“Microaggressions,” My Keester!
Good heavens, when will all of this nonsense stop? Given the very real societal upheaval and damage done to the fabric of our country through the concerted efforts, during the 2008-2016 time-frame, it may not. Regrettably, it’s not only possible that the damage-generating nonsense may not cease, it may get even worse, depending on national leadership, to the point where we no longer recognize the America we thought we knew.
It’s been reported that the National Science Foundation has awarded three professors at a university in Iowa, $248,000 (in tax-payer funds) to research “gender and racial microaggressions” within the engineering program there, with the goal of making students “feel safer in the classroom.” What???
Are students at this, or any other university, being physically or verbally attacked in their engineering classes? Doubtful. These students are not in some softer, gentler, love the one you’re with degree program. These are engineering students. Career-driven STEM students. Armed with proven academic potential, a definite cut above. As such, are we to conclude that these highly-focused and academically-capable students, immersed in a major course of study that is one of the most demanding curricula on any respected university campus, are somehow now at peak-performance risk, due to possible relationship issues, hurt feelings, or doggone-mean fellow students, within these challenging classrooms?
Engineering students, by their nature, and by the demands required to earn what is now, often a five-year degree, have no time to worry about some generic gender or race issues, issues that likely wouldn’t exist nearly as much if they weren’t so continually jammed, by media, in everyone’s face. Those pursuing engineering sequences worry about, and concentrate on, their academic achievement and progress. And, if experiencing course difficulties, they seek out professorial help or tutoring assistance, with zero time under those ever-more challenging circumstances, to spend any time or energy devoted to some ambiguous, trendy nonsense called “microaggressions”! Which, say the full-time intellectuals, may well lead directly to feeling unsafe in the classroom. Not in off-campus housing, or in a dorm; not walking to class, or out walking in the evening. No. The safety issue, requiring almost a quarter of a million dollars in tax-payer research funding, is apparently right there in the classroom, in front of a professor and several or hundreds of fellow students, depending on entry-level or advanced courses.
It’s reported that one aim of this nationally funded research (did we mention, tax-payer funded) is to “study the subtle behaviors, or microaggressions, that students experience in engineering programs,” with the goal of becoming more aware of these identified subtle behaviors that may, may, be doing harm to engineering students.
We’re told that these microscopic happenings, called “microaggressions,” can trigger bad psychological reactions in susceptible students (which we’re led to believe, from all the spotlighted attention recently, seems to be most, if not all, of them), causing them to feel psychologically or socially unsafe. Not a challenge to physical safety, mind you. Just the perception/conclusion of being under-appreciated, unaccepted, or possibly even disliked, by whomever, or whatever else a young mind can be socially side-tracked by, rather than directing their fuller time, energy, and academic abilities to their chosen studies and degree.
And to repeat for emphasis, what we’re talking about researching in this study, is limited to that Iowa university engineering program (with the likelihood that results will be published for use by academics at other schools, within engineering programs or otherwise).
That said, isn’t it interesting, that in the hundreds of years that the many engineering specialties have been taught at universities, here and around the world, millions of engineers have been able to study, graduate, and have productive, society-enhancing careers, without being thwarted by this new, clearly non-engineering invention called “microaggression.” And, as far as we’ve been told, none of them, save those researching and perfecting explosive devices, or experimental procedures with the potential for bodily harm, have historically ever spoken of the need for a “safe space.”
And by the way, since we now intend to deal with established reality, a final thought on the well-publicized concept, apparently unique to young people, called “triggering” (closely related, by constant association, to “microaggression” and “safe space”). The only actual “triggering” of any honesty, validity or merit is not that of a popularized, psycho-social phenomenon on campus. No, real-world use of a trigger is that which results, for our safety and protection, when law enforcement officers have to use their weapons to take down bad guys threatening them or others, and when America’s courageous military members have to take out terrorists for the clear benefit of national security and freedom, both for our nation and the world. Period.
(Research study quotes via The Blaze.com, Sarah Taylor, 8-24-18)