Class equips students to affect education
By Daily Bruin Staff
April 9, 1997 9:00 p.m.
Thursday, 4/10/97
Class equips students to affect education
Restructuring changes prompt course; students seek loud
voice
By Stefanie Wong
Daily Bruin Contributor
Formed out of a desire to change the university’s position on
many educational issues, several student groups have created a new
course devoted to giving students the information necessary to
change the university’s mind.
Student groups hope that the course will help students in their
quest for a long-sought diversity requirement and a renewed
dedication by the university to diversity in a post-209
atmosphere.
"The Student Movement for Curricular Reform" is a 199 class
created by the Academic Affairs Commission (AAC); designed to
develop student leadership and educate students about the history
of curricular and educational reform, with an emphasis on UCLA.
The course, initiated and coordinated with support from the
Student Committee for a Diversity Requirement, focuses on the
challenges facing education at the end of the 20th Century.
"We saw the need to create an avenue for students to learn about
past and current struggles for change at the university," said
Academics Affairs Commissioner Max Espinoza.
The most important goal of the class, sponsored by several
campus ethnic and gender studies departments, is to encourage
student leaders to initiate change as individuals and as leaders of
their organizations.
"We want to facilitate the development of student leadership on
the pressing issues facing our education," Espinoza said.
"Particularly given the many changes that the university and its
students are currently undergoing, makes this class very
timely."
Some of the changes facing education are the potential
restructuring of ethnic studies, the recent court decision on
Proposition 209 and affirmative action, reforms to the general
education requirements and the new chancellor, Espinoza said.
The class is mediated by Espinoza and the AAC Curricular Reform
Coordinator Vy Nguyen, while different faculty members speak each
day on various topics related to the changing state of
education.
A similar course, also sponsored by the AAC, was offered three
years ago but was specifically focused on the diversity
requirement.
This quarter’s class has a broader focus on curricular and
education reform in general, but does not ignore the diversity
requirement.
Students enrolled in the course believe classes such as this are
necessary in order to gain a realistic understanding about the
challenges facing minorities in leadership positions.
"When these issues aren’t discussed in a classroom setting,
students graduate with a skewed view of the world," said Kandea
Mosley, a fourth-year African American studies student.
Espinoza also agrees with the idea that the university has not
done enough to educate students about the diversity of the world,
and should give students the knowledge to initiate a change – both
within the university and in the world.
"The role of education should be to act as agents of positive
social change within our larger society," Espinoza said.
Peter McLaren, an associate professor with the graduate school
of education and self-described radical for educational reform,
believes that institutions suppress students’ fight for social
change.
"Students don’t realize how much power they have in pressuring
institutions," McLaren said.
Students can effectively make change if they are organized and
persistent in their campaigns, and courses like this can help
students in their fights, he added.
Those involved with the class believe it is a first step toward
updating the university to meet the needs of students who graduate
into an increasingly diverse workplace.
"We want to have students critically think about the type of
education we are receiving as well as look at various perspectives
about the role of education so that they may begin to organize
around issues of curricular reform," Espinoza said.GENEVIEVE
LIANG/Daily Bruin
Students in the 199 course entitled "The Student Movement for
Curricular Reform," which is currently seeking departmental
sponsorship, listen to this week’s guest speaker Peter McLaren, an
associate professor at the UCLA School of Education.
