Amherst College to Offer Course on “The Social Construction of Whiteness”
“to contextualize whiteness as a discourse of power”
The course is being taught by a self-described Marxist. Why are parents paying to subject their kids to this?
Campus Reform reports:
Marxist prof teaches Amherst students the ‘nationalist constructions of whiteness’
Amherst College is offering the course “The Social Construction of Whiteness” next year.
Ron Lembo, a professor of anthropology, will teach the class spring 2022, using “historical, theoretical, literary, and sociological accounts… to contextualize whiteness as a discourse of power.”
“The course will focus primarily, but not exclusively, on the United States, from the pre-Civil Rights era through the contemporary passage from colorblind to nationalist constructions of whiteness,” the course description states.
Lembo’s research and past teaching focus on race, diversity, and social class. He cites Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud as intellectual influences.
“The Social Construction of Whiteness” aligns with Amherst College’s “Anti-Racism Plan,” an ongoing initiative that redirects funds away from the campus police department and to “student staff” and “mental health services.”
Campus Reform has reported on similar programs at other well-known universities.
Last year the University of Colorado Boulder hosted a three-week long course called “Anti-Racism 1” which aimed to introduce critical race studies and whiteness to students with one of the course’s goals being to explain why ‘Blue Lives Matters’ is racist.
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Comments
It’s as if some colleges are trying to reduce their desirability and prestige. Or, are those things “whiteness” and, if so, does require the college to try to get rid of them?
“Why are parents paying to subject their kids to this?”
Do they know they are?
In our youngest’s Junior year, our local HS instituted an online system that parents could use to check the status of student homework assignments and projects. Boom, our kid went from slacker to full-ride scholarship to Big Name College.
Orientation day at Big Name College: speaker made a big thing about how the kids were adults now, and their transcripts would be entirely private from their parents.
If that’s the routine at all colleges, how do parents even know when their kid is taking Underwater Marxist Basket Weaving?
If the kids are truly adults, then the parents aren’t supporting them any more. If the kids are still dependent on their parents’ support, then the parents have a right to influence what they are doing. I was lucky. My kids always asked me for advice on what they were taking, so it never became a problem.
But the federal laws limit parents’ access to students’ records. That should not become a problem for parents who are still paying some or all of the bills. Just make it clear that no bills will be paid unless the student is making appropriate progress.
I would make it clear to the kid that Underwater Marxist Basket Weaving or The Social Construction of Whiteness does not count toward appropriate progress, and decline to pay any tuition for such courses.
Do you think there is an chance the course material will touch upon the enormous achievements and accomplishments of “whiteness,” which massively outstrip those of all other races combined?
Naw, not a chance.