Diversity has deep roots in American society in addition to an obstinate hold on its social fabric. Institutions of higher education have not been very receptive to the issues raised by quickly growing diverse communities in the United States. First and foremost, coverage of diversity issues is a matter of fair treatment of all groups. There are additional practical implications. The United States has one of the most racially and ethnically diverse populations in the world. The popularity of introductory psychology courses in colleges and universities suggests that students who have taken such a course will eventually be spread over many occupations. Balanced textbooks cannot guarantee balanced readers, but textbooks that fail to address diversity issues actively limit students' education. Indirectly, such textbooks also limit readers' subsequent ability to interact productively in a multiracial, multiethnic, multicultural workplace and society.
Diversity Issues
Koester and Lusting (1991) concluded that "communication curricula within the U.S. teach skills and theory that are culturally foreign to students with backgrounds other than that of the Anglo U.S. culture" (p. 252). In 1996, Miller and Nelson identified diversity as one of the five broad themes emerging as timely for the study of college student cultures in the next decade. Other scholars have sought to discover how college writing classes influence attitudes about diversity (Sternglass, 1997) and how college students in residence halls deal with diversity issues. Increasingly, administrative and faculty members of higher education institutions recognize that multicultural issues affect student retention, satisfaction, and learning. How diversity issues are reflected in textbooks used in undergraduate courses could have an impact on how students view themselves and others.
As Vonnegut (1992) argued, "women and other muted groups should be studied because it is the instructor's duty to help students of rhetoric to identify and discuss social truths as..........
