Barlett challenges ethnocentricity
Campus Times
May 10, 2002
Professor of Education, John Bartlet gives new meaning to the term
commuter, traveling all over the state to teach at different universities.
From Bakersfield to Los Angeles to the University of La Verne and anywhere
in between, Bartlet travels 3,000 miles a month. Spending one day a week
on campus, Bartlet has been teaching at ULV for over 10 years. He said that
in his profession, "students always come first.
Born in West Africa and raised in multicultural environments, John Barlett,
associate professor of education at University of La Verne, calls himself
a "world citizen."
And he tries to bring his cultural knowledge to his teaching curriculum.
Barlett spent the first 15 years of his life in Latin America, mainly
Central and South America. He also lived in Scandinavia, West India and
Europe.
He said he had the opportunity to experience traveling and learning
from other cultures because of his father's job.
His father was a Foreign Service diplomat, which required him to travel
throughout the world.
And he always brought his family along, Barlett said.
Barlett has taught at ULV for nearly 10 years as a part-time professor
but was hired on fulltime last fall by the education department.
"Knowing the extraordinary determination of the ULV education department
to provide students with the information that matters in today's education,"
Barlett said he could not decline such a opportunity.
He said he believes ULV is one of the few institutions he knows, which
truly believes its own mission statement.
"Students always come first," Barlett said.
That is one of the reasons he has stayed here for so long.
According to Peggy Redman, associate professor of education and director
of teacher education here, Barlett always puts student's needs first.
He has created an informational CDROM that provides students with
information on his courses, project examples and class material, Redman
said.
"He not only does that for the students, but he provides it for
them." she said.
Barlett's great respect for education is evident in the way he emphasizes
giving students the opportunity to acknowledge other cultures.
He said when he opens newspapers from other countries it seems they
have global perspective.
Yet, when he opens an American newspaper he usually finds just one perspective.
"Everything here is so ethnocentric," Barlett said.
He added that the ethnocentrism in the American culture has contributed
to many of the social problems that American society is facing.
He said it is natural for a given country to emphasize its own perspective.
But sometimes it is better to look at the bigger picture to understand the
complexity of the world.
"He is the most culturally sensitive person that I have known,"
Redman said.
She added that she will be glad if Barlett teaches on campus next year.
Barlett is not only multicultural but also multilingual. His traveling
experiences have left him fluent in Spanish and also in many other languages.
He currently lives with his immediate family, his wife and three step-kids,
near Bakersfield.
Since he teaches most of his courses on different ULV campuses, he said
he drives thousands of miles every month.
That does not bother him, however, because he said he is full of excitement
everytime he teaches.
Barlett teaches a number of diversity of education courses, especially
in the masters program.
"My hope and my expectations for the students that I come in contact
with is just that they put ... love into every moment and make the world
a better place," Barlett said.
He said teachers and professors have more difficulties dealing with
children and teenagers nowadays, because America is suffering an educational
crisis.
Many politicians are using teachers and instructive education as scapegoats
for social problems, which affect society, instead of looking at the problem
and finding real solutions, he said.
"There are more than enough teachers in this country, but half
of them have left the profession," he said.
Students going into the teaching field must love it, otherwise they
are not going to enjoy it, he added
Serious problems with the educational system need to be addressed.
For instance, too many children are placed in special education classrooms
because the whole education system is collapsing.
An important goal in education should be concentrated on teaching children
so they reach their potential to become better human beings, instead of
classifying them according to their test scores and grade performance.
Barlett also commented on the changes that are going to be made in the
ULV teaching education program.
According to Barlett, ULV is one of the selected universities chosen
by California's Department of Education to conduct a new program in education.
He said it has not been confirmed yet, but if it gets approved changes are
going to be made in the different education programs that ULV offers.
"The Education Department did a really good job remodeling the
program," Barlett said.
According to him, the ULV Education Department focuses on academics,
and does everything from the heart.
