Such discomfiture is intentional. In so doing, it is essential to avoid having one's emotional malaise become an impediment to learning. This may prove especially difficult when confronting the various cultural and political perspectives that derive from ethnic differences. In the learning process an uncomfortable knowledge is invariably better than blissful ignorance. Students and faculty alike are asked to rise above guilt, hypersensitivity, and defensiveness when dealing with such issues.
Guilt can impede critical analysis and defensiveness can block learning altogether.
One need not embrace the challenging stances of others, but it is vital to hear what these voices are saying if we aspire to assess them critically. In each class section you will be asked at times to engage in both risk and trust. By the end of the course, we hope that you as students will see how many of the problems that our nation and world struggle with in 2000 are part of a fabric of globalization which began 500 years ago. The process has been painful, yet promising. One thing, however, is certain-what happens beyond our borders cannot be ignored.