University of Utah recruiter Suzanne Espinoza discussed the woefully low number of ethnic minority students in Utah who take the ACT college entrance exam.
Example after example of insensitivity and low expectations illustrated the distance many Utah schools still have to go to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse student population.
Jones and Espinoza were part of a four-member panel that discussed multiculturalism in the state's public schools Sunday at the first of a yearlong library series hosted by the Martin Luther King, Jr. Human Rights Commission. Also on the panel were Republican Sen. James Evans of Salt Lake City and Shay Moore, a second-grade teacher at Backman Elementary.
Although troubling achievement gaps persist between racial groups in Utah and nationwide, less than a dozen people attended Sunday's discussion, organized to raise awareness about the challenges. Some audience members found the turnout disappointing, but more disconcerting was the ethnic makeup of the audience that did show up: almost entirely minority.
"Right now, you're preaching to the choir," said Amadou Niang, a University of Utah doctoral student who is originally from Mali in West Africa. "The people who need to hear this message are not here."
Audience members and panelists agreed that many Utah teachers have not been trained in how to teach students of diverse backgrounds.
"Teachers aren't culturally prepared, but neither is Utah and neither is America," said Evans, who is black. "We're just now coming to understand that, whoa, we have a large ethnic community."
But even college students who are studying to become teachers don't seem all that interested in learning about what's known as multiculturalism, or teaching students about multiple cultures.
Niang said the multiculturalism classes he teaches at the U. are met with opposition, and in some cases, hostility.
Many of his students are teacher candidates.
"You should see the level of resistance," he said. "They don't want to hear it, and they don't want to know it."
Evans proposed expanding after-school programs, which he sees as a venue for teachers to learn more about their students in a less formal setting. After-school programs also would help fill some of the gaps facing students who come from disadvantaged homes, he said.
He acknowledged those programs will cost money.
"Are we going to, as a society, invest in that deficit?" he asked. "Whatever's not happening at home is going to show up at school."
School counselors also need to be more sensitive to the needs - and abilities - of minority students, Espinoza said.
On several occasions, parents of minority students have asked college recruiters to accompany them to meetings with high school counselors, she said. Parents often believe the counselors are underestimating students' abilities by directing them toward vocational or lower-level classes instead of the rigorous core classes they need to get into college.
"Parents think they don't have a voice. Isn't that interesting?" Espinoza asked. "There is tracking going on in our schools. We have an issue of preparation for these students and we have an issue of students [not] aspiring for higher education."
rlynn@sltrib.com
