As a professor of sociology, one of the most important learning outcomes in my classes is that students will learn to shift perspectives. Shifting perspectives, a “megaskill” I discuss in Building Cultural Intelligence (CQ), is the ability to put oneself, or at least try to put oneself in someone else’s shoes, culture, and socioeconomic circumstances. Increasingly, this megaskill is becoming essential in the global economy as cross-cultural interaction becomes an everyday occurrence. Being conscious of multiple viewpoints is important but not sufficient. Rather, college students need to be encouraged to constantly venture outside of their comfort zones, both in and out of the classroom, and learn from these experiences.
A recent study, Community College Survey of Student Engagement (2010), gathered data from more than 400,000 community college students throughout the U.S. What the survey revealed is both surprising, to me anyway, and troubling. Less than one-half of community college students (43%) reported that their classroom experiences included diverse perspectives; for example, the perspectives of different races, religions, genders, and political beliefs. Moreover, only 57% of the students reported that they tried to better understand someone else’s viewpoint by imagining how an issue looks from that individual’s perspective.
This study focused on community college students, who are arguably the most diverse in higher education. What this study indicates is that institutional or structural diversity is not enough. Opportunities to interact with diverse people at college and participate in diverse learning experiences are potential learning experiences. Clearly, both faculty and students are not taking advantage of this potential.
When I went to college, I was constantly immersed in activities which increased my ability to shift perspectives. These activities included being a volunteer at a state mental hospital, participating in an exchange program at an all women’s college, debating the pros and cons of the Vietnam war, and wrapping my mind around Ellison’s novel, The Invisible Man. In the process of shifting perspectives, I learned more about myself, others, leadership, and personal as well as social responsibility. To think that many students today somehow fail to capitalize on the diversity that surrounds them raises questions about the quality of their education.