Over a decade ago, when I was a student at a community college,
I took a government class, taught by one Professor Cohen, as an elective. I
asked around about him and received a flood of answers; the word was out that
he was tough and it that was difficult to earn an 'A' from him. Most advised me
to drop his class and choose an easier professor. I didn't and earned an 'A' in
the course. (Those who have read my novel, Tale
of the Tigers: Love is Not a Game, will recognize this scenario.)Since taking the course, I've long pondered Professor Cohen's alleged toughness. All he required was that a student read diligently--example: read the US Constitution in its entirety once a week--and regurgitate those readings and lecture notes in essays and on tests. Having been in the military and, therefore, having taken many military courses, this was an easy thing for me to do. It's notable that the only other person in my class who received an 'A' from Professor Cohen was an Army veteran. We were both used to high and objective standards.
But even back then, it was becoming plain that most other students were not used to them, hence the idea that Professor Cohen was so tough. Now, however, high standards are not only something to be avoided, expecting students to meet them is it is an act of violence and, of course, racism.
Current and former students in the Graduate School of Education & Information Studies expressed their support for professor emeritus Val Rust following a demonstration in one of his graduate classes last Thursday.
Student demonstrators alleged that there is a “toxic” racial climate in the graduate school, including in Rust’s classroom. Organizers told the Daily Bruin last week that they decided to host the demonstration after a recent report examining racial discrimination among the university’s faculty stated that UCLA’s policies and procedures do not sufficiently address racially motivated instances of discrimination.
[...]
In a letter sent to colleagues in the department after the sit-in, Rust said students in the demonstration described grammar and spelling corrections he made on their dissertation proposals as a form of "micro-aggression."
[...]
The demonstration’s organizers said they are aware of several examples in the graduate school where minority students claimed they faced challenges and “micro-aggressions” from professors.
Empasis mine.
This is what decades
of indoctrination--rather than education--and entitlement hath wrought. In this
case, the entitlements which such students have already received are as
follows: high school diploma, undergraduate degree, and acceptance into a
graduate program. They expect to accrue their next entitlement--a masters
degree and/or a Ph.D--on schedule and this professor won't gift wrap it for
them unlike most of his predecessors. Such students have been told overtly and
subliminally that these credentials are their "just due"--due to them
not because of their abilities, but because of their very existence.
Moreover, these students--and the systems which have promoted
them--have internalized the alleged inferiority of blacks. I knew even before I
read the story, that the protestors were black because I've seen this type of
reasoning all my life. It's produces the same phenomenon in which black K-12
students who attend schools with majority-black student bodies and who excel
academically are teased by their peers for "acting white."Here's how the reasoning works: black persons are genetically unable to master correct grammar, so it's pointless to attempt to teach it to them or expect it from them. And if a teacher, professor or boss expects such, that person is guilty of perpetrating "micro-aggression" on a people.
This widespread mindset does not exist by accident. It's a plan, I say; one which makes ignorance not only prevalent, not only celebrated, but fecund. And, regardless of your color, if you don't think this way, you are not "of the body" and must be scorned.
The plan: the hollowing out of education, institutions, and, most importantly, a people.
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