International Education and Training at Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chausées/La Formation a l'international a l'Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées

The programme of the Département de la Formation Internationale at Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chausées (ENPC) was created in 1981 to address the ever‐increasing international role of today's engineer in the scientific, economic and social spheres. Each year, 75 ENPC students spend at least 3 months abroad, mainly in Europe. ENPC has double degree programmes in engineering studies with three European partners in Germany and Spain: TU Munich and TU Berlin; Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. Twenty per cent of the student curriculum is devoted to language study; the students are required to study English plus one of the following languages: German, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Japanese or Chinese. French courses for foreign students are also provided. Language teaching aims to provide students not only with the linguistic skills necessary for communication, but also to make them more sensitive to other cultures as well as their own.     

Challenging Colorblindness in Arizona: Latina/o Students’ Counter-Narratives of Race and Racism

This essay reviews Latina/o students' counter-narratives challenging colorblindness. The author highlights the experiences of students from Tucson Unified School District's Mexican American Studies program. By examining student counter-narratives, the author also identifies race-related terms that are more suitable for dialogue among and with young Latinas/os of the post-civil rights generation.     

Misspoken in Arizona: Latina/o Students Document the Articulations of Racism

This article reports on racism expressed by school personnel (administrators and teachers) and experienced by Latina/o students at a high school located in Tucson, Arizona. Students in a specialized social science research program, called the Social Justice Education Project (SJEP), documented personal encounters with racist articulations at their school. After students conducted observations of their own interactions on campus, they would write (weekly) field notes as part of a research assignment to document racism in education. Most verbal exchanges influenced by racism can be categorized into direct racist statements or racial microaggressions. Both of these racist articulations are tantamount to derogatory comments or slurs that attempt to make an individual from a marginalized group feel inferior to or different (in a negative sense) from the dominant group. This article focuses on the SJEP, implemented at one particular Tucson high school, during the 2010–2011 school year. Excerpts from the students’ field notes pr esent evidence of racist articulations. The article concludes with recommendations on how to ameliorate the educational experiences of students of color with culturally relevant and responsive policies and practices that will move the discourse on marginalized groups in a positive direction.     

Teaching Social Justice Research to Undergraduate Students in Puerto Rico: Using Personal Experiences to Inform Research

This article explores the process of teaching undergraduate students to conduct social justice research. We were interested in understanding how to develop a social justice perspective among students while training them in conventional research methods. The following questions guided our research activities. How can the principles of social justice inform undergraduate research projects? What pedagogical strategies prepare students to conduct social justice-based research? What are the challenges and opportunities in teaching social justice research? We documented the lessons and activities during the field school and collected students’ comments in journals, extensive observations, focus groups, and interviews to understand the influence of social justice on the students’ approach to research. We identify three lessons in teaching social justice. First, teaching social justice requires that students develop meaningful relationships with the community understudy. Second, gender dynamics can prohibit or promote meaningful student engagement and learning. Third, it is important to consider how to integrate, rather than “add on,” social justice activities and discussions into research lessons.     

Taking the Teachers to School! Critical Consciousness Emerging: A Qualitative Exploration of Mexican American Youth’s Social Justice Orientation Development

The Urban Review - Empirical research demonstrates that Chicanx students thrive in an educational setting where Western histories are de-centered, and the core objectives of the curricula are the...