I think training and useful education is valuable and worthwhile...but I think a lot of college is comprised of silly tripe.
I took an 'Intercultural Communications' class this last quarter and it was ridiculous. Now, I've never really judged people by their skin anyway, so maybe I felt insulted that they were suggesting I did. Or maybe it was the blatant promotion of globalization and monoculture; I believe that to an extent, cultures should retain some cohesion, lest people lose their roots forever. That means mine, too.
Other ridiculous points:
-White culture is billed purely from the perspective of the American world of business and consumerism, with no aspect of our origins even mentioned beyond maybe England.
-The book purports that having people from varietal cultures in a work space will provide more points of view for more effective problem solving.
What?
Now, maybe this is me being a Luddite and not seeing past my own world of relevance, but it seems to me you're either going to solve a problem or not. A patient with breathing difficulty needs O2 and a medication. A house that needs built can be built in a variety of ways from tons of different materials, but whether the builder is Chinese or not is not going to change its characteristic advantages. When you build a car, it will either be fuel efficient or high powered; magical fingers from the Netherlands will not make it more so. Are we talking about sales or advertising, here? Marketing? Interior design? Why the fresia are you so obscure gyaaghghhhhh
And all the book/class did was toss about this lofty, flighty, feel-good ideas, without any concrete topics of discussion or examples. I learned a few habits or customs particular to a few cultures through my research projects, but that was about it, and it really gave me nothing to help me in life. Italians are touchy-feely and Germans are not. Oh, wait, I just made a stereotype, which makes me intollerant of other cultures. I'm such a typical whitey. Do you see my predicament? fresia you, class.
Oh well. It's credits.