Arizona State U. Mandatory Journalism Course Teaches Students ‘Asking “Where Are You From?” is Racist’
“Diversity and Civility at Cronkite”
This is what DEI policies do to the study of journalism. It’s just pathetic.
The College Fix reports:
Mandatory ASU course teaches journalism students that asking ‘Where are you from?’ is racist
A mandatory journalism course at Arizona State University has come under fire for its curriculum, which includes teaching students that asking questions such as “where are you from” are racial microaggressions.
The journalism prerequisite course, “Diversity and Civility at Cronkite,” taught within the Cronkite School of Journalism, places a strong emphasis on the “importance of diversity, inclusion, equity and civility,” its online description reads.
The course includes a section focused on microaggressions, and students are asked to review a list of “typical microaggressions.” On that list, questions such as “Where are you from?” and “Where were you born?” are listed as “racial microaggressions.”
Timothy Minella, senior constitutionalism fellow at the Goldwater Institute, said the “course goes through a number of very questionable concepts, and prominent among them, for example, are defining certain microaggressions.”
“What’s concerning,” he told The College Fix in an interview, “is that what they are defining as microaggressions include statements such as ‘I think the most qualified person should get the job.’”
The Goldwater Institute in mid-March published a report detailing the course’s lesson plans and curriculum based on public records requests and published course syllabi.
In a statement to The Fix, ASU said Goldwater’s critique does not take into account the intentions behind the course, which is beneficial to students because it teaches aspiring journalists about the social and cultural nuances and complexities in American society.
The Diversity and Civility course is “intended to bring thoughtful, open-minded discourse to issues of race, gender, sexual orientation, ability, income, geography and other aspects of personal identities,” an ASU spokesperson told The College Fix. “The goal of the course is to help students appreciate people’s differences and to channel disagreements toward civil discussion.”
In fall 2023, more than 400 students took the required course, taught by four professors and faculty associates, the institute reported.
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Comments
So “where” is cancelled… today’s “journalists” wouldn’t miss the other six, either.
All I see in “Where are you from” is bad grammar.
How so?
In Massachusetts a few years ago a rental real estate agent asked a potential tenant where was she was from. The agent had to pay a $70,000 fine because the tenant’s feelings were hurt.
All because some judge was not willing to tell her to get a life.
Or more to the point, where to put her complaint.
So they’re teaching journalism students not to ask questions. Outstanding.
I supposed they don’t allow any genealogy there.
I’ve never been considered politically correct or woke. How do you learn about a person if you are unwilling to ask questions about where they are from? Knowing that type of information helps in developing a personal relationship and understanding their perceptions.
Presuming that an individual considers that type of question a micro-aggression, they have the ability to say, I’d rather not answer that question. Or they can act like an adult and not be offended.
Is “are you retarded?” a microaggression. I have been using it a lot more recently.