Study Explores Links between Diversity, Democracy, and Learning

A report recently released by the University of Michigan's Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education, Preparing College Students for a Diverse Democracy, examines the challenge of educating students to be responsible citizens: How can the diversity of the student body serve as an educational resource as colleges prepare students to live and work in a diverse society? What programs are most effective in fostering democratic sensibilities such as the capacity to understand the perspectives of others or the ability to resolve conflicts? The study addresses these and other questions by examining student learning outcomes in areas related to diversity and democracy. Project researchers found, among other things, that "engaged campuses"--those that make strong connections between the rhetoric of mission statements and practices that promote diversity and civic engagement--are more likely to graduate students who are prepared to participate in a diverse democracy.

FINDINGS

Diversity and Learning

• Students who report positive contact with peers from different racial/ethnic groups tend to score higher than others in many sociocultural outcomes, including cultural awareness, interest in social issues and social change, and ability to see the world from other perspectives.
• When intergroup contact is frequent and its quality is controlled--as in an institutional setting supportive of diversity--students are more likely to vote in federal and state elections and more likely to develop "democratic sensibilities" such a pluralistic orientation and a belief that conflict enhances democracy.
• Negative interactions with peers from different racial/ethnic groups reinforce group differences: such interactions produce a heightened awareness of social identity and lead students to believe that they have fundamental value differences with students from other groups.
• Students who experience informal, negative cross-racial encounters are less likely than other students to score highly in many outcomes, including concern for the public good, belief that civic contributions are important, and tolerance for lesbian, gay, and bisexual people.

Benefits from Campus Diversity Practices

• Students in the study who had taken integrated diversity courses by the second year of college scored higher on nineteen of twenty-five outcomes tested: the strongest effects were on complex thinking skills, retention, cultural awareness, interest in social issues, belief in the importance of creating social awareness, and support for institutional diversity initiatives.
• Extracurricular diversity events and activities produced significant effects on seventeen of the twenty-five areas tested: students who participated in these activities tended to express confidence in their leadership skills and had greater cultural awareness and an interest in social change.
• Participation in intergroup dialogue had a focused impact on students: the most significant effects included an improved capacity to see the world from someone else's perspective, the development of a pluralistic orientation, and a belief that conflict enhances democracy.
• Service learning also had a focused impact on key outcomes, especially on students' confidence in their own leadership skills and on "democratic sensibilities" such as concern for the public good.
  

The complete text (PDF) of the Diverse Democracy report is available online.

DID YOU KNOW?

• Students who take introductory diversity courses demonstrate gains in moral reasoning, critical thinking, and social engagement.
• Students who participate in service learning are actually less likely than other students to have voted in past elections--perhaps because students who are disillusioned with the established political process see service as an alternative way of expressing their citizenship.
• Students who were engaged in campus activities related to the events of 9/11 consistently score higher on many outcomes.