Mexico Cultural Exchange Program at TheUniversity of Maine
University of Maine
Promising Approaches
- (5) Encourage student participation in leadership as well as campus and community governance.
- (7) Encourage and support interactions across cultural differences.
Overview
The program provides UMaine students with the opportunity to experience the Mexican
University life, develop
cultural survival skills, and develop an appreciation for cultural differences.
Students
travel with the Associate Dean of Students to a Mexican university during
spring break where they tour the campus, attend cultural events, and interact
with Mexican students, faculty, and staff. They work as a team and as individuals in their interactions. All have opportunities to communicate across
cultural differences and to reflect on the cultural, social, historical, and
political issues that are raised by their interactions, especially their
conversations with the Mexican university students about current events and
issues between our countries, and about how their educational experience is
structured. A group of students from
Mexico has visited Maine in return, interacting with UMaine students in classes and students forums, as well as informally.
Special Features
Civic Learning Goals
- Civic knowledge: Recognize the variety of characteristics and actions of effective,
participating citizens; identify and describe the community in which they live;
discuss and explore the variety of ways an individual can help solve social
problems; knowledge about community affairs, political issues, and the
processes by which citizens effect change; knowledge of social movements and
strategies for change; grasp and appreciate history and the fundamental
processes of American democracy; understand American history and the history of
democracy; learn about Mexican education and history and their interactions
with Americans.
- Civic skills: Apply information to effective efforts to help solve social problems;
further develop and use critical thinking skills and ethical reasoning to make
informed and responsible decisions; work cooperatively with others and develop
effective teambuilding practices; effectively advocate individual and shared
interests; public speaking; contacting public officials; active listening/perspective taking;
competencies in achieving group goals; examine structural causes of social
problems and seek solutions; pursue an array of cultural, social, political,
and religious interests and beliefs; understanding north American and white
privilege.
- Civic values/attitudes: Willingness to enter dialogue with others about different points of view
and to understand diverse perspectives; tolerant of ambiguity; resist
simplistic answers to complex questions; respect what we have in common as
Americans; recognize and respect the different backgrounds of Americans;
develop a sense of personal efficacy; understand that rights and freedoms
require accepting civic responsibilities; an affective or emotional attachment
to the community; a feeling that one matters, as a voice and a stakeholder in
public affairs; social trust; respect for individual and group identities;
concern for the greater good; readiness to contribute personally to civic and
political action; seeing themselves as members of a public community and
recognizing that the community is a group of people who belong to each other
because they share both a heritage and a hope; recognizing that Americans and
our neighbors both need to dismantle white privilege and press forward to
realize America’s democratic and egalitarian ideals.
Contact Information
Angel Martinez Loredo
Associate Dean of Students
The University of Maine
5748 Memorial Union
Loredo@maine.edu
