Univ. Students Told to:"Disavow your American-ness,maleness, your white-ness...etc."

Good for him for dropping that biased prejudiced course. It's hard to believe any university that expects to be respected would allow someone to teach in that manner. Telling students they must be someone other than themselves and to disavow their race, sexuality, and Americanism.....is prejudiced. If that was one assignment for purposes of learning what it would be like....that's one thing. But it sounds like it's the course. And that's wrong.

 

that's ridiculous, it's a thought exercise in a class, not an edict

 

so you would have been fine if a white professor told a group of black students to leave their "black-ness,sexuality,black power ideology,ghetto mentality" outside the classroom???

 

Sounds like more of an edict when written in to the syllabus. Liberal Political Science would have been a more accurate title.

 

Not their race but instead only the white race. Not their sex but only their maleness. Not their sexuality but only their heterosexuality.

 

yes, i would

what a joke, get a grip on reality

a teacher only has authority over the classroom, not outside it

 

lol sure you would.

 

why wouldn't i? it's only a class

and i'm pretty sure there are some situations where blacks are asked to step outside of themselves and see things from a different perspective

 

The professor is trying to get the students to think objectively, in a way that is inclusive of others. I'm hardly surprised at the posters in this thread who don't understand that. It's akin to a writing assignment asking the student to think like someone they have nothing in common with, except it's asking the student to think neutrally.

Whether we accept it or not, us white, hetero, middle-class males have a pretty specific perspective that doesn't always accomodate minorities and the less fortunate so well. Nothing wrong with a professor asking her students to try to step outside of that perspective.

 

yep, it's called letting go of narrow-mindedness and broadening your horizons

 

Yep.... Only white, heterosexual males are "narrow-minded" .....the rest of the world is just a giant rainbow.....LMAO at the ignorance

 

what a joke, where do you come up with this nonsense?

 

Can you show me an article where a "professor" has asked blacks to leave their "blackness" at the door.... Rhetorical question.......save your Google minutes.....LOL

 

Can you show me an article where a "professor" has asked blacks to leave their "blackness" at the door.... Rhetorical question.......save your Google minutes.....LOL

 

did i say it was a professor?

 

It seems like part of the instruction that is being taught is the ability to "generalize" your perspective when coming to your conclusions. The lesson seems to communicate taking "I" out of the situation, and develop ego strength that can negotiate effectively between the id, ego, and super ego. Which isn't bad for a degree that qualifies a person for public service. It seems to be a Zen like, and "Vulcan" philosophy. The American in me says if you don't like the class, choose another professor.

 

At the same time, she also could be more sensitive in her use of language. As I said earlier, the language found in the syllabus allows for the naive to suggest that she is being bigoted and prejudice, but there is no doubt that she is instilling into the course a deliberate, educated methodological bias that, conveniently, is in-line with her personal bias. Rather than tell students to not consider "American-ness, maleness, whiteness, heterosexuality, middle-class status, etc. to be the norm", she could ask students to "think beyond what you typically ascribe to as the norm in your respective societies." The latter is not only geared primarily towards the average American student, but to all students. Henceforth, it does not leave the door open for the criticism we see throughout this thread.

 

Fortunately, chemistry professors (miniature tyrants though they are) don't make such hare-brained demands.

Therefore Butler will survive.

 

No, they are only concerned with taking the I out if you are white, male, heterosexual, Amenrican or middle class. If the above were true she would have asked them to exclude race, nationality, gender, sexual orientation and economic class. She didnt.

 

that statement just shows that you don't have a clue what's going on

 

I'm sure perspective is the most important thing. How do we know it wasn't an all white class she was speaking to? The demographics at the school would suggest that is a likely possibility. If not, then of course she should have generalized her own statements.

 

Yeah, probably all males also, in your mind.

 

All this is about it that for this political science class leave your prejudices at the door.

It means taking a critical look at social justice.

 

No, it was pretty clear that only the white, male, heterosexual Americans need to leave their prejudices at the door

 

Oh poor you... Can you find nothing else to whine about?