LV Life

Bartelt challenges ethnocentricity

Professor of Education, John Bartelt gives new meaning to the term commuter, traveling all over the state to teach at different universities. From Bakersfield to Los Angeles to the University of La Verne and anywhere in between, Bartelt travels 3,000 miles a month. Spending one day a week on campus, Bartelt has been teaching at ULV for over 10 years. He said that in his profession, "students always come first. / photo by Jennifer Contreras
Professor of Education, John Bartelt gives new meaning to the term commuter, traveling all over the state to teach at different universities. From Bakersfield to Los Angeles to the University of La Verne and anywhere in between, Bartelt travels 3,000 miles a month. Spending one day a week on campus, Bartelt has been teaching at ULV for over 10 years. He said that in his profession, “students always come first. / photo by Jennifer Contreras

by Vicky Martinez
Staff Writer

Born in West Africa and raised in multicultural environments, John Bartelt, associate professor of education at University of La Verne, calls himself a “world citizen.”

And he tries to bring his cultural knowledge to his teaching curriculum.

Bartelt spent the first 15 years of his life in Latin America, mainly Central and South America. He also lived in Scandinavia, West India and Europe.

He said he had the opportunity to experience traveling and learning from other cultures because of his father’s job.

His father was a Foreign Service diplomat, which required him to travel throughout the world.

And he always brought his family along, Bartelt said.

Bartelt has taught at ULV for nearly 10 years as a part-time professor but was hired on full-time last fall by the education department.

“Knowing the extraordinary determination of the ULV education department to provide students with the information that matters in today’s education,” Bartelt said he could not decline such a opportunity.

He said he believes ULV is one of the few institutions he knows, which truly believes its own mission statement.

“Students always come first,” Bartelt said.

That is one of the reasons he has stayed here for so long.

According to Peggy Redman, associate professor of education and director of teacher education here, Bartelt always puts student’s needs first.

He has created an informational CD­-ROM that provides students with information on his courses, project examples and class material, Redman said.

“He not only does that for the students, but he provides it for them.” she said.

Bartelt’s great respect for education is evident in the way he emphasizes giving students the opportunity to acknowledge other cultures.

He said when he opens newspapers from other countries it seems they have global perspective.

Yet, when he opens an American newspaper he usually finds just one perspective.

“Everything here is so ethnocentric,” Bartelt said.

He added that the ethnocentrism in the American culture has contributed to many of the social problems that American society is facing.

He said it is natural for a given country to emphasize its own perspective. But sometimes it is better to look at the bigger picture to understand the complexity of the world.

“He is the most culturally sensitive person that I have known,” Redman said.

She added that she will be glad if Bartelt teaches on campus next year.

Bartelt is not only multicultural but also multilingual. His traveling experiences have left him fluent in Spanish and also in many other languages.

He currently lives with his immediate family, his wife and three step-kids, near Bakersfield.

Since he teaches most of his courses on different ULV campuses, he said he drives thousands of miles every month.

That does not bother him, however, because he said he is full of excitement every time he teaches.

Bartelt teaches a number of diversity of education courses, especially in the masters program.

“My hope and my expectations for the students that I come in contact with is just that they put … love into every moment and make the world a better place,” Bartelt said.

He said teachers and professors have more difficulties dealing with children and teenagers nowadays, because America is suffering an educational crisis.

Many politicians are using teachers and instructive education as scapegoats for social problems, which affect society, instead of looking at the problem and finding real solutions, he said.

“There are more than enough teachers in this country, but half of them have left the profession,” he said.

Students going into the teaching field must love it, otherwise they are not going to enjoy it, he added

Serious problems with the educational system need to be addressed.

For instance, too many children are placed in special education classrooms because the whole education system is collapsing.

An important goal in education should be concentrated on teaching children so they reach their potential to become better human beings, instead of classifying them according to their test scores and grade performance.

Bartelt also commented on the changes that are going to be made in the ULV teaching education program.

According to Bartelt, ULV is one of the selected universities chosen by California’s Department of Education to conduct a new program in education. He said it has not been confirmed yet, but if it gets approved changes are going to be made in the different education programs that ULV offers.

“The Education Department did a really good job remodeling the program,” Bartelt said.

According to him, the ULV Education Department focuses on academics, and does everything from the heart.

Vicky Martinez
Other Stories Bio
Other Stories Bio
Previous article
Music Review: Saadiq expresses romance
Next article
Leopard Scoreboard

Latest Stories

Related articles

News

La Verne students and faculty have mixed feelings about gradeless option

While some University of La Verne students think first semester freshmen should be able to take all of their classes pass/fail, or ungraded, the majority responding to an informal survey said they prefer letter grades for all. 
Letters to the Editor

Letter to the Editor

There still remains an issue which requires immediate attention: Those residing in Vista Residence hall have near-zero access to readily available and free menstrual products.
News

Law will protect gender-affirming care in California 

California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently signed into law a bill protecting gender-affirming care. 
Sports

NCAA puts trans athletes at risk

The National Collegiate Athletic Association –  in compliance with the Trump Administration’s dubious executive order titled “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports” – updated its rules on transgender student-athletes earlier this year.