What are some of the racial and cultural dynamics that Alice may be experiencing in the group?

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Critical Incident Discussion (Chapter 24)

General Instructions

Throughout CO547 students will engage in discussion with classmates in response to a collection of critical incidents included in the course text.

Pedersen, P.B., Lonner, W.J, Draguns, J.G., Trimble, J.E., & Scharron-del Rio. M.R. (2016),

Counseling Across Cultures, Sage Publications, Inc.,

ISBN- 9781452217529

The specific critical incidents used in the course are provided below, followed by a sample rubric that is used to evaluate student engagement for each discussion. The rubric used for each discussion is aligned to the appropriate CACREP standards listed for data collection purposes.

Critical Incident

Critical Incident 24

Alice is a 25-year-old second-generation Chinese woman who has been educated in the United States. Her parents moved here long before she was born; in fact, they met and were married in a northeastern state. Alice is the older of two children and has attended top schools. She is highly intelligent and competitive, and she held a number of leadership roles in high school and college. Alice attended a weekend group relations conference and was assigned to a small group in which she was the only Asian. At first this was not an issue, since she had become used to this pattern in the schools she had attended. The group was to meet for four 1-hour sessions over the weekend. Other small groups were occurring simultaneously, and Alice was engaged in a number of other events during the weekend.

During the second session Alice told the group that she had been a member in other groups that talked about racial and cultural differences. She noted that she was often the leader in these groups and was able to demonstrate her leadership ability, stating that she was good at delegating and getting people to follow her command. She told the members that when she is in a culturally mixed group where she is the minority, she gets frustrated. She found herself falling into the stereotypical Asian female role of being quiet and submissive. She could not identify anything that anyone had done to her. She was perplexed about how she had fallen into that role.

Discussion Question

What are some of the racial and cultural dynamics that Alice may be experiencing in the group?

CACREP Standards: 2F.2.a-d, 2F.2.h, 2F.6.g

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Scoring Guidelines

Points available: 100.

Component Unacceptable Acceptable Target

Reflection on the topic Incomplete summary and response; or a response that lacks thoughtfulness or

reflection.

(0 points)

Complete summary and response that shows an

adequate level of reflection.

(25 points)

Complete, well-formed summary and response that shows a thoughtful,

reflective, in-depth analysis of topic.

(50 points)

Professional presentation (grammar,

mechanics, spelling)

Writing involves many errors (more than 3).

(0 points)

Writing involves few errors (no more than 2).

(10 points)

Writing is free of all writing errors.

(20 points)

Responses to classmates

Participation is inadequate; no evidence

of initial thread monitoring; responses to

classmates lack adequate critical thinking and analysis; responses do not provide adequate assistance to colleagues.

(0 points)

Participation is somewhat limited; monitoring of initial

thread is evidenced by thoughtful responses to some posts; responses

to classmates show adequate critical thinking and analysis; responses

are professional and provide adequate

assistance to colleagues.

(15 points)

Participation is representative of

consistent review of classmate thoughts; monitoring of initial

thread is evidenced by thoughtful responses to all posts; responses to classmates show clear

evidence of critical thinking and analysis;

responses are professional, thoughtful, and provide constructive assistance to colleagues.

(30 points)