Not on campus, nor in the online program (I transferred from in person to online school in 2020), but Critical Therapy Antidote is a wonderful resource for professionals and students in the mental health field who are concerned about ideological takeover... There were a few students in my Multiculturalism course who would thank me for speaking up via email or in the halls, but none of them ever said a thing in class.
I got my Master's in 1991, way before all this. There was no multiculti requirement at that time, haha, but it was coming next year. When I returned to the field in 2012 I needed to take the class for my license. The book was Derald Wing Su's cash cow, maybe version 4 or something; he's probably up to version 10 by now. Anyway the whole experience was so intellectually demeaning. Roots was on TV when I was like 10. My whole life I've known about, thought about, considered our racist past and present. Haven't almost all thinking, caring people, since the late 60s? Yet the perspective coming through in class was as if we were all complete idiots who needed to be told that people who had different skin colors than white, might have different needs, views, etc. And oh yeah, have you heard about slavery? I was embarrassed for the professor.
Once I got back into the field, working with blacks, hispanics, native Americans, etc., I found that Carl Rogers had already said everything that needed to be said. In fact I already knew it at 10. Everyone wanted to be treated as an individual. They all valued being loved and respected. No one wanted to be seen as their race, etc. We're not idiots. We all know that we come from different cultures and speak across and through those differences and they rarely get in the way -- in fact, they can add power and interest. The fact that I'm a 50s white male made my love and respect, for some of those folks, even stronger. It was healing, gave them energy.
Don't therapists, in general, love people and respect them, want to help them? We will use whatever powers, privileges, whatever we have, in *service* of the client, not to power trip them. Sorry about this rant but there just ain't a lot of diversity of expression allowed in our field, at the moment.
Lastly .... Back in 2012 it was all women, many hispanic, I think one other (racialized white) guy in my class. There was a discussion about implicit bias and he brought up his struggle with it because he had been badly beaten up not long ago by a group of young racialized black guys. He didn't want to be afraid, but he sometimes was. It was as if you could hear a pin drop. I wanted to support him somehow but no words came. The prof looked away, ignored his comment and moved on. He sort of crumpled in his chair. This area of discourse is tough -- we have a tough history -- but our field is failing right now in preparing students for working in the world.
This reflects the one male (white) in an intellectually shallow Women’s Studies course I took circa 91. When he mentioned feeling afraid for the very reason mentioned above the Harpies really let him have it, especially the woman whose flannel shirt was unbuttoned to her navel so her breasts showed while insisting to our averted embarrassed gaze that people should be allowed to wear whatever they want.
"Regarding Mexican American culture, if you got to know any number of us, from the excellent students I had the pleasure of being a teaching assistant for here in Santa Cruz to my grandparents in Los Angeles, you would notice that our many differences are interesting but not essential. Whereas what we have in common with many white, black, and Asian Americans is fundamental and indispensable, that is: A strong conviction in the value of a rigorous education; A strong conviction in the ethical and legal necessity of treating our fellow Americans not based on superficial groupings, but on their merits and needs as individuals. If you have gotten any impression to the contrary perhaps you were exposed to activists or persons gripped by irrational tribalism. The difference is their modus operandi is to embrace destructive ideology, dress it up as altruism, and then use any means necessary to ram it down people’s throats. Whereas the rest of us tend to respect our own culture, respect others’ cultures, and when called upon to do so will at least try to faithfully represent and stand up for our common principles."
It is also an example of linguistic and cultural imperialism... attempting to force English speaking social norms into beautiful native languages and cultures. They will not respond because they don't have a cogent answer to logical and critical thinking. Keep shining a light!
Communism is historically more overt in the Philippines than in the U.S. When my Filipina was young in the 90s and communists were more prevalent in Filipino society she was taught in school that she should politely correct people who would refer to her as filipinx.
I suspect the DEI folx hide in their rooms when you walk down the hall. Did you find a group of other students sympathetic to your concerns?
Not on campus, nor in the online program (I transferred from in person to online school in 2020), but Critical Therapy Antidote is a wonderful resource for professionals and students in the mental health field who are concerned about ideological takeover... There were a few students in my Multiculturalism course who would thank me for speaking up via email or in the halls, but none of them ever said a thing in class.
I got my Master's in 1991, way before all this. There was no multiculti requirement at that time, haha, but it was coming next year. When I returned to the field in 2012 I needed to take the class for my license. The book was Derald Wing Su's cash cow, maybe version 4 or something; he's probably up to version 10 by now. Anyway the whole experience was so intellectually demeaning. Roots was on TV when I was like 10. My whole life I've known about, thought about, considered our racist past and present. Haven't almost all thinking, caring people, since the late 60s? Yet the perspective coming through in class was as if we were all complete idiots who needed to be told that people who had different skin colors than white, might have different needs, views, etc. And oh yeah, have you heard about slavery? I was embarrassed for the professor.
Once I got back into the field, working with blacks, hispanics, native Americans, etc., I found that Carl Rogers had already said everything that needed to be said. In fact I already knew it at 10. Everyone wanted to be treated as an individual. They all valued being loved and respected. No one wanted to be seen as their race, etc. We're not idiots. We all know that we come from different cultures and speak across and through those differences and they rarely get in the way -- in fact, they can add power and interest. The fact that I'm a 50s white male made my love and respect, for some of those folks, even stronger. It was healing, gave them energy.
Don't therapists, in general, love people and respect them, want to help them? We will use whatever powers, privileges, whatever we have, in *service* of the client, not to power trip them. Sorry about this rant but there just ain't a lot of diversity of expression allowed in our field, at the moment.
Lastly .... Back in 2012 it was all women, many hispanic, I think one other (racialized white) guy in my class. There was a discussion about implicit bias and he brought up his struggle with it because he had been badly beaten up not long ago by a group of young racialized black guys. He didn't want to be afraid, but he sometimes was. It was as if you could hear a pin drop. I wanted to support him somehow but no words came. The prof looked away, ignored his comment and moved on. He sort of crumpled in his chair. This area of discourse is tough -- we have a tough history -- but our field is failing right now in preparing students for working in the world.
This reflects the one male (white) in an intellectually shallow Women’s Studies course I took circa 91. When he mentioned feeling afraid for the very reason mentioned above the Harpies really let him have it, especially the woman whose flannel shirt was unbuttoned to her navel so her breasts showed while insisting to our averted embarrassed gaze that people should be allowed to wear whatever they want.
Did you ever hear from them?
No, no response.
Hi Ms. Elliott, I wrote a short piece on related issues, from my perspective as a grad student with a Mexican American background:
https://johntorres.substack.com/p/to-my-fellow-liberals-in-academia
"Regarding Mexican American culture, if you got to know any number of us, from the excellent students I had the pleasure of being a teaching assistant for here in Santa Cruz to my grandparents in Los Angeles, you would notice that our many differences are interesting but not essential. Whereas what we have in common with many white, black, and Asian Americans is fundamental and indispensable, that is: A strong conviction in the value of a rigorous education; A strong conviction in the ethical and legal necessity of treating our fellow Americans not based on superficial groupings, but on their merits and needs as individuals. If you have gotten any impression to the contrary perhaps you were exposed to activists or persons gripped by irrational tribalism. The difference is their modus operandi is to embrace destructive ideology, dress it up as altruism, and then use any means necessary to ram it down people’s throats. Whereas the rest of us tend to respect our own culture, respect others’ cultures, and when called upon to do so will at least try to faithfully represent and stand up for our common principles."
If you listen to the vast majority of Latino/a people, they HATE the term "Latinx".
It is also an example of linguistic and cultural imperialism... attempting to force English speaking social norms into beautiful native languages and cultures. They will not respond because they don't have a cogent answer to logical and critical thinking. Keep shining a light!
Communism is historically more overt in the Philippines than in the U.S. When my Filipina was young in the 90s and communists were more prevalent in Filipino society she was taught in school that she should politely correct people who would refer to her as filipinx.