The article we published last night needs to be explored further and the following posting does exactly that. What has happened to freedom of speech when a commentator (whose job is to write articles on education) is fired for suggesting the elimination of Black Studies? Oh, the horror of eliminating a course that should never have been instituted in the first place! That goes for female studies, Hispanic studies, Asian studies, and any other claptrap program made do make some people feel superior, while really relegating them to the permanent unemployment lines. Ever heard of some business creating a position only for graduates of "female studies?" We haven't.
These feel good programs are a waste of the student's money (probably loaned to them by the government) and a dead end when it comes to finding a job in their line of study. There just are not jobs for these type of degrees. Does recycling past injustices (and don't get me wrong there have been plenty) make you prepared to go out into the world. We don't think so. Additionally, these programs do not focus on how to better help society avoid its past, in fact, it makes new victims. In 50 years, will we have white male studies? Have you ever looked at how white males are portrayed in popular media today? They are always depicted as dumb, fumbling, lazy, sex addicted, anti-relationship, beer guzzling idiots who depend upon their wife, mother or girlfriend and children for everything they have. And it will only get worse.
We believe it is time to strike a blow for the white guy. He now gets less than 50% of the degrees in college and initially was hit the hardest by the recession (depression). It will only get worse from here. Us white guys need to rise up and demand studies be conducted and programs established to make things better for us. We are the new discriminated class.
It all is hockey puck! Programs, studies and the like do not make things better. It is the basics, "readin', writin' and 'rithmatic". The rest is a waste of time which can be proven by the results of testing around the world. Each year, the United States falls further into the abyss and those in charge wring their hands and say, why? The answer is simple. We are spending too much time on non-educational subjects. We need our students to be grounded in the things that make the world work and not studies of maladjusted complainers.
Add on top of the absolute waste of money and time, is the political correctness that comes along with these programs. If you complain, demand changes, or suggest the elimination of any of these sacred cows, you are the one that is skewered. They cannot be touched even though they are as useless as your appendix.
Where did we get here? Colleges changed from places of learning where excellence was demanded to businesses that create a product that could attract many students (and their money). We have been told that "everyone needs to go to college," that college grads earn much more than high school grads and who would want to be an electrician? This demand required the colleges to build more dorms and to expand their offerings outside the normal college track. Then in the late 60's we had the arising of the "self expression" crowd that said we needed to "find ourselves" which could be accomplished either through study or drugs.
All of this lead to finding out who had ruined someone's life. The result is the "studies" programs that we find offensive and degrading. Studying history can help us understand what has occurred in the past and how we should not do the same things. We can cover those groups that were negatively impacted by certain demographic or governmental actions but it must be in a global approach and by offended groups.
These "studies" programs must end and we will keep saying this until they are eliminated and more global approaches to studies are instituted. Otherwise, education will be no better than a candy bar. It gives you a short high followed by a long goodby.
Conservative Tom
The Victims Who Run America
May 10, 2012 by Sam Rolley
PHOTOS.COM
The Chronicle of Higher Education recently fired a woman named Naomi Schaefer Riley, a contributor to the publication’s blog Brainstorm, for doing what academics were once expected to do: think and analyze.
At one time, higher education, especially as it pertained to cultural studies, was synonymous with fierce ideological debate about what things were most influential in shaping human beings into the creatures they are today. No more. The age of oversensitivity and political correctness has sterilized thought even among thinkers.
The Chronicle of Higher Education, a publication that is both widely read and well respected within the academic community, recently fired a woman named Naomi Schaefer Riley, a contributor to the publication’s blog Brainstorm, for doing what academics were once expected to do: think and analyze. In an opinion piece — yes, this means the publication was paying Riley to offer her opinion in writing on various topics — the writer committed high treason in a society made stupid by oversensitivity taking a contrarian position among academics and writing about an issue involving race.
The writing that ended Riley’s tenure withThe Chronicle weighs in at just over 500 words and is entitled “The Most Persuasive Case for Eliminating Black Studies? Just Read the Dissertations.” The author opines in her piece that students pursing doctoral degrees in the field of black studies focus their dissertations too often on frivolous topics and tired blacks-are-always-the-victim arguments. She references a previous article published by The Chronicle that profiles the “young guns” of black studies; she describes the students’ work as “a collection of left-wing victimization claptrap.”
Riley writes:
That’s what I would say about Ruth Hayes’ dissertation, “‘So I Could Be Easeful’: Black Women’s Authoritative Knowledge on Childbirth.” It began because she “noticed that nonwhite women’s experiences were largely absent from natural-birth literature, which led me to look into historical black midwifery.” How could we overlook the nonwhite experience in “natural birth literature,” whatever the heck that is? It’s scandalous and clearly a sign that racism is alive and well in America, not to mention academia.…But topping the list in terms of sheer political partisanship and liberal hackery is La TaSha B. Levy. According to the Chronicle, “Ms. Levy is interested in examining the long tradition of black Republicanism, especially the rightward ideological shift it took in the 1980s after the election of Ronald Reagan. Ms. Levy’s dissertation argues that conservatives like Thomas Sowell, Clarence Thomas, John McWhorter, and others have ‘played one of the most-significant roles in the assault on the civil-rights legacy that benefited them.’” The assault on civil rights? Because they don’t favor affirmative action they are assaulting civil rights? Because they believe there are some fundamental problems in black culture that cannot be blamed on white people they are assaulting civil rights?
Riley, a white academic writing an article for a publication about higher education, points out that many of the students majoring in black studies likely adhere to the popular narrative that nothing has changed racially in the United States in the past 50 years. She also points out that the students’ failure to focus on real issues perpetuates the left’s message that black people are the victim and white people are still their oppressors, despite major race-relations improvements in modern history. Riley should have known she was going to be fired.
Commenters on Riley’s blog, many of them academics (read perpetuators of the plague that is political correctness), attacked her for her insensitivity and for not first reading the students’ dissertations before offering her critique. An online petition with the names of 6,500 people who wanted her fired was also put together and sent to The Chronicle.
“…[S]ince this is a blog about academia and not journalism, I’ll forgive the commenters for not understanding that it is not my job to read entire dissertations before I write a 500-word piece about them,” Riley responded in her own defense. “I read some academic publications … but there are not enough hours in the day or money in the world to get me to read a dissertation on historical black midwifery. In fact, I’d venture to say that fewer than 20 people in the whole world will read it.”
Her response elicits two reactions from this author: 1) She is correct. An individual who is broadly interested in black studies likely would find many more intriguing bits of published material to devour before spending valuable time reading something with a title like “‘So I Could Be Easeful’: Black Women’s Authoritative Knowledge on Childbirth.” (But, of course, I am a white man, so that is probably just a display of the racist, women-hating tendencies that the left wants me to believe I have.) 2) Would Riley have been fired if she had written a similar piece criticizing equally poor efforts by doctoral students on a philosophy tract? Probably not.
Sadly, Riley was fired because her piece focuses critically on black studies. Her argument, though, could be applied to all aspects of the system of higher education, which is quickly seeing all of its institutions turn into profit-driven diploma mills unconcerned with knowledge. Her critique is about the absurdity of institutions of higher learning allowing doctoral students, particularly those studying liberal arts, to graduate with the belief that they are prepared to teach undergraduate students after obtaining credentials in only very specific areas.
She writes to those who disliked her original piece: “Such is the state of academic research these days. The disciplines multiply. The publication topics become more and more irrelevant and partisan. No one reads them. And the people whom we expect to offer undergraduates a broad liberal-arts education (in return for billions of dollars from parents and taxpayers) never get trained to do so. Instead the ivory tower pushes them further and further into obscurity.”
An editor at The Chronicle (which is evidently just as blinded by politically correct nonsense as the institutions it covers and, thus, is averse to harsh critique with even a mention of race)says of Riley’s post:
We now agree that Ms. Riley’s blog posting did not meet The Chronicle’s basic editorial standards for reporting and fairness in opinion articles. As a result, we have asked Ms. Riley to leave the Brainstorm blog.Since Brainstorm was created five years ago, we have sought out bloggers representing a range of intellectual and political views, and we have allowed them broad freedom in topics and approach. As part of that freedom, Brainstorm writers were able to post independently; Ms. Riley’s post was not reviewed until after it was posted.I realize we have made mistakes. We will thoroughly review our editorial practices on Brainstorm and other blogs and strengthen our guidelines for bloggers.
The victims win again. And for that, undergraduate students at some university may soon have the option of attending a class on black midwifery or the philosophical importance of never, ever, under any circumstances, hurting anyone’s feelings. Perhaps that will lead us to a sort of victimless, utopian society. It is not likely though, because instances like Riley’s firing happen each and every day due to the efforts of the bleeding hearts and those who feel victimized by our society to silence anyone who says enough is enough. It’s alright, even desirable, to be the victim. Being the victim is a fast-track to the top whether one belongs there or not: Just ask the President.
On Thursday, May 3, Israel mobilized six reserve battalions and received the government’s permission to mobilize 16 more, a security measure due to potential problems in the Sinai desert and the volatile situation in Syria, or so we are told. But the mobilization of 22 battalions means that there is more to this situation than meets the eye.
