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

Huh?

Loads of people wear second hand clothes.
Because don't have much money, because they are environmental types, or like unusual fashion combos...

I have NEVER IN MY LIFE heard anyone even suggest that anyone in second hand clothes due to poverty, bad morals (???!!!), or illiteracy of race (I'm not even sure what that means).

Ever.

So it's putting the idea into the students heads that this is a common standard way to view anyone in second hand clothes. Well done that training course!

If anything in the UK it's often the reverse. Being ostentatious is considered crass. When it comes to race, the fact that black people sometimes have a fondness for expensive things that are well known to be expensive is criticised. Often. That's racist. Interestingly the same complaint is/ was applied to Jewish people who enjoyed nice things that were obviously expensive. In home decor in particular. Garish. Ostentatious. Lacking class.

In short.

This course is not only going to make many/ most on it feel resentful/ unfairly maligned.

It doesn't even seem to match anything about the real world.

So it's not useless. It's WORSE than useless.

The swearing point is bizarre.

I thought it was well known that upper class types swear like troopers.

I read once that it's the the top and bottom (sorry) of the English class system who swear like mad. Because they don't care generally what anyone thinks of them.

It's the aspirational MC people who don't like it. Because they are concerned about the opinions of others and overly concerned about what others think.

Old school language etc.

IME this is true though.

Numpties.

@andyoldlabour It’s not an accident, there has been a deliberate attempt to infiltrate further education with left leaning liberal types since the 70’s.

Thats why you rarely hear anything negative about far left political atrocities like those committed by China and Russia.

Um. You mean in the past?

Because I have read about appalling behaviour by both those govts loads

Do you follow the news at all? Just out of interest.

Hope you're having a fab time on these boards tonight?

I have asked you a question about your views on paedophilia on another thread btw. Given your blanket statement that anyone who has experienced Oppression / esp due to sexuality should totally support all sexualities that are marginalised.

@NiceGerbil But there are plenty of students and academics who support and even identify as communism/communists despite it being the cause of 100 million deaths in the past 100 years of so?

I have very little idea what it is trying to say.

It looks like one individual's personal gripe list translated into a universal policy.

what you are talking about on this thread is actually the best of the "module". - At least its coming from a well intentioned aim of making student life easier for all. - The modules on sexual harassment (that ignore the fact that its women that are most affected) or on sex and gender (that tell students to agree with statements about the fluidity of sex, that the discrimination faced by people wishing to escape the roles placed on them through their sex is transphobia (sexisim is not given as an option) or on pronouns) are much more egregious. There is also a question on the racism quiz that tells students to agree with a specific model of systemic racism

Often class is confused with race. “Blingy” taste is common (excuse the pun) to some people of all races.Food choices are also class-driven just as much as heritage-driven.

This questionnaire might just as well be rooting out who is middle class. (Although who devised it is probably wholly clad in Oxfam chic and has a penchant for a quinoa latte.)

Bling? They’ve never been to the ME then. Tastes differ...

coughs, the worst thing about the module is its SEXISM not the way that it teaches about race

*“I can swear, or dress in second-hand clothes, without having people attribute these choices to the bad morals, the poverty or the illiteracy of my race.”

Is there a module on class, accents and actual poverty or is the assumption that all white students have this privilege?

at kent btw

@KittenKong

Bling? They’ve never been to the ME then. Tastes differ...

Ah, yes. The famous Saudi gaudy. (Spent many many years living in various Middle Eastern countries.)

There's a kind of a back story to it, though. If you are from a desert area where there is little variation in colour (I'm talking ME desert) then anything that is bright and colourful takes on a special significance: it can mean plants, which means water and fodder. It is also a relief from the unending beige of the sand. It signifies something new and not dusty or used.

I don't know why Louis XV style furniture seems so popular across the region, though. I guess it's a case of one group taking a liking to it and others following suit.

To each their own! For example, I'm a barbarian and will happily drink instant coffee with UHT milk.

Then again the Victorian’s were very Blingy. I remember when the Albert memorial was unveiled after its clean up (it was just all black before). Blimey it’s gaudy!

drwitch

We'd love to critique the whole thing, but it's not publicly available.

(If anyone at UKC would care to share?)

And my family in/from the ME are absolute city dwellers but yes, love the Louis style (antiques rather than repro), but are a little more restrained than some of the stores on the Edgware Road selling 3foot high gold Jaguar statues and bejewelled hookahs.

@merrymouse

*“I can swear, or dress in second-hand clothes, without having people attribute these choices to the bad morals, the poverty or the illiteracy of my race.”

Is there a module on class, accents and actual poverty or is the assumption that all white students have this privilege?

It's OK to assume the worst about white people because they are a monolithic group whose families were slave owners, who take pleasure in flaunting their privilege (because all of them are privileged) and who are responsible for all the world's evils. Everything they do, say and think is the result of conscious or unconscious bias and microaggressions. They should never be given the benefit of the doubt because they are automatically guilty.

See? I summed it up in one (long-ish) sentence. No need for a whole module. Just put the above sentence up with a tick box saying "I have read, understood and agree with the Terms and Conditions" and Ruud's your uncle.

@drwitch

what you are talking about on this thread is actually the best of the "module". - At least its coming from a well intentioned aim of making student life easier for all. - The modules on sexual harassment (that ignore the fact that its women that are most affected) or on sex and gender (that tell students to agree with statements about the fluidity of sex, that the discrimination faced by people wishing to escape the roles placed on them through their sex is transphobia (sexisim is not given as an option) or on pronouns) are much more egregious. There is also a question on the racism quiz that tells students to agree with a specific model of systemic racism

Can't share for obvious reasons but summary above

That sounds like a candidate for some kind of challenge citing the Forstater ruling...

Yes!

The Kent module also contains this gem: "Sex is, in fact, a diverse, multi-expressive form of identity, and a full spectrum." There are two possible answers to this on the test, true and false. When you click false, you are told you are wrong.

@GCmiddle @SelfPortraitWithEels suggested this question was liable for a challenge follower Forstater. - I think they are right. - I also think the question on pronouns + the about discrimination for non gender conforming behaviour is (It ommits sexism as a fundamental cause)

Some crossed wires in the University of Kent's communications.

This page on the website, for students, currently says: The Expect Respect Module is a compulsory module for all registered students at the University of Kent, regardless of what you are studying.

www.kent.ac.uk/equality-diversity-inclusivity/training#student

But this newspaper article says it isn't.

...it was clarified that whilst participation was encouraged, it is by no means mandatory, and not taking the course would not result in any kind of punishment. "While we would like as many students as possible to take the module, nobody would face action for not doing so," the spokesperson added.

www.kentlive.news/whats-on/whats-on-news/university-kent-debunks-claims-students-5989708

They can't both be right.

You have to worry about the quality of some of their courses (apparently they offer a BA in Social Work) if this module was approved by the University.

Not just Saudis, I think 99% of Italians would die rather than wear second-hand clothes. And a fair few have that elaborate curlicued furniture. No Italian ever has responded to, “I like your dress,” with “Oh, this old thing? I got it off the market years ago.”