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http://www.thecollegefix.com/post/12062

Snippet:

A political science professor at Butler University asks students to disregard their “American-ness, maleness, whiteness, heterosexuality, middle-class status” when writing and speaking in the classroom – a practice the school’s arts and sciences dean defended as a way to negate students’ inherent prejudices.

The syllabus of the course at Butler, a small Midwestern liberal arts institution in Indianapolis, spells out that students should use “inclusive language” because it’s “a fundamental issue of social justice.”
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Being judged and forced to act a certain way is antithetical to how any institution of higher education should conduct itself.
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Lastly, the idea that people have different views from mine is not what makes me uncomfortable. The idea that I must walk, talk and act as the liberal arts college pleases does. I’ll speak as I always have and conduct myself in the way I deem fit. I think paying $40,000 a year should give me that basic right.

I would've walked out of that class and transferred to a different school while playing this scene in my head:

(in Al Pacio's voice)Lt. Col. Frank Slade: Out of order, I show you out of order. You don't know what out of order is, Mr. Trask. I'd show you, but I'm too old, I'm too tired, I'm too fuckin' blind. If I were the man I was five years ago, I'd take a FLAMETHROWER to this place! Out of order? Who the hell do you think you're talkin' to? I've been around, you know? There was a time I could see. And I have seen. Boys like these, younger than these, their arms torn out, their legs ripped off. But there isn't nothin' like the sight of an amputated spirit. There is no prosthetic for that. You think you're merely sending this splendid foot soldier back home to Oregon with his tail between his legs, but I say you are... executin' his soul! And why? Because he's not a Bairdman. Bairdmen. You hurt this boy, you're gonna be Baird bums, the lot of ya. And Harry, Jimmy, Trent, wherever you are out there, feth YOU TOO!

Their first mistake was taking poitical science.

Seems fair enough to me.

 Frazzled wrote:
Their first mistake was taking poitical science.

heh...

I took Political Science... and it was great. Debates/discussion galore and they had one rule, no personal attacks.

But this... this is mind boggling.

I wonder what his success rates are like. If they're good then feth your patriotic ways

It is the instructor's place to instruct, and the students' place to be instructed.

 Squigsquasher wrote:
Seems fair enough to me.

So... when YOU write a paper, can you disregard your (looks at your map)“UK-ness, maleness, whiteness, heterosexuality, middle-class status” ??(I'm assuming that you're UK/male/white/straight/mid-class... if I'm wrong, sorry)




Automatically Appended Next Post:

 InquisitorVaron wrote:
I wonder what his success rates are like. If they're good then feth your patriotic ways

Well... that writer dropped that class (hence the article). In fairness, he's a Journalist Major.

I'm not sure the success rates are public information, I'd be curious to see that too.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Kilkrazy wrote:
It is the instructor's place to instruct, and the students' place to be instructed.

Nope.

It's the Student's place to seek knowledge... Instructors are there to help facilitate.

Small distinction, but very important.

Yes I can. What he is trying to say is not to let bias cloud their work.

Not directed at me but I will answer also, yes the point of being a good observer of politics is having an objective view.

You can eradicate most of the bias but some will linger.
I think it might've been more for showmanship and a who's your boss statement.

The guy who dropped it should have tougher skin, anyone in that line of work will take flak someday.

 Squigsquasher wrote:
Yes I can. What he is trying to say is not to let bias cloud their work.

I don't think you're quite understanding this...

Have you taken any political science class?

I'm an American white 40k luving dude... and I'm under no illusion that I can articulate what it is like to be a poor Hispanic recently immigrated to the US. You can't just arbitrarily "check in" your identity like that.

In a way, I see where the professor is driving at... but, it looks an awful like you'd be judged for being who you are...

This class may work for some...

I'd find another class if any of my professors pull this on the students.

One of my most enjoyable College class I ever took was something like "The Legal Environment of Business" taught by a retired lawyer who admittedly far left liberal. This guy was a hoot and would always interject some liberal policies and encourages discussion. He NEVER docked anyone who held contrary opinion and seems to thrive on diverse opinions.

His tests? Whoa momma, they were a bitch. (squeaked by with a "B" on a curve)


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 InquisitorVaron wrote:
Not directed at me but I will answer also, yes the point of being a good observer of politics is having an objective view.

You can eradicate most of the bias but some will linger.
I think it might've been more for showmanship and a who's your boss statement.

The guy who dropped it should have tougher skin, anyone in that line of work will take flak someday.

Did you read the whole thing. No where in there said that you must be objective. Only that you disregard their “American-ness, maleness, whiteness, heterosexuality, middle-class status”. Where's the disregard for Wealthy Asian folks? Hardworking Black folks?

See what I mean?

EDIT: okay this phrase "“Language that is truly inclusive affirms sexuality, racial and ethnic backgrounds, stages of maturity, and degrees of limiting conditions,” may be that's the objective part? o.O

 whembly wrote:

 Frazzled wrote:
Their first mistake was taking poitical science.

heh...

I took Political Science... and it was great. Debates/discussion galore and they had one rule, no personal attacks.

But this... this is mind boggling.

I took Women and the Law in my last semester of my last degree. The class was com plewtely and utterly irrelevant to my future. I sat down and flipped a coin. Heads- act like LImbaugh. Tales- act like a PW'd manhater.

It landed heads. The class was epic.

 Frazzled wrote:

 whembly wrote:

 Frazzled wrote:
Their first mistake was taking poitical science.

heh...

I took Political Science... and it was great. Debates/discussion galore and they had one rule, no personal attacks.

But this... this is mind boggling.

I took Women and the Law in my last semester of my last degree. The class was com plewtely and utterly irrelevant to my future. I sat down and flipped a coin. Heads- act like LImbaugh. Tales- act like a PW'd manhater.

It landed heads. The class was epic.

That ought to have been on Pay per View... might be a good way to knock off some school debts

Not sure what your getting at whembly.
The guy's not asking you to put yourself in the shoes of someone else, he's asking you to tone down any bias and take a middleground perspective or a purple one


Automatically Appended Next Post:
I see what your getting at now, he's a racist for not listing all the races diffirent levels of hardworking finicial situations ect.

He did the logical thing and listed the groups that the majority of his class were in so white straight middle class people.

If that's not what your getting at perhaps you should spell it out so I'm not playing twenty questions trying to find what your getting at

 InquisitorVaron wrote:
Not sure what your getting at whembly.
The guy's not asking you to put yourself in the shoes of someone else, he's asking you to tone down any bias and take a middleground perspective or a purple one

Alright...

This is a Political Science Class. Which essentially means... there's an opinion of some way, shape or form.

The students are mandated to use inclusive language in the class. That's impossible unless there's a specific bias (in this case, logically from the professor). See where I'm getting at?

They might as well as to say, "we won't talk about/advocate issues relating to American-ness, maleness, whiteness, heterosexuality and middle-class status. So, we'll be discussing everything else."


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 InquisitorVaron wrote:

Automatically Appended Next Post:
I see what your getting at now, he's a racist for not listing all the races diffirent levels of hardworking finicial situations ect.

He did the logical thing and listed the groups that the majority of his class were in so white straight middle class people.

If that's not what your getting at perhaps you should spell it out so I'm not playing twenty questions trying to find what your getting at

You're getting there!

He's/She's not racist.

Its more like... I'm trying to find the right phrase... um... improper advertising? This is Political Science 201: Research and Analysis. That's not a high level course. That syllabus may be something in more advance classes to study the differences of various policies.

whembly wrote:

 Kilkrazy wrote:
It is the instructor's place to instruct, and the students' place to be instructed.

Nope.

It's the Student's place to seek knowledge... Instructors are there to help facilitate.

Small distinction, but very important.

Not in Accountancy.

Thanks for the clarification
So he's saying not to be bias when there must be bias?

I think my problem was I was thinking about the courses application in real life instead of what the course is like.

I shall bow down to your knowledge considering the experience and the fact it's about USA not UK.

 Kilkrazy wrote:

whembly wrote:

 Kilkrazy wrote:
It is the instructor's place to instruct, and the students' place to be instructed.

Nope.

It's the Student's place to seek knowledge... Instructors are there to help facilitate.

Small distinction, but very important.

Not in Accountancy.

Snicker...

Okay... got me there...


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 InquisitorVaron wrote:
Thanks for the clarification
So he's saying not to be bias when there must be bias?

I think my problem was I was thinking about the courses application in real life instead of what the course is like.

I shall bow down to your knowledge considering the experience and the fact it's about USA not UK.

You got it.

I beat twenty questions! Thanks for not breaking my neck for my slight ignorance

The problem does not occur when one considers one's nationality, sex, race, orientation, or whatever eles to be part of your self-definition.

The problem occurs when one considers one's nationality, sex, race, orientation, or whatever else defines you as SUPERIOR to other nationalities, sexes, races, etc.

That line basically tells any white straight american male to disregard his identity. Which is a racist, sexist, and culturalist thing to say.

Its not different from asking a hispanic female to disregard her Femaleness, Hispanicness, and Mexicanness when talking in class.

Discrimination against the majority is still discrimination.


A better thing to say would be to put aside your Gender, Race, and Cultural biases while in this class. And I would explicitly say that applied to everyone.

In addition, the Dean's statement makes an insulting assumption.

A political science professor at Butler University asks students to disregard their “American-ness, maleness, whiteness, heterosexuality, middle-class status” when writing and speaking in the classroom – a practice the school’s arts and sciences dean defended as a way to negate students’ inherent prejudices.

Note the bolded part.

He assumes that everyone is prejudiced. He's basically accused all the white male students of being sexist and racist. Plus being uninclusive of other cultures.

 Kilkrazy wrote:

whembly wrote:

 Kilkrazy wrote:
It is the instructor's place to instruct, and the students' place to be instructed.

Nope.

It's the Student's place to seek knowledge... Instructors are there to help facilitate.

Small distinction, but very important.

Not in Accountancy.

You know this thread is about a political science class, right? And the teacher as facilitator/student as knowledge seeker model could certainly work in accountancy as well.

Templar your wrong on so many accounts.
I wasn't saying discrimination against the majority isn't discrimination.
I was saying he picked out the majority in the class and told them to put aside their bias.

Everyone is bias, no one will say I'm racist but everyone is to some degree. Don't sit on a high horse predjudice happens but the extremes are racist the "I'm slightly worried by the bearded arab with a backpack" would be sort of normal considering.

Now these people I wouldn't hate on just feel that playing a stereotype is bound to cause some tension, in my eyes where your become racist would be when you have a go at them.

Now don't bite my head off

But why is only a portion of the class being told to set aside their biases?

Its still discrimination and thus is wrong.

The school is making a rather insulting assumption that white males are racist and sexist. The proof is in that they have singled out that particular group and flat out told them to drop their Biases.

By only telling ONLY one group to drop their biases, they have implicitly condoned the biases of other groups.

I was saying he picked out the majority in the class and told them to put aside their bias.

Do you seriously not see what is wrong with this.

And what they are really meaning is Prejudice. Bias is actually a good thing. Bias is an opinion based on knowledge or experience, Prejudice is an opinion based on an irrational assumption or conclusion based on no, or faulty, information.

So what they have really said is the Prejudices of White Males are not going to be tolerated. Well, thats ok, but it implies that other people's Prejudices are ok.

 Grey Templar wrote:
But why is only a portion of the class being told to set aside their biases?

Its still discrimination and thus is wrong.

The school is making a rather insulting assumption that white males are racist and sexist. The proof is in that they have singled out that particular group and flat out told them to drop their Biases.

By only telling ONLY one group to drop their biases, they have implicitly condoned the biases of other groups.

I was saying he picked out the majority in the class and told them to put aside their bias.

Do you seriously not see what is wrong with this.

And what they are really meaning is Prejudice. Bias is actually a good thing. Bias is an opinion based on knowledge or experience, Prejudice is an opinion based on an irrational assumption or conclusion based on no, or faulty, information.

So what they have really said is the Prejudices of White Males are not going to be tolerated. Well, thats ok, but it implies that other people's Prejudices are ok.

GT has a very good point actually.

 Grey Templar wrote:
But why is only a portion of the class being told to set aside their biases?

Because we live in a culture that predominately presents a particularly white, male and largely american viewpoint. If you're say a gay Hispanic dude, you're already plenty used to not having your particular worldview echoed back to you. You turn on the TV and you see straight white people (and largely straight white dudes, if someone is speaking with authority), not gay guys with the same last name and primary language as you.

Unless you specifically seek other views, the narrative we get presented on world events, domestic news and just stuff in general is that as told from the perspective of a white american, often male if we're speaking about anything beyond housework, fashion or cooking. This isn't universal mind you, but it's certainly a strong enough trend that it can be called overwhelmingly dominate.

This means that a white, christian-ish male living above the poverty line has (at least in america), has effectively lived his life in a giant cultural echo chamber. It's not unreasonable to ask him to make a special effort to try and make some effort to push aside his assumptions of what's "Normal" because of the fact that he's faced far fewer challenges to those assumptions than anyone else.


EDIT: TLDR; Everyone has biases towards their view of "Normal". However, for the white/american/straight/male/non-poor person those are far more strongly reinforced by our media, view of history and the faces of our leadership than they are for anyone else. Therefore in the context of a class specifically meant to explore the role of the state and the general condition of people in it, it's not unreasonable to ask them to take a bigger step back to try and get a broader perspective.

 Grey Templar wrote:

A political science professor at Butler University asks students to disregard their “American-ness, maleness, whiteness, heterosexuality, middle-class status” when writing and speaking in the classroom – a practice the school’s arts and sciences dean defended as a way to negate students’ inherent prejudices.

Note the bolded part.

He assumes that everyone is prejudiced. He's basically accused all the white male students of being sexist and racist. Plus being uninclusive of other cultures.

Everyone is inherently prejudiced. This article and thread is slowed.

The quote is actually a butchered paraphrase anyway...

ask students “to write and speak in a way that does not assume American-ness, maleness, whiteness, heterosexuality, middle-class status, etc. to be the norm.”

 Glorioski wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:

A political science professor at Butler University asks students to disregard their “American-ness, maleness, whiteness, heterosexuality, middle-class status” when writing and speaking in the classroom – a practice the school’s arts and sciences dean defended as a way to negate students’ inherent prejudices.

Note the bolded part.

He assumes that everyone is prejudiced. He's basically accused all the white male students of being sexist and racist. Plus being uninclusive of other cultures.

Everyone is inherently prejudiced. This article and thread is slowed.

No, everyone is Biased. But thats not always a bad thing.

Not everyoneis Prejudiced.

And what they are really trying to curb is racisim and sexisim. But they've gone one step further and basically implied all White Males are racist and sexist and thus we must censor their opinions. Which is extremely racist AND sexist towards white males.

Are we really looking this hard for something to be outraged about?

I feel that we are just receiving reposts from some sort of "this is what you (the hardworking, patriotic, freedom-loving WASP) should rage about today" mailing list...

 whembly wrote:

 Squigsquasher wrote:
Seems fair enough to me.

So... when YOU write a paper, can you disregard your (looks at your map)“UK-ness, maleness, whiteness, heterosexuality, middle-class status” ??(I'm assuming that you're UK/male/white/straight/mid-class... if I'm wrong, sorry)

Yes, yes I can. In fact I did. I managed to get a 1st. It's not hard to write in gender-neutral, racially and culturally inclusive language. You should probably be doing that anyway if you're writing academically.

 Grey Templar wrote:

 Glorioski wrote:

 Grey Templar wrote:

A political science professor at Butler University asks students to disregard their “American-ness, maleness, whiteness, heterosexuality, middle-class status” when writing and speaking in the classroom – a practice the school’s arts and sciences dean defended as a way to negate students’ inherent prejudices.

Note the bolded part.

He assumes that everyone is prejudiced. He's basically accused all the white male students of being sexist and racist. Plus being uninclusive of other cultures.

Everyone is inherently prejudiced. This article and thread is slowed.

No, everyone is Biased. But thats not always a bad thing.

Not everyoneis Prejudiced.

And what they are really trying to curb is racisim and sexisim. But they've gone one step further and basically implied all White Males are racist and sexist and thus we must censor their opinions. Which is extremely racist AND sexist towards white males.

Read the article and notice how much is actually quoted and how much is actually the writer's bs.