Chris Schroeder is so obviously correct in recognizing that our hearts and our pedagogies are not as one. It's a compelling monograph. The book is theoretically rich, empirically validated, and pedagogically suggestive. This critique of institutions' rhetorics of diversity and those rhetorics' distance from literacy practices will prove a great contribution to rhetoric and composition studies. -Victor Villanueva
Diversity, despite what we say, disturbs us. We debate linguistic rights, the need for an official language, and educational policies for language minority students. We believe in the rights of individuals, including the right to one's own language, yet we still sponsor a single common language, monolingual and standard, for full participation and communication in both the academy and in U.S. society.
These conflicts are central to Diverse by Design, an institutional case study of an Hispanic-Serving Institution-in fact, the most ethnically diverse university in the midwest-situated within a metropolitan area shaped by immigration and migration. Christopher Schroeder examines the interactions of the institution and individuals, highlighting a cohort of Latino (?) students enrolled in a special admissions program. He analyzes the ways that institutional language policies and literacy philosophies shape student experience within this institution, where ethnolinguistic diversity is framed as an educational obstacle to overcome rather than an intellectual opportunity to exploit.
Diverse by Design argues that linguistic ideologies are ever more critical within increasingly globalized societies. While diversity might disturb us, its challenges can be overcome through a more expansive sense of social identity, placing literacy and education at the forefront of debates about educational equity and human lives.
Cover design by Barbara Yale-Read
Cover photo "Postcard from Madrid 2010" by Zander Westendarp
Diversity, despite what we say, disturbs us. In the U.S., we debate linguistic rights, the need for an official language, and educational policies for language minority students. On the one hand, we believe in the rights of individuals, including (at least in the academy) the right to one’s own language. On the other hand, we sponsor a single common language, monolingual and standard, for full participation and communication in both the academy and in U.S. society.
In Diverse by Design, Christopher Schroeder reports on an institutional case study conducted at an officially designated Hispanic-Serving Institution. He gives particular attention to a cohort of Latino students in a special admissions program, to document their experience of a program designed to help students surmount the “obstacle” that ethnolinguistic diversity is perceived to be.
Ultimately, Schroeder argues for reframing multilingualism and multiculturalism, not as obstacles, but as intellectual resources to exploit. While diversity might disturb us, we can overcome its challenges by a more expansive sense of social identity. In an increasingly globalized society, literacy ideologies are ever more critical to educational equity, and to human lives.
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