The Wild World of Oppression Studies

Daily Beast ^ | January 24, 2016 | Robby Soave

[C19fan]

Does American University want to teach students about oppression, or does it want to subject them to it?

Members of the Washington, D.C.-based private university’s faculty are engaged in the process of “reimagining” the university’s core curriculum: the courses that all students, regardless of major, must take in order to graduate. Core curriculums are a way for universities to make sure that everyone on campus absorbs a common set of skills and values deemed fundamental to a liberal arts education—they often include basic instruction in writing, history, and mathematical reasoning, for instance. American plans to modernize its curriculum by 2017, and has convened a task force of professors to complete the process. A draft of their proposed curriculum is available here.

Under the proposal, the new core curriculum would require students to enroll in several worrisome courses that the Cato Institute’s Walter Olson has astutely labeled “oppression studies.” The task force calls them “Complex Problems” and “AU Experience,” but “oppression studies” is certainly the more fitting name. From the draft:

[C19fan]

I think about the quote attributed to Trotsky about you might not be interested in war, but war is interested in you. When I went to college there were plenty of "studies" departments but one could ignore them. Now the SJWs are pushing adding courses from these departments to the requirements. Imagine having to spend thousands of dollars to take one of these courses. On top of that American University is one of the most overpriced crappy private universities in the country.

[V_TWIN]

-mathematical reasoning-

Is that the one where 2+2=5 I wonder?

[PIF]

... social sciences (in the analysis of such issues as inequality, social violence, and health care access), others will be grounded in the sciences (climate change, dementia) or arts and humanities (art and politics, post-colonial expression).

... will pay "special attention to issues of diversity, inclusion, and community." Reading assignments, according to the draft, will focus on "oppression and resistance," "historical violence, such as the early slave trade and genocidal conquests," and the "experiences of marginalized groups and struggles for human rights." For good measure, course materials will fixate on "how entrenched systems of inequality marginalize some groups and privilege others."

The proposal also calls for a dramatic - and mildly terrifying - transformation of life in the residence halls. No longer will students shack up together at random: instead, AU would assign students to particular housing based on which "oppression studies" courses they are taking ... "Upper class peer mentors," according to the draft, will be assigned to these groups of students. The draft describes them as "support teams," but it's easy to imagine them morphing into some kind of social justice enforcers instead.

No time for the usual reading, writing, history, or arithmetic - all just really enforce 'White Privilege' anyway and are of little value out in the community or in politics ...

[aquila48]

There is a silver lining in this is that it may be planting the seed for its own destruction, the way the cultural revolution and red guards were the seeds that ended up destroying Maoism in China.

[kearnyirish2]

These courses were to pretend unassimilated malcontents were “in college”; now they need a way to pay the “professors”/enablers.

[Albion Wilde]

bump

[JoeFromSidney]

These courses were to pretend unassimilated malcontents were "in college"

Reminds me of what my daughter told me about the course colloquially known as "Rocks for Jocks," offered by the Geology Department at her college, that allowed football players to meet a science requirement

[kearnyirish2]

I remember an astronomy class billed as a “non-mathematical approach to the stars”; guess it filled the same requirement.