No Safe Space for Student X

by DAVID JAFFEE

X is heading off to college. X’s privileged and fortunate parents are very anxious. They know that their student X will be exposed to the Radical Leftist Professors (RLPs).

They have worked hard to make sure that X has learned the correct lessons about the Great Nation.  These lessons can be threatened by the indoctrination of the RLPs.

The indoctrination works like this.

X was taught to believe that the Great Nation was built on the brave courage of Christian pioneers but the RLPs will tell X about native American genocide and slavery.

X was taught to believe that the Great Nation was and is a force for global democracy and human rights  but the RLPs will tell X about the Great Nations’s imperialist military adventures and support for oppressive authoritarian regimes.

X was taught to believe that the Great Nation is the most exceptional, generous, and compassionate nation in the world but the RLPs will tell X that the Great Nation has the highest child poverty rate and the least generous social welfare system of any other major country.

X was taught to believe that the Great Nation has the fairest criminal justice system in the world but  the RLPs will tell X about racial and social class bias in law enforcement and criminal prosecution

X was taught to believe that in the Great Nation education allows everyone to be successful and prosperous but the RLPs will tell X that the education system actually reinforces and justifies class inequality.

X was taught to believe that the Great Nation is a democracy but the RLPs will tell X about corporate oligarchy and campaign finance.

X will suffer from a severe case of cognitive dissonance.

X’s deep convictions about the Great Nation have been contradicted by the RLPs. X can remain loyal to the Great Nation despite these cognitive exploding revelations. X can reject and deny the new information as fake facts offered up by the RLPs. Or X can modify the prior worldview and seek to bring the Great Nation in line with the mythical aspirations.

This is exactly what X’s parents feared. They had hoped X would find a secure haven in the business school where the prior lessons would not be challenged. X even majored in accounting and finance. But X could not take all courses in the college of business. Sadly, and uselessly, the university required X to take general education courses. Many were taught by the RLPs.

The lesson is clear: There is no safe space to protect the Great Nation’s myths from being melted away like snowflakes.

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David Jaffee is Professor of Sociology at the University of North Florida.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2017/07/28/no-safe-space-for-student-x/