Tuesday, October 03, 2017



College Professor: Believing in Hard Work is White Ideology

Pennsylvania State University-Brandywine professor Angela Putman recently asserted in an academic paper that the notion “if I work hard, I can be successful” is merely a product of white ideology, reports Campus Reform.

Angela Putman conducted a study to critique and examine “ideologies within college students’ discourse that are foundational to whiteness.” Her resulting conclusion published on Thursday was that “meritocracy”, or the belief that people should rise based on the fruits of their own labor, is a "white ideology." In her mind, this "white ideology" is unfortunately widely accepted in academia.

But, Professor Putman argues that professors can change this "ideology" by teaching students “how racism and whiteness function in various contexts, the powerful influence of systems and institutions, and the pervasiveness of whiteness ideologies within the United States.”

Putman believes that it is somehow a bad thing to teach students personal responsibility. Emphasizing a collectivist mindset, Putman puts forth the idea that Americans are falsely "socialized to believe that we got to where we are… because of our own individual efforts.”

This “ideology” she says, perpetuates whiteness and racism throughout society. Once students learn more about "white ideology," they will hopefully “resist perpetuating and reifying whiteness through their own discourse and interactions,” and challenge systemic “manifestations of racism and whiteness.”

Until students learn the hidden dangers of believing in the value of hard-work and a positive attitude, “whiteness ideologies may be reproduced through a general acceptance and unchallenging of norms, as well as through everyday discourse from a wide variety of racial positionalities.”

In the past, Professor Putman has put forth even more radical ideas to confront racism. On her blog, whiteprivilegedoc.com, Putman gave a detailed list how to fight systemic racism. Among her list of ideas were:

#2. Stop looking to people of color for information, guidance, and leadership.

If you are confused, unsure what to say, overwhelmed with emotions, or just don’t know what to do, try to figure it out on your own first. If that doesn’t work, look to other whites involved in the fight for their help and guidance. It is not the responsibility of people of color to explain things to us, to make us feel better..
and

#8. Attend protests and rallies… but not if you aren’t willing to be arrested.

Those who led the fight for civil rights (and those who continue to fight today) believed so strongly in what they were fighting for that they were willing to be arrested or tear gassed or beaten by police if it came to that. I hope that protests and rallies remain peaceful; but, when confrontation with law officers occurs, white people should be the ones at the front of the lines, holding their ground, and forcing officers to arrest them first. Let the media start writing headlines and talking on television about the countless white people arrested at the recent Black Lives Matter protest, and perhaps we might change the perceptions and shift the conversations people are having about this movement.

Putman did not say how she would be grading students in the future. According to her theory, grading based on their merits and test scores would be a perpetuation of white ideological privilege.

SOURCE 






Hundreds protest DeVos during Harvard visit

CAMBRIDGE — US Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos was met Wednesday evening by hundreds of protesters outside Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government and more than two dozen students inside standing silently, fists raised, with signs criticizing her positions on campus sexual assault and school choice.

DeVos came to Harvard as part of a conference on school choice less than a year after Massachusetts voters roundly defeated a ballot measure to expand charter schools. Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey has also been among DeVos’s most vocal critics, challenging her on the Trump administration’s new rules for adjudicating campus sexual assault and accusing her of supporting for-profit colleges at the expense of student loan borrowers.

DeVos did not directly address the protesters inside room or the rowdy crowd outside in her remarks, but she did take questions and defended her position on multiple fronts. She said the federal education agency was committed to ensuring that students are safe and learning.

“We can be bold,” DeVos said. “We can be unafraid.” She added that any student who is unsafe and discriminated against, “that’s the last thing we want.”

At Wednesday evening’s event, students held up sheets that read “Protect Survivors,” “Harvard legitimizes white supremacy” and “Resist.” Massachusetts teachers and politicians, in a rally along the sidewalk, attacked DeVos for her long-standing support of charter schools and voucher programs.

Boston City Councilor and mayoral candidate Tito Jackson said Massachusetts didn’t need DeVos advising leaders on how to operate public schools, praising the state’s high student test scores.

“Betsy DeVos, you can go back to D.C.,” Jackson said. “Because these are our schools, our children, and our public schools work in the state of Massachusetts.”

DeVos said she wanted all parents, no matter their race or income level, to have options about where to send their children to school.

“There are too many kids who are trapped in a school that doesn’t meet their needs. There are too many parents who are denied the fundamental right to decide the best way to educate their child,” DeVos said. “I’ve been called the “school choice Secretary” by some. I think it’s meant as an insult, but I wear it as a badge of honor!”

Last November, 62 percent of Massachusetts voters rejected a ballot question that would have allowed up to 12 new charters a year statewide regardless of any caps.

Latoya Gayle, a mother of three from Boston, said she and her children have benefited from private and charter schools, but believes that the federal government still has a role to play in ensuring that all schools work, especially for minority students.

Several of the audience members who had packed the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum were also eager to challenge DeVos on issues of school safety, sexual assault, and predatory for-profit schools

Earlier this month, Devos rescinded the Obama administration’s 2011 directive requiring colleges to aggressively investigate all sexual assault claims using a relatively low burden of proof.

The federal education agency is developing a replacement policy and has told schools to evaluate sexual misconduct claims using the same standards of evidence they rely on for any other student infractions.

Opponents argue that it could make it tougher to prove allegations of sexual assault at some universities.

DeVos on Wednesday credited the Obama administration for bringing the problem of campus sexual assault to the forefront, but she said the rules need to be fair to both the victim and the accused.

“It’s not an issue that we’re going to be sweeping under the rug and putting in the back room,” DeVos said. “We need ensure that policy and framework is fair to all students. All students.”

SOURCE 





British students invite radical Islamic speakers to over 110 events in a year despite the Government's terror crackdown

In general, Muslims should be as free as anyone else to present their views -- as free as conservatives, for instance (!)

Radical Islamic speakers have been invited to more than 100 events hosted by student societies over the past year despite a government crackdown.

A new report reveals the speakers were invited to speak to undergraduates at elite institutions including Oxford, Warwick and Manchester.

In total, guests with a record of preaching extreme views were given access to students on 112 occasions – and in most cases no effort was made to provide any balance to their statements.

In one case, a preacher who had previously advocated wife-beating and claimed that ‘Islam is not compatible with democracy’ was allowed to speak to students of the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.

In another, Oxford University students heard a speech by the director of Cage, the group which once described IS killer Jihadi John as a ‘beautiful young man’.

The data, gathered by the Henry Jackson Society think tank, follows a string of terror attacks this year in Manchester, London Bridge and Parsons Green.

Universities are required to help prevent extremism and report any concerns they have to counter-terrorism officials under the government’s Prevent Duty.

Yesterday, critics said the report showed not enough is being done by university leaders to stop vulnerable students being brainwashed by radicals.

Robert Halfon, the Conservative chairman of the education select committee, said: ‘It is unacceptable that the universities are not doing enough to crack down on extremism.

‘They should do everything possible not to be unwitting accessories to encouraging terrorism. ‘If the Prevent guidelines are not working, they need to be toughened up.

‘Given what has gone on in our country over the past few months, they have a real responsibility to stop extremism on campus.’

Anthony Glees, director of the Centre for Security and Intelligence Studies at the University of Buckingham, added: ‘Universities should not be soap boxes for extremists. By law, academic freedom applies to professors and lecturers so that they can disseminate knowledge.

‘People pay to go to universities to learn from their professors, not to listen to radical speakers.

‘I hope that this report is taken seriously. ‘Universities have a duty of care to students and they need to exercise their authority.

‘The events in Manchester and London mean universities cannot pretend that terror is not a threat. It is unacceptable that some appear to be failing to crack down on extremism.

Universities whose student societies invited extreme speakers also included King’s College London and Queen Mary London.

In every case, the universities themselves were not involved in the invitations as the events were organised by individual student groups – mostly the unions or the Islamic societies.

Often they were held on venues off campus, with Facebook and Twitter used to publicise them.

The Higher Education and Funding Council for England (HEFCE) has found that the majority of universities are satisfying the statutory requirements of the Prevent duty.

The Henry Jackson Society said its findings suggested more stringent guidelines were needed. It said in all but one of the cases uncovered, the speakers were allowed to disseminate their views without being challenged.

SOURCE 



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