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'We need to go beyond the course because for us it's a way of life': Findings from a national study of Muslim students
Christine Asmar
Institute for Teaching and Learning
The University of Sydney
In the Western university system we have become used to certain changes confronting us, but less used to others. Creative ways have been found to deal with many of these challenges, but we sometimes seem less prepared to deal with other, more subtle changes in our system - changes such as an apparent increase in the numbers of our students who strongly identify with a religious commitment. The centrality of religion to the identity and life choices of our many Muslim students, for example, is only now beginning to be recognised. In the context of a secular liberal tradition, the sudden presence in Australian classrooms of women wearing the 'hijab' can be not only unprecedented but even disturbing. Why is this so? Could it be because some people associate this kind of head covering with an exotic kind of difference, others with oppression and victimisation, and others with an implicit challenge to their own values? And if this is so, might we not tend to treat these 'exotic' newcomers differently?
There is a long, research based tradition that one effect of a university education is an inevitable decline in personal religiosity, yet the very opposite appears to be true of many Muslim students, who find social and spiritual (as well as academic) support from like minded peers and very often have their faith reinvigorated. Thus, it is not unusual for a Muslim woman brought up in a Western educated family in which women have not habitually covered themselves, to adopt the hijab only after her arrival at university. Herein lies a challenge to some of our habitual ways of thinking. Moreover, Muslim students do not always find the campus environment sympathetic to their values: 'To be religious and a Christian is already nerdy, but to be a Muslim is even more'.
We know from the literature that a student's overall course experience is affected by that student's interactions with peers and staff; and that a student's intellectual development is also affected by inter-personal factors. To find out the implications of all this for Muslim students we asked the students themselves. This paper reports findings from a national study of the course experience of Muslim students attending Australian universities. Structured interviews were conducted with female and male Muslim students on 9 campuses in 4 states. The study found, inter alia, that:
- some universities provide facilities for Muslim students but at others bureaucratic inertia reigns;
- the imperatives of a student's religion can conflict those with those of the institution; prayer times or religious feasts often clash with classes or examinations, and teacher flexibility varies;
- instances of stereotyping and discrimination occur off campus, on campus, and occasionally in class, often targeted at women wearing the hijab;
- in class, Muslim students can feel awkward, conspicuous and/or marginalised;
- the students feel that they are mostly tolerated, but not always valued.
The paper reports the study's main findings, and suggests strategies whereby institutions and teaching staff might adopt more inclusive practices towards such students. In this way, insights into the experience of Muslim students may enhance our broader understanding of how to deal with difference in cases where teachers' and mainstream students' values are at odds with the perceived values of a minority group; of how to counteract stereotyping and discrimination; and of how to recognise (and encourage) the kind of peer support networks that this particular group of students finds so necessary to their survival in the Western system.
Contact person: Dr Christine Asmar. Email: C.Asmar@itl.usyd.edu.au
Voice: +61(0)2 9351 5812 Fax: +61(0)2 9351 4331
Please cite as: Asmar, C. (2000). 'We need to go beyond the course because for us it's a way of life': Findings from a national study of Muslim students. In Flexible Learning for a Flexible Society, Proceedings of ASET-HERDSA 2000 Conference. Toowoomba, Qld, 2-5 July. ASET and HERDSA.
http://cleo.murdoch.edu.au/gen/aset/confs/aset-herdsa2000/abstracts/asmar-abs.html
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Created 17 June 2000. Last revised: 23 June 2000. HTML: Roger Atkinson [atkinson@cleo.murdoch.edu.au]
This URL: http://cleo.murdoch.edu.au/gen/aset/confs/aset-herdsa2000/abstracts/asmar-abs.html
