I am a staff member at a university and some things I just eye-roll and stay silent because they seem silly and it's not worth the fight. For example, before most meetings the meeting leader will thank the Native American tribe on whose original land the university sits. This is a completely empty gesture--if the university leaders cared…
I am a staff member at a university and some things I just eye-roll and stay silent because they seem silly and it's not worth the fight. For example, before most meetings the meeting leader will thank the Native American tribe on whose original land the university sits. This is a completely empty gesture--if the university leaders cared that much about Native American land they would give it back but, of course, that won't ever happen and if I suggested that I would likely just get blank stares.
Other things I find a bit more annoying. For example, two-day training on preventing sexual harassment. I fully agree sexual harassment is wrong, should not be tolerated, and that there should be no dating relationships between employees and supervisors or employees/teachers and students but does it really take two days to convey an idea that could be conveyed in 10 minutes?
Then there are the things that are downright disturbing. I've been "strongly discouraged" from cooperating with the police on a theft, and "strongly encouraged" to meet racial quotas even though those quotas don't officially exist. Fortunately, the obsession with race just doesn't exist among most young people I interact with--they hang out with friends who are from all different races and backgrounds as it should be.
It's also encouraging to me that most of the young people I interact with are much more middle of the road than you would think from all of the campus activists. The problem is they're afraid to state their views or, worse, the suppression of their views lead them to become trolls on the internet out of anger and then be exposed to vileness of ultra-right (and ultra-left) web sites.
People will ALWAYS find a way to express their views and if there isn't a constructive way to do it (free and open debate) then it will be done in a non-constructive way.
P.S.: I would be willing to bet anyone here that at least 50% of posts on mainstream social media web sites are not the opinions of actual people but bots, troll farms, etc. Schools need to spend more time teaching students to critically evaluate information sources and move away from rote learning, especially when most information can be quickly looked up when needed.
I am a staff member at a university and some things I just eye-roll and stay silent because they seem silly and it's not worth the fight. For example, before most meetings the meeting leader will thank the Native American tribe on whose original land the university sits. This is a completely empty gesture--if the university leaders cared that much about Native American land they would give it back but, of course, that won't ever happen and if I suggested that I would likely just get blank stares.
Other things I find a bit more annoying. For example, two-day training on preventing sexual harassment. I fully agree sexual harassment is wrong, should not be tolerated, and that there should be no dating relationships between employees and supervisors or employees/teachers and students but does it really take two days to convey an idea that could be conveyed in 10 minutes?
Then there are the things that are downright disturbing. I've been "strongly discouraged" from cooperating with the police on a theft, and "strongly encouraged" to meet racial quotas even though those quotas don't officially exist. Fortunately, the obsession with race just doesn't exist among most young people I interact with--they hang out with friends who are from all different races and backgrounds as it should be.
It's also encouraging to me that most of the young people I interact with are much more middle of the road than you would think from all of the campus activists. The problem is they're afraid to state their views or, worse, the suppression of their views lead them to become trolls on the internet out of anger and then be exposed to vileness of ultra-right (and ultra-left) web sites.
People will ALWAYS find a way to express their views and if there isn't a constructive way to do it (free and open debate) then it will be done in a non-constructive way.
P.S.: I would be willing to bet anyone here that at least 50% of posts on mainstream social media web sites are not the opinions of actual people but bots, troll farms, etc. Schools need to spend more time teaching students to critically evaluate information sources and move away from rote learning, especially when most information can be quickly looked up when needed.