Diversity course at University of Kent

[andyoldlabour]

The university of Kent is introducing a mandatory 4 hour diversity course for students where it will be concentrating on topics such as White Privilege, Microaggressions and Pronouns.
Apparently seconhand clothes could be seen as an example of "white privilege".
"The course, titled Expect Respect and seen by The Telegraph, includes a white privilege quiz where participants are asked to pick which of 13 options are societal benefits allegedly enjoyed by white people in the UK.
If the student ticks all 13, a gold star is awarded, and if not, a button appears directing them to retry.
Staff have also been emailed by faculty managers to consider adding trigger warnings to exam papers, and carry out “pronoun checks, make a note of them and use them correctly” when meeting new students, such as they/them or ze/zir."

www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/wearing-second-hand-clothes-an-example-of-white-privilege-students-told/ar-AAOSULh?ocid=mailsignout&li=AAnZ9Ug

When I was on the dole in Hackney I had a part time bar job 2 nights a week ( I doubt they will extradite me for fraud after all this time) Anyway I got an old tweed jacket in the Oxfam shop - £5
You couldn't get cold in this thing even if it was a bit worn looking. But the landlady said she would sack me if I ever wore it again. A moral victory to me though and an example of my privilege.

C8H10N4O2

You referring to the Telegraph as a tabloid is very telling. How would you describe the Indy or the Guardian?

DD is at Kent atm, she's going to investigate and report back. She'd heard something about the second hand clothes (I assume via Twitter) but nothing official so far

@Andante57

How could you possibly tell if someone's clothes were second-hand or just old?

I wondered that.

Has anyone at the university challenged the author of all this? Or would that mean instant cancellation?

Lord above - When I was a student I used to wear some handmade suit jackets and coats that dad had made when he was in the army! I still have an old tweed waistcoat (those must’ve been made in the 50s) and an overcoat (somewhere). Was I a proper student when?

I m sorry for the students going to Kent University. This is racism against white people and is not helping anybody. How can somebody possible think this is the right approach?
I would encourage the defunding of these universities from taxpayers money if they get any.

@HandsOffMyRights

One more to strike off DS' university lists.

Yup, same!

I have worn second hand clothes all my life and noticed varying attitues. My nan called herself the jumble sale queen and prided herself on bargains for all the family. She even bought M&S stuff and took it back to the actual shop to exchange it for other stuff. She used to take us with her and we loved it too. It never worried me wearing that stuff but soon learned that some other kids took the piss. At university it became a cool thing to do. Now, have a relative who buys stuff on ebay for special occasions and then moves it on again, never wirhout a different outfit and costs almost nothing. There are all sorts of second hand clothes, some I would not wear, there also all kinds of attitudes rowards them and cannot easily be demarcated by the race of the user. I never knew being canny was a privilege. Why is it that those who are so bloody keen on diversity always want to impose their narrow views on everyone else?

This is racism against white people and is not helping anybody

and it comes from white people who simply do not have a clue that all white people are as priviliged as them..

damn meant to say

and it comes from white people who simply do not have a clue that all white people are NOT as priviliged as them

why should any one else listen to their lectures?

Thanks for the share token for The Times article.

A student who ticks all 13 gets a gold star, otherwise a button appears telling them to try the quiz again.

How many fingers am I holding up, Winston?

My main concern about this is why the fuck do universities now think it's ok to tell students how to think rather than teaching critical thinking?

Debating and discussing these issues are absolutely fine. Dictating thought is a bit Orwellian.

and it comes from white people who simply do not have a clue that all white people are as priviliged as them..

I think they know very well about the oiks, and this is them putting the oiks in their place.

From my limited experience of working in a university (not there now, thank god!), wouldn't a decision like this have to be approved at the highest level? For something to be mandatory for every single student - and not a trivial thing, this is a four hour online module - wouldn't the Academic Board or equivalent have had to agree to this? I wonder how much it cost to make.

What's the university's stance on second hand books and "white privilege", the cost of books being of great concern to students?

New paperbacks are expensive, hardbacks even more so. I got the complete works of Chaucer in a chazzer for 50p when I was studying English Lit (rrp £14.95). Was this wrong somehow?

@andyoldlabour

C8H10N4O2

You referring to the Telegraph as a tabloid is very telling. How would you describe the Indy or the Guardian?

I didn't. You seem to have misread my post.

I suspect Chaucer would be unacceptably diverse and would need to be replaced by something with more representation for oppressed minorities.

Has anyone throwing up their arms in shock and horror and stating this is racism against white people actually read the course materials and objectives?

Or checked if its part of a general diversity awareness programme covering other groups apart from ethnic minorities?

The U of Kent's diversity module (or whatever it's called) is a load of nonsense.

It's called the "Expect Respect" module and you must sign in with ID to see it.

Yes, thank you. That's it "Expect Respect".

@Jaysmith71

It's called the "Expect Respect" module and you must sign in with ID to see it.

To the Telegraph? I don't have an account, is the full module and context available anywhere else?

I would encourage the defunding of these universities from taxpayers money if they get any.

Nah, the complete opposite!

So, any wonder that universities feel the need to pander to everyone's sensitivities? We have commodified education. Congratulations! It has worked! Students these days are paying a minor fortune for a measly undergrad of questionable market value - no wonder they expect their sensitivities to be prioritised. They'd be fucking stupid if they didn't at least demand the obligatory feel-good factor on top of the piece of paper in exchange for a minor fortune. FWIW, everyone and their grandmother has a degree at this point. As a hiring manager, I don't even particularly care in what yours happens to be or from where anymore. I'll have you pass some standardised tests and insist that my best and brightest interview you personally instead.

Truth be told: higher education is a major rip-off these days. And it's neither great for academic standards nor for the suckers that pay for the "pleasure" of participating. Nor, for that matter, is it for employers (see above, we invest a lot of money to deal with the results, too!).

Personally, I'm pretty convinced that the commodification of higher education has A LOT to answer for here.

You need your UKC ID to see it:

blogs.kent.ac.uk/staff-student-news/2020/10/08/launch-of-the-expect-respect-module/

I’m a serial name changer but I have been on mumsnet a fair few years and I often post about my working class background, and sometimes about the problems and dilemmas vulnerable families face (my old job used to be involved with vulnerable families) and there is usually always someone sneering at my posts, and I would put money on them being privileged people that consider themselves extremely liberal that are doing the sneering and the stereotyping.

I think it’s really divisive to try and have a race to the bottom between disadvantaged groups, and telling WC people that they are privileged or have had easy lives is really narrow minded.

And I don’t see how any of these quizzes help tackle inequality, i would rather see universities hire more underrepresented academics and staff than churn out this nonsense .

In this test you are either going to be honest and fail, or be dishonest and pass.

Looking at the questions, most students would fail, eg “I don’t have trouble finding foods in a supermarket to match my heritage” or “when I ask to speak to the manager they match my heritage”. It’s simply bizarre. It’s like the witch’s ducking stool.