Occupy the syllabus (More Berkley lunacy)

The Daily Californian ^ | 1/20/2015 | Rodrigo Kazuo and Meg Perret

[jalisco555]

We are calling for an occupation of syllabi in the social sciences and humanities. This call to action was instigated by our experience last semester as students in an upper-division course on classical social theory. Grades were based primarily on multiple-choice quizzes on assigned readings. The course syllabus employed a standardized canon of theory that began with Plato and Aristotle, then jumped to modern philosophers: Hobbes, Locke, Hegel, Marx, Weber and Foucault, all of whom are white men. The syllabus did not include a single woman or person of color.

We have major concerns about social theory courses in which white men are the only authors assigned. These courses pretend that a minuscule fraction of humanity — economically privileged white males from five imperial countries (England, France, Germany, Italy and the United States) — are the only people to produce valid knowledge about the world. This is absurd. The white male syllabus excludes all knowledge produced outside this standardized canon, silencing the perspectives of the other 99 percent of humanity.

The white male canon is not sufficient for theorizing the lives of marginalized people. None of the thinkers we studied in this course had a robust analysis of gender or racial oppression. They did not even engage with the enduring legacies of European colonial expansion, the enslavement of black people and the genocide of indigenous people in the Americas. Mentions of race and gender in the white male canon are at best incomplete and at worst racist and sexist. We were required to read Hegel on the “Oriental realm” and Marx on the “Asiatic mode of production,” but not a single author from Asia. We were required to read Weber on the patriarchy, but not a single feminist author.

[jalisco555]

Sadly, not satire.

[colorado tanker]

Hey, they’re not too stupid. Homework, reading and tests are hard. But these guys have figured out a way to demand a cake course in a way the Berzerkely liberals might have to accept.

[ConservativeInPA]

Such ignorance. Didn’t Plato and Aristotle wear togas. That’s sort of like crossdressing isn’t it?

[left that other site]

Aren’t those “authors” covered in the “Womyn’s Studies” Program?

[stephenjohnbanker]

racist

sexist

homophobe

That be me!

LOL

[sean327]

Plato and Aristotle were Greek, not Italian. These asshats are friggin brilliant.

[T-Bird45]

Their paucity of brain cells was overloaded by the heavy-duty reading assignments so the obvious solution is to protest that lightweights like Okra Winfrey were not included among the great philosophers. Of course, the professors could have included Booker T. Washington:

“There is another class of coloured people who make a business of keeping the troubles, the wrongs, and the hardships of the Negro race before the public. Having learned that they are able to make a living out of their troubles, they have grown into the settled habit of advertising their wrongs — partly because they want sympathy and partly because it pays. Some of these people do not want the Negro to lose his grievances, because they do not want to lose their jobs.”

I guess too many heads would have exploded in Berzerkly...

[jalisco555]

Plato and Aristotle were Greek, not Italian. These asshats are friggin brilliant.

Not to mention that none of the named writers were American. This is what passes for critical thinking at California's flagship state university.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

Who are the 18th and 19th century philosophers of color who suffered under repressive colonial oppressors?

[baltimorepoet]

No women? They should have tossed in Ayn Rand.

[Huskrrrr]

“Such ignorance. Didn’t Plato and Aristotle wear togas. That’s sort of like crossdressing isn’t it?”

ROTFLOL!

[aquila48]

I vote for adding Booker T to the syllabus. Also Thomas Sowall and Walter William.

[omega4412]

Some interesting comments on the Daily Californian website, like

Women's and Gender Studies. Because Barbie told us that math was hard for women.

[2ndDivisionVet]

"These courses pretend that a minuscule fraction of humanity — economically privileged white males from five imperial countries (England, France, Germany, Italy and the United States) — are the only people to produce valid knowledge about the world."

To quote a lame saying from the 90's "it is what it is." Deal with it.

[Opinionated Blowhard]

The course syllabus employed a standardized canon of theory that began with Plato and Aristotle, . . .

[Opinionated Blowhard]

Berkley still has a course that teaches Plato and Aristotle?

[faithhopecharity]

any parents who sends their kid to Bezerkeley gets what they deserve

[Billthedrill]

The white male syllabus excludes all knowledge produced outside this standardized canon, silencing the perspectives of the other 99 percent of humanity.

Good grief, isn't Math in the core curricula anymore?

I guess we can throw Marx, Engels and Trotsky out of the canon as well, eh, Comrades?

[Pietro]

Ayn Rand is watered down Nietzche.

Feminist and Oppressed minority authors are typically watered down Marxists or adherents to the Fankfurt School which called for the watering down of education.

[faithhopecharity]

any parents who sends their kid to Bezerkeley gets what they deserve

a grossly-self-centered, selfish, boorish, homosexual drug freak... oh yeah, did we also mention — unemployable