by Joseph DeMaio, ©2023
(Jan. 15, 2023) — Once again, the lunatic virtue signaling of academia oozes out on the normal world. Caution should be exercised, as it is slippery. This time, it originates at the University of Southern California (“USC”) and the rebranded “USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck Practicum Education Department” within the “USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work.”
The linguistic pus, set out in an unsigned letter from the “Practicum Education Department” – with its own newly-minted email address – consists of a pogrom against the word “field.” As Brandon the Goof would say: “Not kidding… not hyperbole.”
The basis for the removal of the term “field” from the “school’s” curriculum is explained thusly: “This change supports anti-racist social work practice by replacing language that could be considered anti-Black – [note the upper case “B”] – or anti-immigrant in favor of inclusive language.” One might ask: is the capitalization of the “B” intended to be a signal or manifestation of black supremacy?
The letter’s explanation continues: “Language can be powerful, and phrases such as ‘going into the field’ or ‘field work’ may have connotations for descendants of slavery and immigrant workers that are not benign.” The word to be substituted for the purportedly racist term “field” is: “practicum,” adding the “[w]ords are powerful, but even more so is action.”
Seriously?
This is not virtue signaling. Instead, it is academic stupidity signaling…, on steroids. It is intellectual goo from an institution of “higher learning” that charges tuition – ahem, per semester – between approximately $32,000 and $38,000. In addition, mandatory “fees” kick the total even higher. So, for the privilege of being inculcated and indoctrinated in the linguistic somersaults of “undoing racism through social work…” and to “honor and acknowledge inclusion and reject white [note the lower case “w”] supremacy…,” USC “students” (or their parents) are called upon to cough up close to $80,000 per year, which Democrats would likely label as a bargain at twice the price, maybe even three times the price.
As former Senator Everett Dirksen (R.-IL) is rumored to have noted: “A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking about real money.” Senator Dirksen foresaw the irresponsible practice of the Congress to simply print additional dollars – now backed only by the “full faith and credit” of the nation instead of gold or silver – and hope the chickens did not “come home to roost” until they were out of office.
Today, Brandon and congressional Democrats…, and yes, lamentably, more than a couple of Republicans…, don’t even flinch at the term “trillion” as a substitute for the word “billion.” They don’t care, because they won’t be the ones bearing the consequences. Instead, you, your children, their children and their children far into the distant future will be on the hook.
Returning to the racist term “field,” before issuing any more “anti-racist” homilies on the now-reviled term “field,” the Einsteins and Hawkings pulling down their “equitable” salaries and sabbatical stipends at USC should first (a) notify the USC webmaster to correct the current university course descriptions page, which contains six (6) courses that include the disfavored term “field,” and (b) do more research on the etymology of the term “practicum,” which is defined as “(1) A school or college course, especially one in a specialized field of study, that is designed to give students supervised practical application of previously studied theory; (2) an example for student practice, as in laboratory or field work. (Emphasis added)
If, as USC claims, it believes that language and words are powerful, perhaps it could do a better job of itself adhering to that observation. Do you not just love the smell of Trojan hypocrisy in the morning?