Canoes Reek of Genocide, Theft and White Privilege

[snagged in outlet 3]

2 hours ago, Flysmallie said:

They should have classes around this. I can think of some teaching that could be replaced by this. 

My daughters school has this.  It's called explorers.  She wanted to be doctor or surgeon but after following them around the 3rd time she said she couldn't stand it.  She doesn't know what she wants to do but she likes math and she's good at so that's where she'll start.  She's also in Spanish 5 which I think will help her too.

[jpb2187]

40 minutes ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

Not all schools accept all of the credits.  The schools my daughter looked at would only accept 9-12 credits at the most.  And some won't accept the more technical classes like chemistry at all from a high school.  I don't believe Rolla accepts more than 9 credits and won't accept chemistry.  She's going with 9 credits and will likely test into calc 1 since the calc class she's in now had every student last year test into calc.  She's going for an applied mathematics degree. 

Sounds like a college money grab...

[fishinwrench]

So Canadian's are just now figuring out that the majority of black folk don't care much for water sports.....and this is their reasoning why ?  

That's a hell of a leap, ain't it?

[David Unnerstall]

You know this is one person's opinion and I would suspect most everybody -- right or left -- would think she is an idiot.

[Mitch f]

26 minutes ago, David Unnerstall said:

You know this is one person's opinion and I would suspect most everybody -- right or left -- would think she is an idiot.

Agreed, But I do believe that this kind of teaching is echoed in many Universities across the US, as well as Canada. The PC epidemic is rampant

[Smalliebigs]

9 minutes ago, Mitch f said:

Agreed, But I do believe that this kind of teaching is echoed in many Universities across the US, as well as Canada. The PC epidemic is rampant

agreed 100%.....look at Mizzou or Washington University here in St. Louis....complete joke

[snagged in outlet 3]

I'm close enough with my kids that we teach them OUR morals and values and the school does the readin, ritin and rithmatic.

[DainW]

Couple things on this. I consider myself pretty liberal, but this professor's position seems kind of silly. That being said, the author seems to omit some background information that could be relevant to this particular professor coming out with this statement, in order to make her position seem more ludicrous. Here is the quote that makes me a little weary to accept this article at face value:

Dean continued to explain why she thinks Canada picked the canoe as a symbol, claiming it has to do with benefits to particular groups—particularly white men— who pushed the canoe.  

This sort of makes it seem that there was some sort of recent decision that the Canadian government made to choose the canoe as a symbol. Symbol of what? The author also doesn't seem to go into much more detail with professor's supporting logic. I guess they just leave that up to the reader? I dunno, I don't really lose much sleep over what goes on in Canada so don't really care to put the leg work in. 

As far as the "PC Epidemic" is concerned. Haven't college campuses always been hotbeds for political activity? I mean look back at the 1960s, didn't most of the Vietnam war protests begin on college campuses? College campuses are sort of a political science experiment anyway. I mean you get 30,000 18-22 year olds of varying ethnic and religious backgrounds living in close proximity to one another, chances are you're going to have some activism. That being said, I graduated from Mizzou in 09, which isn't all that long ago and I didn't have any teachers trying to push political correctness down my throat. Of course, I was a business major though. It might be different if you're a sociology or cultural studies major. Thing may have changed a little in the last 7 years though, who knows. 

Personally though, I think "political correctness" is a dog whistle term. Can someone give me an example of how political correctness has affected their lives? I get it if you're someone running for political office and say, a tape comes out with you bragging about sexually assaulting women or something like that, how you could be adversely affected by political correctness, but for the average joe, I mean it doesn't really affect you. One of the things I love about living in this country is freedom of speech. So if something offensive comes out of my mouth, which happens from time to time, and someone is offended by it, they're just as free to let me know about it as I am to be offensive. 

 

[MOPanfisher]

Well by those standards the very English language could be tied to theft, genocide and whatever else it was.  the use of horses by the mongols could be an Asian version.  Fortunately there a lot.of kids who hear this sort of stuff even in high school and simply say ooookayyyyy  and move on.  Sadly there will be some who simply don't think for themselves or who don't read that it might stick in their brains as "fact"  but hopefully not many.

[Al Agnew]

In my opinion, as somebody who graduated from Southeast MO State way back when and has nieces and nephews (very smart kids) who graduated from various colleges without EVER changing their basic moral stances (though to be honest they were somewhat "progressive" in outlook anyway), colleges are valuable in two main ways. The first, and perhaps not the most important, is getting a degree to enhance one's employment situation. The second, and in my case by far the more important, is broadening one's horizons, so to speak. Finding out what other people, of other races, ethnic backgrounds, and life experiences are like.  Exposure to different ideas and beliefs. Yes, that scares some parents, who want to shelter their kids from that kind of stuff. But if as a parent you have done a good job of instilling your own values in your child, and those values are good and strong, they will win out in the end. The thing that colleges once did, and some still do, that is of utmost importance is to develop critical thinking skills.  Most universities have some dingbat professors; they did even back when I was in school. But they also have good professors who are well-grounded and care about teaching life skills as well as the subject matter. A well-raised kid can tell the difference.

So Mitch, I wouldn't be so worried. We tend to read of isolated instances of the worst in higher education and think that kind of stuff is everywhere. It isn't. And even though it exists, you have to have the confidence that you have good kids and you're raising them well, and they'll be able to resist the stupidity. Because they are going to be exposed to various levels of stupidity no matter what they do or where they go.

As for the canoe thing...I agree with Dain. Apparently the canoe is some kind of symbol of Canada that may have been formalized by the legislature not too long ago, and this professor is saying that it isn't a good symbol, probably because the canoe was appropriated from the Native Canadian Americans (oh, heck, why can't we just keep calling them Indians?) and used by the fur traders and trappers, who were responsible for extending European influence across the country...not to mention that the traders brought smallpox and other European diseases to the Indians in with their trade goods. If that was the point she was trying to make, it's a pretty decent one. But it's swimming against the tide of history, which is one long story of one people displacing, supplanting, outcompeting, and outright killing the people who were there before. Indian/white conflict in the Americas was no different from anywhere else, and the same stuff still goes on today, even though most of us victors have finally grown some moral scruples about it.