Diversity Education- the Kansas Professor experience with Ethiopia Reads Project

rofessor: Trip opened her eyes
By Andy Rao

junior staff writer

Published: Friday, December 10, 2010
Updated: Friday, December 10, 2010 08:12


Tiffany Roney
Laurie Curtis, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction, displays piece of artwork she bought during her travels in Ethiopia.

Throughout history, the word diversity has taken on many different meanings, both literal and implied. Until the 15th century, diversity actually signified something perverse or wicked.
In today's world, however, the term has taken on a more positive meaning. Rapid globalization has caused the world to shrink and has caused people to come into close contact with others of different race, religion and culture.

During the summer of 2010, 12 teachers from around the nation explored this globalization by participating in a month-long excursion to Ethiopia to explore cultural diversity. The teachers spent a majority of their trip in the capital city, Addis Ababa, visiting schools, churches, monasteries and other centers of learning to explore the educational system of the African nation.

Partnering with a nonprofit literacy program called Ethiopia Reads, the participants traveled to the northern and southern parts of Ethiopia, distributing books and other learning materials to eager teachers and children. An $81,566 grant allocated by the Fulbright-Hays Group Project funded the majority of the program and helped the participants pay the travel expenses and for any books that were bought to distribute to the schools.

Two K-State professors, Jacqueline Spears and Laurie Curtis, went on the trip.
"It was an amazing opportunity to see the rich culture of Ethiopia," said Curtis, assistant professor of curriculum and instruction. "The culture, customs, rituals and societal traditions that I was fortunate enough to be a part of showed me another side of human civilization that opened my eyes to not only differences but the commonalities between people all over the world."
The cultural exchange program gave the participants insight into the cultural traditions as well as the academic structure in Ethiopia.

"The biggest difference I saw between Ethiopia and the United States is the amount of resources kids in the states have at their disposal," Curtis said. "Here at home, kids can learn using the Internet, computers and other gadgets. In Ethiopia, we had to use more conventional methods to connect with the students."

One of these conventional methods included using readily available material to construct homemade books. The handwritten books were made up of paper, staples and duct tape. The stories were written in Amharic, one of the 84 languages native to Ethiopia, by the schoolchildren.
The books were used to facilitate literacy initiatives and were major additions to the libraries across the countries. In one school, a suitcase full of books that the participants brought doubled the size of the library.

Both Curtis and Spears agreed that the journey to Ethiopia was an eye-opening experience. The teachers were able to be a part of a world in which the education system was very raw — the literacy rate in Ethiopia was 38 percent in 2008 — and they said this helped them "count their blessings."

"Although the Ethiopian government has made a push for a stronger universal education system, there is still much progress to be made" said Spears, professor of curriculum and instruction and director of K-State's Center for Science Education. "There were many schools that needed help in finding serviceable resources and teachers that could motivate more parents to send their children to school."

The teachers plan to use their experiences from the trip to create much of their own classroom curriculum.

"The purpose of the project is to share the Ethiopian culture with American students," Spears said. "This trip has given teachers across the nation an opportunity to expose their students to a diverse learning environment."

Participants have already implemented the curriculum in K-12 schools, using "realia," which are traditional cultural items like music, different types of native clothing and other objects to facilitate learning and add a unique cultural exchange to classrooms.

The project will formally end on May 31, 2011, when participants will give a final presentation depicting the benefits and successes of the program.