The color of teachers, the color of students: The multicultural classroom experience

This research examines students' experiences taking a one-semester race and ethnic relations course in different sections with instructors who are Afr ican American, Mexican American, and Euro-American. The instructors designe d a before-and-after survey as a crude measure of student change between th e expected influence of the instructor's race/ethnicity at the beginning of the semester on grading, course content, teaching methodology, and pedagog y and the actual perception of this influence at the end of the semester. F indings show that, with the exception of grading, approximately one-fourth to 40 percent of students did expect, at the beginning of the semester, tha t the instructor's race/ethnicity would influence the previously mentioned items. However, at the end of the semester, with the exception of grading, the proportion of students who actually thought the instructor's race/ethni city did make a difference had declined substantially.