Thoughts on Diversity classes in Academia

[Mashū08]

I'll spare my experiences since the only actual university course I took in "diversity" was as an undergraduate. My mental health training has not been at an actual school-Argosy and now an "institute" attached to a religious school but with all the trappings of what Argosy had.

I just want to know people's thoughts/experiences with what is taught as "diversity" in the mental health profession, especially academia and how much of that is expected to be taken into the real world. My current class has a text that lists slavery as a "uniquely American institution" for instance, a statement so absurd it stopped me cold and caused me to create this thread. So much of what is taught it desperately needed, why the need to take it to absurd extremes? I really don't get it. I'll spare you the research paper options for the class, all, and I mean all, of which deal with the toxic effects of white culture, either in and of itself or as it has caused harm to other people's and cultures. Not to say those issues are not real and should be studied, but when that is the only option for serious study in a "diversity" class... I'm left shaking my head at why this "liberal" profession wants to hand the white nationalists sets of talking points they can repeat ad nauseum on faux "news."

Okay, rant over, wishing you all the best in the coming nuclear winter. Let's hope some of us are still around when the radiation fades in about 10,000 years.

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[WisNeuro]

Probably won't see much discussion on this in good faith. Third rail issue, and it's rarely open for discussion. When it comes to training, it's best to just keep your head down with some of these things and just get through it. At this stage, it's not worth the retaliatory actions if you rock the boat. I wish it were a different atmosphere as we are supposed to be a discipline that values both data and discussion, but we're not there in this at the moment.

 

[R. Matey]

Like any idea worth discussing in academia or elsewhere, multicultural competence has some proponents with great ideas and others with horrible ones. I'd say take what you can from the experience and try to emphasize the points of agreement.

 

[lily_pad]

I'm currently in an MSW program whose curriculum has critical race theory baked into it. The great majority of my cohort are White students and much of what we are taught is thinking about how to be culturally competent clinicians when working with people of different races, ethnicities, spiritual beliefs, socioeconomic backgrounds, etc. All of this is very important but I definitely think that POC in my cohort feel at times ostracized for this reason. Considering that the fields of psychiatry and psychology in this country have historically discriminated against POC it's about time that institutions start to address the pervasive effects of systemic oppression on people's mental health.

 

[failureisnotfatal]

I think it's just a matter of some classes being good, well thought out classes and some classes being bad, poorly planned, poorly researched classes. This can happen with any topic and is not unique to "diversity" focused classes. I have taken some good diversity focused classes and some bad ones in my time at university and during graduate school. It's a mixed bag like anything else. For example, I took a class that focused on assessing linguistically diverse learners (people whose first language is not English) in schools. It was very helpful to me in a practical sense as it made me familiar with differences in the assessment process for English language learners. A diversity focused course like that can be very helpful.

One of your statements gave me a bit of pause "I'm left shaking my head at why this "liberal" profession wants to hand the white nationalists sets of talking points they can repeat ad nauseum on faux "news." I hesitate to respond to it because I don't want to be political or start a political discussion, but at the same time, I just feel like we should be concerned more with doing what is right and not walking on eggshells so as not to piss off "faux news" and white nationalists because they will act in bad faith either way. That's their whole game. No matter how we teach diversity, they will find fault in it. I'm just saying.

 

[smalltownpsych]

My diversity class I had in undergrad was amazing. Dr. Piper-Mandy taught me things about conceptualizing culture that still resonate and I utilize to this day. My doctoral class was disappointing as the search for understanding the rich context and interplay of culture and history was already beginning to be less important than political ideology. As I wrote this, I decided to google Dr. Piper-Mandy to see if she was still teaching and I saw that she has passed away. That is sad, but her legacy lives on as I continue to teach some of the things that she taught me. One key point she made was that the outward manifestations of culture may change in a generation, but the underlying dynamics or principles are extremely resilient and can persist for centuries. Her perspective was that this aspect of culture was a strength and a value and that recognition of this could be a path to change and healing and I completely agree. She also helped me with my dissertation that was conceptualized using a cultural context although that wasn't her idea, when I told her about it she lit up. She was a passionate and amazing educator. They just don't make them like that anymore.

 

[Mashū08]

There is a difference imo, between teaching diversity as a mind opening/awareness process, and teaching that a fetus has it's sex organs imposed on it while in utero by the socialization forces of the patriarchy. That is what I mean when I ask why we are giving faux news it's talking points on a platter.

Yes, I was taught this in a doctoral level program that was APA accredited.