Elsewhere (253)
Toby Young on things you mustn’t acknowledge, even politely, at least among educators:
Unfortunately, [education charity] Teach First decided my blog was unacceptable. In spite of the fact that it was billed as part of a ‘debate’, and appeared alongside another piece expressing an alternative point of view, the organisation decided to remove it from its website and issue an apology. That’s right, it apologised for publishing my piece. “It was against what we believe is true and against our values and vision,” Teach First explained… The most disappointing thing about the whole affair is that… I was attempting to show how teachers could remain evangelical about raising standards without denying the mainstream scientific understanding about the heritability of IQ and the impact of IQ on educational outcomes. Teach First’s reaction and its description of my piece as “against what we believe is true” suggests it doesn’t share my view that its values are compatible with mainstream science.
Toni Airaksinen on the Clown Quarter’s high standards:
An academic journal on “white privilege” has apparently stopped publishing articles following a Campus Reform investigation in September. The journal, Whiteness and Education, published by Routledge, claimed to publish peer-reviewed research on issues including “critical discussions of White racism, White identity, privilege, power, and intersectionality.” However, a closer inspection revealed that the majority of published articles were “accepted” for publication within two days of being “received” — a very short time frame that could not allow for proper peer-review, according to professors consulted by Campus Reform.
And further to rumblings in the comments, Michael Jones notes an inspired exercise in trolling and what it reveals:
Signs declaring “It’s okay to be white” have been spotted on college campuses across America and even in Canada over the last week, prompting outrage… Others have questioned why saying “it’s okay to be white” is automatically racist… Even though the campaign has been widely identified as a troll attempt, many took the bait. “I am deeply disgusted that this organised online campaign to divide university communities across the country has come to our campus. It is shameful that anyone would use these posters to promote a racist agenda,” University of Kansas’ student body president, Mady Womack, told the Kansan. The flyers were denounced as “racist” and the school’s Multicultural Student Government convened an “emergency meeting” over it, according to the report.
Given the endless courses and faculty proclamations denouncing “whiteness” as both “oppressive” and a “problem,” something that pale-skinned students should atone for ostentatiously, while promising not to produce children as pale and sinful as themselves, the accusations of racism and divisiveness – because of a small notice suggesting that, actually, “It’s okay to be white” – may ring a little hollow and seem absurdly dishonest. And it’s hard not to admire the economy of the trolling, whereby a modest and unobjectionable statement, one that if applied to any other, comparable group would be utterly innocuous, is denounced, and denounced immediately, as if it were scandalous. Which suggests that there’s no position a pale person could take, short of continual deference and self-abasement, that would keep such people free of doctrinaire convulsion. And which in turns suggests a kind of madness.
Feel free to share your own links and snippets, on any subject, in the comments.
Couldn’t physically reach it so I tossed a tenner in the old BoS. Hope that helps.
I am, of course, utterly bribable. Here, have a top-up on the house.
And a pickled egg.
“Ah, the battle of Emo Jima”
Something has to go here
That’s funny!
How does one post a picture here?
As above, with the .jpg or .gif or .png URL inserted snugly between the quotation marks. Just make sure the image isn’t too big for the comments space here. Use the ‘preview’ button before posting.
perhaps a giant “Preview” button would help drive the concept into certain thick skulls.
I think David is at the mercy of what TypePad provides. Some places have no “Preview” button at all. (I sometimes test my comments here.)
Here, have a top-up on the house.
And a pickled egg.
Mmmm…pickled egg. I’ll take an extra-chunky. And just in time for lunch!
On the positive side, we’re on to page two. I think we’re really starting to get the hang of this.
I think David is at the mercy of what TypePad provides.
Yes. I’ve Typepadded myself years ago and that was one of the kinds of things I was disappointed in not having control over. Here I was thinking along the lines of the Big Bracket-Backslash-I-Bracket comment reminder variety.
Here I was thinking along the lines of the Big Bracket-Backslash-I-Bracket comment reminder variety.
That’s asking a lot from a “Preview” button. I wonder if it would be possible to reach the “Post” button only after the “Preview” button has been clicked.
Some passing thoughts.
On “critical thinking”: this is linguistic drift in action. At one point what these “educators” were teaching was called critical theory (i.e. Marxist deconstructionism). Somehow that’s slopped over into being called “critical thinking” now, and has replaced actual intentional logic in true critical thinking courses. Words matter, but Humpty Dumpty linguistics.
As for Friends, I’ve seen a disturbing tendency among millenials to treat television shows as if they are documentaries – to be utterly incapable of grasping that every action, every word, every situation was crafted by a writer for a dramatic effect other than cinema verite. As you said, the notion that these characters are buffoons acting buffoonishly for deliberate comedic effect escapes them.
Just make sure the image isn’t too big for the comments space here.
This website is useful for resizing images. You can upload an image, resize it, and the post a link to the image over here:
https://postimages.org/
My interest in the Black Panther film diminishes a little more every time the people involved in it open their mouths.
Somehow that’s slopped over into being called “critical thinking” now, and has replaced actual intentional logic in true critical thinking courses.
No offense, but that seems like wishful thinking to me. Such was my assumption at first as well but upon pressing for clarification on the subject, those of whom I was speaking are well aware of the difference in meaning of the two phrases. Note this definition of “critical theory” taken from google:
When one has the certainty that one is on the right side of history, progressively marching in the right direction, one thinks critically about things that those who are not sufficiently “woke” think. The objective of the critical thinking is to correct such heresy, to force it to align with the arrow of progress. It’s not so much of a slopping over as it is the tool that leads “critical thinkers” to the proper answers.
the tool that leads “critical thinkers” to the proper answers
What makes the tool so useful to “critical thinkers” is that it can only lead to the predetermined answers.
What makes the tool so useful to “critical thinkers” is that it can only lead to the predetermined answers.
That.
Imagine my surprise: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/11/08/a-black-student-wrote-those-racist-messages-that-shook-the-air-force-academy/?utm_term=.bead5b782fec I was shocked. Just shocked, I tell you.
“No fair!” cried the little warriors. “We demand free hits!”
“No fair!” cried the little warriors. “We demand free hits!”
Note that it’s not just students, but also professors and union people.
This once again discredits the claim that these kids became Maoist thugs in some mysterious process of spontaneous generation that had nothing to do with the influence of teachers and professors.
Note that it’s not just students, but also professors and union people.
The question that occurs to me is, what do the parents make of this farce? Are they proud of their children behaving in this way, and then being outraged, or feigning outrage, when they’re held accountable, even in a half-arsed way?
A little shame seems in order.
This once again discredits the claim that these kids became Maoist thugs in some mysterious process of spontaneous generation that had nothing to do with the influence of teachers and professors.
No, I have it on good authority that the idea of wacky liberals brainwashing students with propaganda is a myth. They are lucky to get students to even glance at the readings. The idea that they are somehow converting students is rather implausible. There may be some charismatic professors who can shape minds like clay, but there aren’t many of those. Professor told me so himself.
The question that occurs to me is, what do the parents make of this farce?
I really don’t think the parents are relevant in regard to these situations. I think the parents who are really involved and are paying for the education are not sending their children to these institutions, or if they are, not to these specific classes and/or these specific majors. They would be the only ones who could be shamed because they are the only ones with such a sense of responsibility. The majority of these students descend from parents who either agree with this leftist tripe or who are disconnected financially (and most likely emotionally) from these students and it is us taxpayers, along with a few scholarship funds run by leftists, who are footing the bill. We’re the ones who should feel the shame.
The famous civil rights piece was not called Letter From Birmingham Woolworth’s. I’m not sure they’ve been taught how Civil Disobedience actually works.