Published: 23, march 2015 laguna pueblo/sioux feminist literary critic paula gunn allen 1986 claims, westerners have for a long time discounted the importance of background p. For allen, understanding is filtered through context the listener's age, sex, gender, class, race, tribal affiliation everything that makes an individual unique play a role in how that individual listens and hears, understands and learns. When a traditional keres reads the tale of kochinnenako, she listens with certain information about her people in mind â€¦ allen, 1986, p.

The fields of adult and higher education have not been, historically, paragons of inclusiveness, especially in regards to developmental and learning theory. Perry 19 , for example, developed his theory of student learning based on interviews he conducted with students at harvard in the mid 20th century as if such a homogenous population could be representative of the development of all students. Today, however, scholars of development and learning in adult and higher education do understand that it is not just individual intellect or motivation that affects how the individual grows, changes, and learns. For example, bee and bjorklund 2004 identify four factors affecting individual development that are sociocultural in nature: gender, race and ethnicity, class, and education. Who wrote this essay request removal example essays on the other hand, educators of adults have, since the early 1990s, begun to pay attention not only to how sociocultural factors affect individual development but also to how sociocultural factors can present barriers to or enhance interaction with adult and/or higher education merriam, caffarella, amp baumgartner, 2007. For example, race and gender are associated with inequality in adult social, educational, and work lives that, in turn, can adversely impact participation in those same social, educational, and occupational situations ginsberg amp wlodkowski, 2010, p. In this essay, i will provide a brief overview of how race, gender, class, and sexual orientation may affect the learner either in their developmental process or in their experiences in adult and higher education environments.

Despite the fact that the united states elected its first black president in 2008, we are not a post racial country. As a society, we still must face the fact that racism exists in our culture, in both subtle and quite blatant forms. This racism often leads to negative consequences for individuals not in the dominant culture johnson bailey, 2001. In the broader cultural context, racism can impact every aspect of daily lives for those who are do not fit the profile of the dominant culture.

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For example, in the town where i live, my mexican neighbors live in fear of being stopped for driving while latino, even while obeying all traffic laws, while i, who should have gotten at least one speeding ticket by now as i possess a major lead foot, am often given a free pass by the authorities because i appear white. Likewise, i don't ever have to worry that someone walking at night will cross the street to get away from me, in fear that i will assault or rob them. I also am aware that by virtue of my racial appearance, i am afforded certain privileges that give me a greater chance for career success than others who don't look like me. In educational environments, as in society in general, racism plays a critical role in how minority students access and experience learning. Minority students are less likely to pursue and complete postsecondary education swail, 2003. This is not because minority students have any organic deficit that makes them less able to learn or any less desire and motivation to succeed than white students.

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Many often have attended primary and secondary schools poorly funded under a racist, classist system in which communities that are white and high income have more money to provide education for their children than do communities that are minority and low income. Schools that serve minority, low income students, for example, may lack up to date equipment, such as computers, access to out of class programs that may enhance student learning such as field trips to abbott labs, basic equipment such as textbooks for each student, and safe schools that don't leak every time it rains. December 31, 2014 at pm by admin it is known that leadership plays a significant role in any sphere of human activity.

Leaders effectively use their power and implements different strategies because they are both thinkers and doers gitlow, 2. There is no universal style of leadership that could be effectively used in almost every situation that occurs in business environment. Achua, effective leaders are not simply born or made, they are born with some leadership ability and develop it 9. This fact means that race, class and culture have no serious impact on leadership. Due to effective leadership training, leaders from different cultures, races and of different classes can improve their skills and abilities and become successful leaders. Leadership process can be better understood through application of the following approaches: trait approach, skills approach, situational and style approaches northouse, 4.

These approaches to leadership prove the fact that race, social class and culture do not affect leadership experiences and practices. Leaders are those individuals, who are the first to initiate the relationship, develop communication linkages and carry the burden of maintaining the relations with their followers , no matter from what culture, race or class they come from northouse, 4. Skills and trait approaches suggest that the appropriate skills, abilities and personality traits are required for effective leadership.

According to the recent research, personality plays a role in leadership emergence northouse, 6. It has been found that those individuals, who are more dominant in their actions, more intelligent in their communication practices and more confident about their decisions and performance, can be identified as true leaders. In this case, race, class and culture do not have any significant effect because personality traits lie in the basis of leadership experience. Some scholars believe that extraversion, sociability, ambition or achievement, responsibility, integrity, self confidence, mood and emotional control, diplomacy and cooperativeness are positively related to leaders goethals, 97.

According to the social identity theory, leadership emergence can be viewed as the degree to which an individual skills and abilities fit with the identity of the group as a whole. The individuals who demonstrate leadership skills in the group and act as leaders are identified as the group’s prototype. In other words, when the individuals are similar to the group’s prototype, they become attractive to the members of the group, what gives them influence with the group northouse, 6. Moreover, leadership can be better understood through the application of style approach, which emphasizes the behavior of a leader northouse, 69.

This approach allows evaluating what leaders do and how they perform their duties in this or that situation. Including the actions of a leader toward his/her subordinates in different contexts. One more approach to leadership is situational approach, which was developed by hersey and blanchard in 1969 and is focused on the management style theory created by reddin northouse, 89. It is revealed that in situational leadership, there are two dimensions: directive and supportive, that can be applied to this or that situation. The major goal of a leader is to evaluate employees and assess how competent and committed they are to perform a given task northouse, 89. However, some researchers suggest that leadership can be affected by gender biased perceptions northouse, 6.

For example, in the recent study, watson and hoffiman have found that many women demonstrated good leadership skills and were equally influential and effective leaders in their groups, but they were rated significantly lower than comparable men were on leadership northouse, 6. In addition, sharon ting and peter scisco state that the implications of a gendered environment may include discrimination of women in leadership roles, different wage and salary structures, measuring the standard of success in male terms, etc. On the other hand, effective leadership skills can be developed through the appropriate training practices. According to sharon ting and peter scisco, effective coaching skills are universal and should be adequate to address gender, race and cultural issues 54. This fact means that the implications of gender, race, culture, class on leadership opportunities and experiences can be addressed in a proper way and create positive environment for successful leaders. In addition, sharon ting and peter scisco state that coaching practices are specially developed for women leaders, leaders of color and leaders who work in multi cultural environment. Conclusion thus it is necessary to conclude that leadership is not seriously influenced by race, class and culture.

In the recent years, people have become increasingly captivated by the nature of leadership in order to learn more how to become successful leaders. In fact, leadership is a complex process that requires good training and application of the proper approaches. Today, special attention should be paid to leadership coaching in order to create successful women leaders, leaders of color and leaders who operate in multi cultural environment. In order to be an effective leader, it is possible to develop the appropriate skills and abilities through training programs and coaching practices. The concept of race, class, culture and language has preoccupied many anthropological, sociological and ethnic related studies. The main issue associated with this concept is the establishment of a clear cut division that exists between them. Some thinkers have argued that all this aspects represents one phenomenon while others argue that they are single entities each representing a totally different phenomenon independent of the other.