Empowering Culturally Diverse Students within a Collaborative Learning Community: a student perspective

ABSTRACT Psychologists are typically obliged to learn about the cultures of their minority clients and students before working with them, refining their specific cultural knowledge and deepening their understanding of the influence of cultural factors on their clients and students through direct interaction. Likewise, professors of psychology can utilize these principles to empower minority students by (a) modeling cultural openness, (b) acknowledging students ’ rich cultural knowledge and experiences, (c) tailoring assignments to minority students ’ culturally influenced learning needs, and (d) seizing teachable moments. Empowering minority students in such a collaborative learning environment allows the burden of incorporating cultural views to shift from minority students to the larger classroom community, in which cultural dynamics may be safely explored, respected, and valued. Although faculty in Orlando’s program did their best to accommodate his passion for cross-cultural research and practice, in many courses he found that the inclusion of culture was lacking and he struggled to meet faculty expectations for student participation. Many faculty regarded him as pleasant interpersonally, but they were concerned about his inability to be assertive. Rather than understanding that his passivity and deference to authority were typical of his culture, som