cultures, there will be less violence and hatered towards people who are different from them.

I read the rest of the list, and most of them I agreed with, while some of them I had no idea what they were talking about. At my schools, we never were really taught about all different cultures. We touched based on some, but very rarely did we go into detail. However, we did celebrate Black History Month, but that was the only one. I do remember though that back in elementary when our holiday break was called Christmas break. Now they changed it to Winter break because not everyone celebrates the same holidays. That's definitely one thing that stuck out in my mind.
In high school, I feel that more doors were opened for different cultures. For example, there were different clubs that you could join like Chinese, Muslim Student Assoc., Jewish Student Assoc., Gay Straight Alliance, and so many more. Also, at rallies we would have performances from dance, cheer, and other different cultures as well. We could also take a foreign language. I feel like it was more of a choice then it was taught to us. I think that it would be a good thing to teach it more so kids can become more accepting to the different cultures around the world.
Going to the raw umber crayon (or whatever it was called), I honestly don't feel that it is that big of a deal. To me the crayon was a peach color, but it shouldn't have been called flesh because not everyone is that color of flesh. Kids with different colored skin could feel excluded, but at that age the name mostly matters to the parents.

i think these things do affect us nowadays since we learn it back then when we were young. all these shown to us completely but more as a subliminal message. As we were 4 or 5 the idea of race or diversity never really cross our mind. it was more put in th back of our head. but as we grow older we realize what was happening. we are more aware of those things when they are brought up in highscool and college. Our engagement in class is more as these things are brought up. we also feel more offensive when we talk about a certain thing such as the CRAYON thing or immigration.

Remembering my high-school days, multiculturism was never really mentioned other than in Spanish class. For the most part, we never really touched on learning other cultures in history class other than European countries. But even my history classes focused more on dates and events than culture.
When mentioning the Crayola color, I don't even remember ever thinking about what color I chose for a person. It was a long time ago when I remember coloring in class, but back then, I don't even think I knew what race was. However, I also wouldn't be surprised if I colored all of my humans pink color, not because I was racist, but rather I knew no better. My classes were strictly caucasian and I can't remember a classmate of a different race until possibly early middle school. However, I am not sure how children are learning about race these days. I'm sure that teachers are overly careful these days with the emerging diversity in California and wouldn't be surprised if they emphasized multiculturism as being beneficial to their learning.

I think it's really good that that people are growing up in a society that embraces multiculturalism. Going up with the knowledge of other cultures helps everyone understand and embrace differences instead of being scared or showing disapproval of things that are different.
Personally I wish that I had grown up in an environment with more diversity. I want to know more about my heritage. I'm half white and half Mexican, but I feel like I can't say that I'm Mexican because I haven't grown up with any of the culture. I don't even speak Spanish. I wish that my dad would have been more of an influence of my life so I could be proud of that side of my heritage. I'm not embarrassed by it, I just don't know much about it.
I also wish that my schools would have had celebrated diversity more. Because my elementary school was Christian that's the only religion that I knew anything about for a long time. Going to a public high school I saw more diversity; people were more open to differences.
There are definitely more opportunities and options for people with different ethnic backgrounds. Employers have to adjust for religious beliefs, along with other institutions. Race cannot be a factor when deciding who to hire or who to accept.
I think the more openness that people have about talking to others about race, religions, or any opinion, the better people fear change and the unknown; if they have heard of an idea then they are more likely to embrace it.

What the list suggests is that pressing social issues like immigration, multiculturalism, and privacy have found their way from being controversial and engaging subjects to topics that have slipped into the current of normalcy in the lives of this generation. With previous generations people have fought and defended these political issues strongly, yet today students have come to accept that results of history's deliberation and struggle are just the unremarkable way of the situation. What this means--when you have such things as eighteen year-olds expecting to have their privacy rights taken, expecting problems with Latin American immigration, and expecting multiculturalism in modern institutions--is two things. Firstly, it is that some of the beneficial things like multiculturalism are now accepted in society and seen as regular presences (But this also has a negative side). Secondly (and adversely), the students are used to problematic systems (like immigration, privacy rights, and media bias) to the point that their engagement in the area might be curtailed. For example, if a child has always grown up with the negative privacy right implications of the Patriot Act, will they be less prompted to reform it because they have always lived with its effects? Social issues and students' reactions to them always have context. If something has always been a certain way for people's lives, then the idea that something will stay that way and can't be changed will be much more prevalent than not. We haven't grown up knowing a different trend than that of privacy rights crumbling away, so why would we fight its departure? This same question can be applied to modern multiculturalism: since we haven't been able to see the tremendously negative effects of a non-multicultural accepting society as previous generations have been able to see (Through slavery, segregation, civil rights inequalities), perhaps this generation won't be as committed to defending multiculturalism and spreading it as students (SNCC and the Freedom Riders come to mind) were in times before. Look at the engagement factor of some students in the 1960's compared to us. We aren't exactly taking bus rides down to the South to protest Southern implicit racism. Vestiges of racism are still there, but institutional factors have made multiculturalism and race accepted in society today on the surface. Perhaps this transition of multiculturalism from a heated topic to regular school-related agenda has made us less aware and involved then we should be. Perhaps we have come to take multiculturalism for granted.

As time goes on and society progresses things that just a few years back were not widely available (such as technology) or socially acceptable (like the idea of multiculturalism and integration) also progress and slowly but surely become more part of the mainstream or what is culturally accepted by an ever evolving society. i think being born during a time when the idea of ethnic and cultural equality is constantly taught and supported in public institutions like schools and the media has definitely shaped my views on topics such as these, making me a more subjective and open minded person when it comes to thinking about these issues.
the effect that public institutions have on the youth is immense and this is easily deduced simply from seeing the radically different views that the people today have when it comes to discussing things like race, gay rights(prop 8) and other "taboo" issues in comparison to how past generations would react to these.

The idea of a “thickening” of culture comes from political theorist Michael Walzer, who discerns the difference between “thin” and “thick” morality (“thin” morality is shared by all and “thick” is more individualistic). That being said, it is easy to see how these five touchstones have shaped the culture of the Class of 2012.
In today’s society it is difficult to find an example of a school that does not embrace multiculturalism. Diversity Days and Harmony Weeks are events on the agendas of many schools in the U.S. This insistence on being cosmopolitan has promoted an environment that likewise promotes a “thick” culture.
In regards to the raw umber crayon; I didn’t grow up with it, nor do I miss it, so I don’t really have an opinion on it. Besides, being the colorblind kid in class it was always hard to distinguish crayons when other kids would rip off the wrappers (hahaha).
Growing up with the mindset that personal privacy has always been threatened also plays a role in “thick” culture/morality. With the advancement of technology in an information age, no longer do our thoughts/ideas/interests only remain with us. When others have access to information of a private nature, people become wary about what they say and do.

I believe that because our generation has been exposed to this it has allowed us to open up in the classroom as students. Multiculturism and diversity has always been apart of our lives. In elementary school we would have extra days offs for Martin Luther King day and other such holidays. We would celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month and Black History Month. Each and every one of the statements from the Beloit College Mindset List mentioned above allowed us to to think and see diversity as an open and comfortable topic. Most of the previous generations prior to ours were not open to multiculturalism and because of that they have suffered with diversity problems. Not to say that we dont but not to the same extent because we are more open minded and accepting of something different then us. Due to the simple fact the we "have never been able to color a tree using a raw umber Crayola". Colors are just colors to us nothing else we dont know the differenec between a racial colored Crayola because we have never been exposed to them. In my opinion the classroom enviornment is much more diverse and open then ever before. Our abilty to accept others with an open mind and more willing and accepting of multiculturalism.So overall our classrooms have been effecting a great deal in a good way by our generation and its attitude toward diversity and multiculturalism.

I think that as of late, the United States public school system has done a great job adressing some of America's toughest issues and incorporating them into the curriculum. The list, while specific, speaks to much broader topics like race, immigration, politics, and even specific rights. While I do not feel like the list is completely accurate I do feel there is a lot of truth to it. For example, the statement about schools always having been concerned with multiculturalism is something I find to be very factual. Growing up in the post civil-rights era, I thought my schools always did a great job in the acceptance AND teaching of other races. I can remember doing activities for MLK day and also dia de los muertos just to name a few. While race is still an issue today, i think that the fact that the path to acceptance is starting in our school systems, speaks to the progress America has made over the past 50 years. I believe that the path to solving any major issue starts with the youth of our nation becoming aware first.

I find the list quite interesting as i find some of them make reasonable sense, and other aspects seem completley pointless. Every since i have started school diversity has always been loooked at as a positive thing. Not in the sense of business where one can find more ideas and points of view, but just that it was the right thing to do. Schools such as universities portray diversity as a positive thing as well when they brag about how diverse the student body is in an attempt to recruit more people. Diversity is not new to my genereation as we have been experiencing it our entire lives. This is why i think that my generation is so open to new ideas and can see more than one perspective on subjects such as diversity. It may just be me, or i may be speaking for the majority of my generation, but i dont tend to jump to one side when i see a conflict, i tend to stand back and look at both sides arguments and base my decision upon that.
The other objects in the list such as the building of the border seem completley pointless as they just describe what the older society is doing, and this doesnt reflect upon the education that the new youth of today experiences.

Conflict and growth

In my opinion, there is a conflict between those ideas. For example, if schools are more concentrated on multiculturalism, then why aren't radios required to have both sides of views? Multiculturalism is supposed to broaden a person's point of view about the world. Won't it be violated if the radios, media, only give a single point of view about issues? Likewise, if multiculturalism is encouraged, why building a wall along Mexican borders? Growing up in such conflict can give a person a more flexible standpoint, but the concrete side existed will then limit that person's diverse growth. A student may know about diversity but then he or she can still be ignorant of it.
However, the government and the society have been better at recognizing the possible embryonic racist ideas. For example, raw umber crayola (the color of African American skin) has been eliminated for the crayola box. Personally, I think that minute details like a cartoon character, a fashion trend or a popular hairstyle can subconsciously make a person either more racially open-minded or more conservative.
Finally, if "personal privacy has always been threatened", people may grow more careful but less confident of speaking out their own point of view. If a single thing I say can be recorded then broadcasted, how can I say what I think? I may go with the majority, which is a much easier way.
Growing up in such society challenges a person's personality. Yet, society won't stop changing and so do the people.

I grew up going to a large high school in San Diego. Mulitculturalism was a way of life for me. The caucasian population was fifty percent. I was exposed to multiculturalism since my first day of kindergarden. It has affected me greatly. Im used to people speaking in a different language and having different religions. My classrooms had large hispanic and indian populations which brought great diversity and religion to my everyday life. There was a great diversity in the economic level, we had rich, poor, and people living on reservatinos. This affected my world view in the since that I realized that even though we were extremely different we also had a lot in common. We went to school together, played sports together, and socialized together. When it comes to the radio issue you have to look at it with the mindset that the stations are entitled to their free speech and I feel because the stations are putting out there own free speech we are exposed to thier opinion without government regulation, which leads to clear views of government society giving us the opportunity to choose where we stand on issues. It keeps people accountable on their actions the government knows their being watched so they have to do a good job.

I think these issues encourage students to open up in classrooms and voice their opinions because the class of 2012 has been hearing about and experiencing these things for as long as we can remember. I do feel that in classrooms, although it is often biased, students are taught about both sides of an issue. I believe the more these issues are talked about, the more open each generation is about them. It is not that children are afraid to talk about crayon colors, it is just that they could care less what the crayon color is representing. Radio stations have the right to only state one side of a public issue, and I think that for the most part the class of 2012 is fully aware this is the case so we use our own personal judgement when considering whether or not to accept "facts."

In our society, schools stress the learning of multiculturalism. In my high school, we were very diverse. We had a cultural fair where students would present parts of their culture like food or dance. Taking history classes was required so that we could learn about other cultures and races. We learned about both sides of an issue. We learned that everyone was equal and should be treated that way.
Radio stations on the other hand aren't trying to treat like schools are;they are presenting their opinions on certain issues. They are saying what they believe;you don't have to believe or think the same things. In school we need that people think differently and shouldn't be judged on that.

I think the topic of race and multiculturalism is being addressed more freely and openly in classrooms as time goes by. Although there is still conflict and animosity between certain races, I think people are becoming more accepting or at least comfortable discussing certain issues. I think some of the issues on the list such as radio not addressing both sides just encourages people more so to engage in classroom discussion. I think people have a desire to see things change and to see more of an equality among races so they are more willing to address the problems and issues hindering that. Through out my education, my schools have always done a pretty good job about introducing students to other cultures. In elementary school, we were taught to embrace everyone. At that age though, race did not really present itself as much of an issue. As I got older, the prominence of different cultures, races, etc became more apparent, but even in Jr. High, my school had varying activities such as Cultural day which introduced students to the foods, music, beliefs, etc. of different cultures. In high school, I think the topic was probably addressed on a deeper level, especially in my AP. Government class. The students in that class were very engaged in classroom discussion and we went more deeply into different social issues, race, ethnicity, etc. I believe that the future generations will essentially be more accepting and understanding than the previous ones.

Yes I do not believe for the most part all these issues should be discussed in the classroom. In my opinion a lot of these matters come from the media, and are not true problems that we as a people should be concerned about. But I do feel an overall awareness of these issues should be lightly discussed so people have a better understanding of what is going on around them. Fortunately, I had a history teacher that was very knowledgeable in many of these subjects. Every Tuesday and Thursday he would start a subject on similar matters in the list. This method of teaching to me was great because students of different backgrounds all had different views on many of the matters. Because we discussed many of the matters on this list I feel I have a better understanding of what is going on around me and society. It is kind of ironic that number 31 directly contradicts number 37. If we are trying to get rid of racism… why at the same are there talks about building a wall along the Mexican border. This is sending mix messages to the students of today’s world as they grow up and develop thoughts. I remember my high school every month had cultural awareness day. A group on campus called ASB would pick different cultures each month and hire some kind of a performer at lunch to perform some native rituals of that region. Because of this it exposed the students on campus about to many different cultures of the world

I seem to remember that there wasn't any direct teaching going on that dealt with diversity. Never discussed it in any real context at school. There was Black History month; however all it consisted of was a discussion of the historical relevance of people like Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman. There was never any modern applications or diversity discussions at all.
In fact, the only thing I seem to recall is how we would laugh at textbooks when we were younger (and didn't really know any better) and look at all the different names they used. Every math example seemed to include a name from at least 3 different ethnic groups. The same was true for any pictures in books as well.
Maybe the reason we weren't directly taught it is because we were constantly and almost subconsciously being surrounded by and exposed to it.

Based upon my experience, I do remember multiculturalism being taught in the schools I attended, such as multicultural day, but vaguely. I think that schools have emphasized multiculturalism possibly because they have been pressured to do so and possibly because if they didn’t there would arise problematic issues. For example, kids can be insensitive to other races of kids if they aren’t taught better. Since when a child is born they are continuously learning from their surroundings and parental interactions as well as comments, they are picking up on things such as race. So if children are taught multiculturalism in school they can avoid these situations of grouping in-groups vs. out-groups. Since multiculturalism has always been implemented, this means that university students will be more diversified grasping different cultures and their concepts quicker.
As for the raw umber Crayola, I do not recall this being an issue. Since this has seemingly been a given for the Beloit students, I think that they are being limited in their cultural diversity because by the schools prohibiting their students from using the raw umber color to distinguish different races may give them the impression that certain colors are “wrong” or “bad” therefore inhibiting their true ability to learn multiculturalism.
I have always remembered authorities building a wall along the Mexican border as long as I can remember and I think that this might be inconclusive in that students aren’t all taught the same curriculum where some schools emphasize this more, students will come in with different ideas and preconceptions of things as a result to that. We should stop putting borders because I feel that they are not very effective since we have immigrants crossing illegally every year.
I don’t remember personal privacy always being threatened until after 9/11. Students who know that personal privacy has always been threatened can possibly lead them into being more conservative and sheltered individuals rather than liberal, freethinking, or free spirited people. For example, if you are joking around on the phone with your friend such as, “Man I need money…let’s go rob a bank….haha…j/k,” may come back to haunt you so now people are thinking twice before they say something.
I also don’t remember radio stations never being required to present both sides of public issues as a given fact, but for these student which have, I believe that within a classroom setting you are going to find pupils that will be biased to either sides of issues regardless to what it is since they are, in a small way, influenced by the radio they are listening to.

All the schools I have gone to have always had some sort of event dealing with multiculturalism. But I never took it seriously. I always thought "cool a day (or week) of no school work!!!"
The idea about never using a raw umber Crayola is interesting. As far as I can remember I have never used one, I don't even know what one looks like off the top of my head.
I have always know about building a wall along the Mexican border because it is something that I agree with. I strongly agree that illegal immigration is bad for this country but that is at topic for a different day.
On personal privacy I don't remember hearing about it until a couple of years ago. But maybe that is just because a couple of years ago I it was time for me to start worrying about things like that because I had a bank account and a credit card.
As far as the radio goes, I don't really listen to it that much. So, I have had no experience with this.

Multiculturalism has been promoted in many aspects of students lives. I would say that more and more schools are promoting this. Diversifying the youth of tomorrow is essential in promoting a more peaceful and global world in the future. We are all meshing together it seems like and the barriers are becoming less and less. Though we do see the border issues with Mexico which does result in mixed messages to these students. But more than culture and race, in my opinion, it is more a problem with financial security and certain immigration rights and laws. This thing about personal privacy being invaded is simply distrust, which is coming mostly form media. You don't worry about your personal privacy or space or whatever when it is someone you know or trust. This leads me back to the discussion of diversifying our schools and having multiculturalism stressed as an important issue. I think it is a necessity, for the future holds the world intermixing more and more. This losing our national pride for culture pride is a very true thing, but then again that is what America is known for...this melting pot of different cultures and nationalities. Now many claim that they have American pride, but dont know what that really means, which is maybe due to the world coming more and more together in culture. Is that good or bad? Should we all have our national identity left alone or can we keep personal identity and have national identity intermixed. Everyone will always feel a connection with their homeland, but i feel the future has people referring to their home as a global nation with intermixed individual identities and cultures.

I believe that this generation of students, the class of 2012, has developed more interracial trust than previous classes before them because of the progress that educational institutions have done in the recent past. I believe it was this group of students that was caught in the middle of the "evolution" debate in high school. Myself, a class of 2010'er, had already taken this course before the debate became engulfed in Washington, and didn't really feel the true impact of it. My point being, public and private institutions are trying to teach their students as much knowledge in the years that they have them, and more recently, multiple perspectives and views of this knowledge.
The internet has amassed so much information, and views on subject matter, that it makes it so easy to broaden your views and challenge previous perceptions. For example, I had no idea what raw umber was, and with the click of a button the internet turned up everything I could ever want to know about the color; I also found a time line of other Crayola colors and how they have been changed through politically correctness.
I never remember classes or chapters on "Multiculturalism" in my 12 years of general education, but the ideas and fundamentals behind it have. The more one knows about a topic or subject, both sides of the argument, the better an argument that person can make because you can argue for and rebut against.
Many people have tried to argue that the wall being built along Mexico their whole lives is all about an "Us vs. Them" mentality, and more of a racially motivated issue. Immigration is a big issue, and groups like the Minute Men amplify this, but a bigger issue is national security; not just from terrorists, but from drug traffickers and multinational gangs. This is the kind of thinking process I was describing before; taking a stand on an issue with knowledge of both sides. The class of 2012 will be more equipped to handle these kind of arguments than previous classes before, because of their multiculturalism teaching.
The more we are taught about other people, the more we understand that they are just like us. The class of 2012 will realize throughout these next few years that they will learn much more about other cultures, and their views will change about things that they have learned in the past.

As a student that attended parts of middle school and all of high school in China, I would say that multiculturalism has always been a big part of school. Some schools would have a specific International Section where students from Russia, Turkey, America, Korea etc. would attend. The school always welcomes new students from around the globe. By doing this, we have come to think that diversity is good. Hence, interracial trust has heightened in our generation. In history class, we use textbooks that have legitimate value and stands from an objective point of view.
The only invasion of privacy that has occurred in China is the fact that they block out certain websites that the government does not want the people to see. Other than that, privacy isn't really an issue.

Reading the list really brings me back to when i was a kid and all the things that relate to me when i was a kid. Thinking about this list and the fact that i grew up with all of this makes sense. I guess i kind of take the list of things for granted and don't think about it to much. Having these thing may have some impact on the engagement in class rooms but I'm not sure how it applies to that subject i can't seem to make the connection.

I definitely agree with the other people, multiculturalism has ALWAYS been a part of schools. Except it seems that lately the concern is becoming bigger and bigger. In this day and age we have a much larger push to get different cultures into schools, as seen by the fact that we now have affirmative action effecting what type of people get into schools. i personally don't think affirmative action is necessarily a fair thing, but i definitely think that us kids growing up with other races is going to benefit our learning experience, and even more for the future generations that are going to be effected by this more and more.

And just a note about the crayon colors... when i was younger i always looked at the crayon color before using it. personally, I remember seeing the "flesh" crayon color when I was kid, and I remember holding it up to my white skin and saying "this isn't my skin color." But I didn't think much more of it. however, maybe i would have if i was a different race. it is interesting to think about. however, im sure not all kids look at the crayon colors and im sure most dont even care or pay any attention to it. it depends on the kid i guess.

After looking at the Beloit College Mindset list, it was very interesting how these ideas were all very true. It is amazing to see the generational gap and the class of 2012 born in the 1990. The list mentioned that this was the generation that texts their friends on cell phones, looks profiles up on facebook before ever meeting the actual person. This shows how this generation's communication skills have changed from writing personal letters to texting on the cell phone or the internet IM. it also said that this is a multicultural, politically correct and "green" generation that has hardly noticed the threats to their personal privacy and has never feared the Russians and the warsaw pact. This generation is young enough where we do not remember this happening. We were born after this therefore allowing us to be more diverse, politically correct, and more aware of the environment.

While multiculturalism has always been preached in our schools through classroom means, there are many other factors that I experienced in my high school that actually segregated the school community by races. We were taught to look at both sides of issues in history class and celebrated Martin Luther King day as well as cinco de mayo. We sat next too and worked with people who were not the same and were encouraged to do so. The school welcomed international students and were very interested in their culture as they were ours. All of these multiculturalistic actions taken by the school were good but there is still a lot actions or inaction's that the school participated in that led to segregation. My school was based fully off of segregated lines. The "Latinos" had there section with the Mexican flag hanging over there area. The blacks had there corner which nobody of another race was supposed to go to in fear of getting jumped and the white people had there corner were they congregated and often made racial gustures (as the Nazi salute). Most everybody at the school was aware of these boundaries that our race created. The school did not control this as there is no possible rule that can prohibit people from the same race congregating.
Another incident at my school that was supposed to be multicultural orientated was a Black Student Union (BSU) rally in the gym. Only African Americans were excused to leave class to go to the rally. As students of other races tried to get in the teachers would either not let them leave class or once they got to the door they were turned away very hastily. Later in the day a racial riot occurred between the non-African American students vs. African Americans. This led to a total of 20 suspensions, 5 people in the hospital and strong racial tension throughout the school year. By not letting other races into the rally, the school set the tone for racial segregation.
The list of stories could go on for quite some time but the fact of the matter is that as we all take a look at our "multicultural" generation we must realize that we have not come as far as we would like to think. Segregation and racism is still prevalent in our schools. Just for clarification I did not attend high school in state that is presumably more racist but was at Lancaster High School an hour north-east of CLU.

I think growing up with these truths in our everyday lives has established us as a very distinct new generation. As every generation is, we are different from the generation before us. I think it is true for most schools that multiculturalism is important, as shown in the bussing programs and different scholarships and means of recruiting people. Growing up mixed with other races is an aspect of life that ha s made our generation who we are because our grandparents certainly didnt grow up like this, and even our parents lived in a more segregated world. This has made our generation far more accepting then the generations before us.
The point made about the wall on the Mexican border is not relevant to the whole generation I think, because of location. Certainly it has had a huge impact on Mexican-Americans and people living in states along the border, but for people who live on the east coast or the mid west, it has never been an issue. They hear very little about it. For those who do live along the border it has had major impacts on their lives because of language barriers and lost job opportunities. It is interesting to see how a classroom functions when it as to be taught half in spanish and half in english.
The idea of multiculturalism and equality has been ingrained in my mind since I was very young. But they were never things I consciously thought about until probably Jr. High age. We just all knew it was there, and knew it was a good thing because we were taught that everyone was created equal.
It has effected the classroom greatly and our participation in it.
I think our generation is more inclined to participate and to react defensively and stand up for equality in our country.

I had never consciously thought about this list until now. It is amazing to grow up with these things so present and infront of you, but to not question or wonder about them until a post childhood state. I don't think that i would have noticed any of these things on this list had it not been presented to me. The thing that gets me is why do we as adults not question these mindsets? I don't have an answer for that. And as far as the engagement in the classroom, i really don;t understand how these mindsets connect to our engagement in the classroom.

I am not sure what this is really asking but by read some of the others i think it would be i go idea in bringing more multiculturalism to school to try to decrease the segregation in schools and it will make the students have more to to about to their class mates. but in my high school i never got a lesson on multiculturalism, in history it was all about the dates of the battles and wars and the stuff like that. Also in my high school I did not have to take a foreign language class so there for I did not get any multicultural lessons, but i think it should be taught so that everyone knows a little bit about other cultures not just their own.

It's very interesting how real the Beloit College Mindset list is. It is true that schools have always been concerned with multiculturalism, authorities have always been building a wall along the border of the United States and Mexico and radio stations have never had to tell both sides of the story. All of these things are big issues in our daily lives and they really do affect our view of the world, we think quite differently from the generations before us and it all has to do with how we've been brought up. All of these issues have been going on for our entire lives, we as a generation don't know what it's like to not have to worry about these things, we hear about what's going on from our parents our entire lives and often don't get to form our own opinions on them. Issues that have been prevalent for awhile have given older generations time to take a stand and spread their influence to our generation so all of these things heavily influence how we see the world.

While I feel that these things are definitely present in the lives of everyone I don't think that everyone notices them, they accept these things without taking time to think about them, why are the schools concerned about multiculturalism, why is the government building a wall, but as for how the list relates to the classroom, one of the first times is when teenagers start to develop their own opinions about things, especially politics, because when they start creating their own opinions they begin thinking about everything, including their school and government and the actions that both are taking. A three year old is not going to be concerned about personal privacy, a thirteen year old will be concerned about his/her parents violating their personal privacy, an 18 year old will be concerned about the government violating his/her personal privacy. As the person gets older they are more likely to also get more involved in classroom activities that relate to heated issues.

I think that these four aspects have greatly influenced the way in which our generation acts in the classroom. The principle of multiculturalism has always been relevant with my generation's classroom. This is important because it has taught us that diversity is something that is postitive and should be channeled so that we can be more productive. In contrast, the generation before us did not always understand that diversity was a good thing, they were exposed to authority that condemed differences. Our generation has also been exposed to building along the Mexican border. This action has exposed us to the great differences between cultures and the fear of the unkown. However, we have been able to begin to understand the reasons of this diversity since we have been exposed to it for our entire lives. Personal privacy has always been an issue within our generation. We are scared of the unknown and we are terrified of jeapordizing our personal saftey. The majority of people in my generation share these same feelings. It has never been required for radio stations to post both sides of an issue. This has taught my generation that it is okay to have differing opinions on subjects. In conclusion, these four aspects listed above have positively contributed to the participation and education of my generation.

first off the school that i went to were actively trying to have students embrace different cultures but its hard to do so when the student are young and just want to have fun. We always were informed of black history month and we have holidays off and the school told us what holidays. I think people think into things to much trying to find something wrong, like winter break used to be called christmas break but had to be changed. i mean its probably better that kids are educated about all different cultures from a young age so that they grow up with it.

basically its just a world of everchanging everythings. each generation - has dozens of things that change there life - and make them see the world through a different set of eyes then the generations before them and after them. this list is just things and people and ideas and laws that didnt happen during their time.

I believe this is why we need our history classes and anthropology classes so that we learn about life before our generations. Because without this - we would just be too caught up with the gadgets and gizmos that we have been provided and forget about the importance of our past.