"This is not a day care. This is a university." The latest newsmaking blog post.

[PNWTO]

Yes, the context has some spiritual overtones; I am not extremely religious but the tone is much more noteworthy.

It is great to hear these sentiments beginning to trickle down from high places in educational institutions, this post (http://www.okwu.edu/blog/2015/11/this-is-not-a-day-care-its-a-university/) just happens to be the newest.


This past week, I actually had a student come forward after a university chapel service and complain because he felt “victimized” by a sermon on the topic of 1 Corinthians 13. It appears this young scholar felt offended because a homily on love made him feel bad for not showing love. In his mind, the speaker was wrong for making him, and his peers, feel uncomfortable.

I’m not making this up. Our culture has actually taught our kids to be this self-absorbed and narcissistic. Any time their feelings are hurt, they are the victims. Anyone who dares challenge them and, thus, makes them “feel bad” about themselves, is a “hater,” a “bigot,” an “oppressor,” and a “victimizer.”

I have a message for this young man and all others who care to listen. That feeling of discomfort you have after listening to a sermon is called a conscience. An altar call is supposed to make you feel bad. It is supposed to make you feel guilty. The goal of many a good sermon is to get you to confess your sins—not coddle you in your selfishness. The primary objective of the Church and the Christian faith is your confession, not your self-actualization.

So here’s my advice:

If you want the chaplain to tell you you’re a victim rather than tell you that you need virtue, this may not be the university you’re looking for. If you want to complain about a sermon that makes you feel less than loving for not showing love, this might be the wrong place.

If you’re more interested in playing the “hater” card than you are in confessing your own hate; if you want to arrogantly lecture, rather than humbly learn; if you don’t want to feel guilt in your soul when you are guilty of sin; if you want to be enabled rather than confronted, there are many universities across the land (in Missouri and elsewhere) that will give you exactly what you want, but Oklahoma Wesleyan isn’t one of them.

At OKWU, we teach you to be selfless rather than self-centered. We are more interested in you practicing personal forgiveness than political revenge. We want you to model interpersonal reconciliation rather than foment personal conflict. We believe the content of your character is more important than the color of your skin. We don’t believe that you have been victimized every time you feel guilty and we don’t issue “trigger warnings” before altar calls.

Oklahoma Wesleyan is not a “safe place”, but rather, a place to learn: to learn that life isn’t about you, but about others; that the bad feeling you have while listening to a sermon is called guilt; that the way to address it is to repent of everything that’s wrong with you rather than blame others for everything that’s wrong with them. This is a place where you will quickly learn that you need to grow up.

This is not a day care. This is a university.

After working with students, and even some fellow Veterans(there's a whole other subject), for a a few years now, it seems like Frankenstein has finally taken a good look at his creation.

The only thing I would add to this is damn helicopter-parenting.

Two other grand reads:

"I'm a Liberal Professor, and My Students Terrify Me." (http://www.vox.com/2015/6/3/8706323/college-professor-afraid)

"The Coddling of the American Mind." (http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/09/the-coddling-of-the-american-mind/399356/)

[JodyH]

Boom... headshot.

[Totem Polar]

That works.

[okie john]

...the bad feeling you have while listening to a sermon is called guilt...

And guilt is God telling you to change your ways.

It's sad that what was once common knowledge is now hailed as wisdom.


Okie John

[PNWTO]

It's sad that what was once common knowledge is now hailed as wisdom.

The signal/noise ratio of the narcissistic echo chamber won't allow for anything else.

[RevolverRob]

This is not a day care. This is a university.

What a great quote.

My next lecture class is going to start with a very real lecture about the reality of the coddling of the American Mind, American Anti-Intellectualism, and how the purpose of the university is not to provide you a place free of offense. All of which are relevant to the course material at hand, because the long and short is, students won't pass my class by being offended...they'll fail, just like they should.

Don't get me started on helicopter parents. I once had a student's mother send me an email about her son's exam grade. 1) I can't tell you how embarrassed I would be to have my mommy complain to a professor about my grade. Shit, I wouldn't let a classmate, lab-mate, or even my wife do that. Hell, I don't complain about grades to my professors unless I think they are unfairly assessed. 2) The greatest thing in the world, is telling someone that you cannot confirm or deny that any such individual is enrolled in your class and that to do so is a violation of Federal Law for their adult child. - The response was spectacular.

-Rob

[PNWTO]

... 2) The greatest thing in the world, is telling someone that you cannot confirm or deny that any such individual is enrolled in your class and that to do so is a violation of Federal Law for their adult child. - The response was spectacular.

Been there, done that. LOL'd. #FERPAsaysfuckoff

[okie john]

The greatest thing in the world, is telling someone that you cannot confirm or deny that any such individual is enrolled in your class and that to do so is a violation of Federal Law for their adult child. - The response was spectacular.

*Slow clap*

Well played, sir.


Okie John

[Robinson]

I may not share the man's religious views, but his last statement is a gem.

[hufnagel]

I am agnostic/anti-religion most days, but I would stand with Dr. Everett Piper based on that commentary of his.

[Trooper224]

So much awesome.

[SeriousStudent]

I taught as a college professor in Dallas. I taught because I loved working with motivated students with a burning desire to excel. I'm still in touch with many of them, years later.

I quit teaching because of exactly the kind of sniveling 20-somethings described in the article. Children who considered everyone else a prop in the play that was their lives. Not actors, but props. Actors are people with feelings. Props are inanimate objects that you can destroy or disregard without a care.

I still teach. But now it's in private industry, to mostly 20-something military vets and single parents. They show the same quest to be the best.

And they make excellent minions - loyal and trainable. :cool:

[BWT]

Not to spark a religious/first amendment debate.

I was discussing the multiple implications of the Ten Commandments being removed from public places, etc. with a friend. I told him one of the implications is the removal of our societal norms of right and wrong.

Simply put, wrong is slowly but systematically being erased from our society in my opinion.

God Bless,

Brandon

[RevolverRob]

Not to spark a religious/first amendment debate.

I was discussing the multiple implications of the Ten Commandments being removed from public places, etc. with a friend. I told him one of the implications is the removal of our societal norms of right and wrong.

Simply put, wrong is slowly but systematically being erased from our society in my opinion.

God Bless,

Brandon

While I recognize that a considerable portion of America's common sociocultural ethics are derived from the predominantly Catholic and Protestant religions of early colonizers. I do not feel that the removal of Ten Commandments in government buildings is an implication of the removal of right or wrong, at least in the sense that I (think) you're meaning. Which is the loss of more traditionally derived JudeoChristian ethic? (Maybe I am incorrect here). The issue is not whether or not ethics is derived from religion (it is for some and for some it isn't). But rather the issue is - when did we decide as a society - that offense warranted immediate action. And not careful, critical discourse, and assessment of objective facts and truths. This lack of critical insight, the lack of individual censorship (such that many in our society feel we must censor from the top down), and the complete loss of people to sit and assess reality objective of themselves - is what is leading to our loss of morality.

When we no longer hear alternative opinions, when we no longer see the complaints of our neighbors, when we no longer speak of the evils done to peoples in our society - Then we have lost the ability to objectively evaluate right and wrong.

-Rob

[BWT]

While I recognize that a considerable portion of America's common sociocultural ethics are derived from the predominantly Catholic and Protestant religions of early colonizers. I do not feel that the removal of Ten Commandments in government buildings is an implication of the removal of right or wrong, at least in the sense that I (think) you're meaning. Which is the loss of more traditionally derived JudeoChristian ethic? (Maybe I am incorrect here). The issue is not whether or not ethics is derived from religion (it is for some and for some it isn't). But rather the issue is - when did we decide as a society - that offense warranted immediate action. And not careful, critical discourse, and assessment of objective facts and truths. This lack of critical insight, the lack of individual censorship (such that many in our society feel we must censor from the top down), and the complete loss of people to sit and assess reality objective of themselves - is what is leading to our loss of morality.

When we no longer hear alternative opinions, when we no longer see the complaints of our neighbors, when we no longer speak of the evils done to peoples in our society - Then we have lost the ability to objectively evaluate right and wrong.

-Rob

I thought about it and I thought perhaps my intentions could be expressed ambiguously. What I meant is partially our Judeo Christian heritage. But more so the outliers like teachers not using red pens when grading, the transgender phenomena that seems to target specifically children, and helicopter parenting, etc. Even the open resentment of authority such as Law Enforcement or School Administrators; that's growing in sentiment. It seems like as a culture we are rejecting governance in all aspects.

Essentially, I think that we are not clearly delineating right and wrong these days in this context specifically; correction. I think also to a degree in education. Instead, what feelings a person perceives outweigh the principalities violated these days it seems.

That's kind of what I was leaning towards; we are dismantling (in my opinion) authority in many ways; specifically the capability for correction.

It's late and I'm writing from a smart phone; does this make sense?

God Bless,

Brandon

ETA: Basically I'm saying we lay our principalities at the feet of our sensibilities. I fear the repercussions; I associated that to the display of the Ten Commandments as an example of that.

[RevolverRob]

I thought about it and I thought perhaps my intentions could be expressed ambiguously. What I meant is partially our Judeo Christian heritage. But more so the outliers like teachers not using red pens when grading, the transgender phenomena that seems to target specifically children, and helicopter parenting, etc. Even the open resentment of authority such as Law Enforcement or School Administrators; that's growing in sentiment. It seems like as a culture we are rejecting governance in all aspects.

Essentially, I think that we are not clearly delineating right and wrong these days in this context specifically; correction. I think also to a degree in education. Instead, what feelings a person perceives outweigh the principalities violated these days it seems.

That's kind of what I was leaning towards; we are dismantling (in my opinion) authority in many ways; specifically the capability for correction.

It's late and I'm writing from a smart phone; does this make sense?

God Bless,

Brandon

ETA: Basically I'm saying we lay our principalities at the feet of our sensibilities. I fear the repercussions; I associated that to the display of the Ten Commandments as an example of that.

I'm tracking you. I think we're in agreement. To use your example: I view the removal of Ten Commandments from Government buildings, because people are offended by the presence of them as an exemplification of what is wrong in our society. There are other, more logical, justifications for such an action. For instance, if we reference Amendment 1 of the U.S. Constitution -
Amendment I - Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Someone raising an objection that by placing the Ten Commandments in the State House, of a State that has agreed to abide not only by its State but also by the Federal Constitution, can be viewed as a violation of the First Amendment (Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion). Where as the state representatives act as agents of the authority in many cases of the Federal government and most importantly, collectively the states and their citizens provide the power to the Federal Government. - To weigh out the justification for the placement of the Commandments, against the Constitutional objection and to rule on that matter is the pure definition of the process. And once that process was complete then, and only then, could we be justified in removing the Commandments. - Whereby the Commandments were removed not because we were offended in our sensibilities (although individually we may have been), but because they violated the principalities that define our civilized nation.

-Rob

[BaiHu]

I thought about it and I thought perhaps my intentions could be expressed ambiguously. What I meant is partially our Judeo Christian heritage. But more so the outliers like teachers not using red pens when grading, the transgender phenomena that seems to target specifically children, and helicopter parenting, etc. Even the open resentment of authority such as Law Enforcement or School Administrators; that's growing in sentiment. It seems like as a culture we are rejecting governance in all aspects.

Essentially, I think that we are not clearly delineating right and wrong these days in this context specifically; correction. I think also to a degree in education. Instead, what feelings a person perceives outweigh the principalities violated these days it seems.

That's kind of what I was leaning towards; we are dismantling (in my opinion) authority in many ways; specifically the capability for correction.

It's late and I'm writing from a smart phone; does this make sense?

God Bless,

Brandon

ETA: Basically I'm saying we lay our principalities at the feet of our sensibilities. I fear the repercussions; I associated that to the display of the Ten Commandments as an example of that.

I like what you both have to say on this. If I may presume what BWT is saying, it goes like this:

When we begin to diminish, remove, or ignore that which has made this country the greatest country on earth, we begin to dismantle ourselves as a people. The underpinnings of the 10 commandments are human first and religious second. Without man's input, we'd never have the 10 commandments.

I'm not religious per se, even though I've been confirmed, but I recognize the power religion plays in our cultural identity. Some of us, in this country, that are religious or otherwise can still maintain the structure of faith through other means--thereby compromising. Others, however, cannot stand by and compromise--they must destroy that which makes them uncomfortable.

Typically, I find this in people who are liberals, democrats or progressives. They are always telling me to not be so close minded as they shut the door on my reality and try to force feed me theirs. I find it most curious that those who most preach tolerance are the most intolerant and insufferable people I have ever met.

Good on Piper. Good on RR. Good on BWT. Let us all carry the burden of reality forward so that the next generation doesn't suck themselves up into a narcissian black hole.

[TAZ]

I too am in the same boat as SeriousStudent, albeit not at his level. I used to love working with kids, but the sniveling twit syndrome of the never ending stream of special snowflakes made it not worth my time.

I am not a religious person, but I am a man of faith. To me the 10 commandments have always been a kind of fundamental definition of right and wrong. The insistence on their removal IMO has always been a sign that folks are redefining what is right and wrong and want no reminders of previous definitions around to cause trouble. Kind of like the insecure person who cant handle something and tries to hide it. The smoker who cant be around other smokers cause he is incapable of controlling himself.

Like BaiHu, I find that liberals preaching tolerance tend to be the most intolerant of other views. Their version of tolerance is a one way street heading in their direction only. Anything that could cause folks to think and ponder opposing views must be removed so that eventually folks forget. The removal of past ideological reminders as a tool to dominate the present and mold the future is as old as time. Form the simplistic rape/pillage all the way to the winners write history of modern times.

[SAWBONES]

I very much agree with the ideas and sentiments expressed by most in this thread.

Modern "help everyone feel good all the time, and never hurt anybody's feelings" attitudes are unrealistic, unobtainable and ultimately destructive to personal character.

I not only disagree with removal of courthouse Ten Commandments monuments, but also with removal of traditional Christmas or Easter displays at the appropriate seasons, and with removal of the the "Stars and Bars" Confederate flag from any points where it was displayed south of the Mason-Dixon Line (and I'm a Damn Yankee), and would probably disagree with any other changes in public displays motivated by "political correctness" that you might cite from the past couple decades.

These things are parts of our history, not things of which we should now somehow become ashamed.

Knowledge of history has been supplanted in importance within the public ethos by emphasis on "feel good" ideas about current and past events, and to a significant degree, meaningful education at the college level has been replaced by course offerings emphasizing "modern social relevance" rather than classical science, history, language and philosophy.
Too many modern young people apparently know almost nothing of history, and it seems that not many are learning to think critically.

No one has any "right" to never be offended!

[idahojess]

South Park has been nailing it this season (I agree with the original post, but this is a more light-hearted expression of the same idea, complete with Steven Seagal).:


http://youtu.be/sXQkXXBqj_U

[Joe in PNG]

One big part of growing up is learning that the world doesn't revolve around you.
However, this thought is not natural to the child, nor is the lesson easy for the modern, 'caring' parent to impart.