The Challenges of Challenging Meritocracy in Undergraduate "Diversity" Coursework

• In Event: Challenging Normative Discourses About Learning and Development in Postsecondary Education

Abstract

Higher education is working to diversify the undergraduate curriculum to support critical thinking and racial justice—pressing work, particularly at predominantly white institutions. To support students’ thinking regarding systemic inequities, we need to better understand what students’ initial thinking and what progress they can make. We examine patterns in students’ thinking before and after an undergraduate diversity course to inform the development of undergraduate curricula to better support undergraduates’ understanding of the ways systemic inequities construct educational opportunities and outcomes. We find that students map this course content onto their already held narratives of meritocracy and individuality, resulting in troubled texts regarding the role of race and class privilege, and the responsibility/culpability of systems versus individuals vis-a-vis educational attainment.

Authors

• Chandra L. Alston, North Carolina State University

• Simona Goldin, University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill

• James W. Hammond, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor