There Are Good Reasons To Teach Social Justice

Thursday, October 18, 2007; Page A24

George F. Will's opinions on so-called indoctrination in schools of social work ["Code of Coercion," op-ed, Oct. 14] reveal precisely the lack of awareness that drives these academic programs to teach social justice.

Social workers assist those who lack privilege, particularly the poor, so it makes sense for practitioners to be schooled in the nature of social privilege so that they may function without compounding the systems and attitudes that keep people down.

Discussion Policy
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.

By railing against "political correctness" and indoctrination in universities, Mr. Will, the National Association of Scholars and conservatives generally are actually expressing a preference for their own long-standing and socially dominant forms of indoctrination.

It is ironic that Mr. Will cited the American Association of University Professors to support his position: The organization was founded in part in response to the dismissal of a professor who researched the problems of immigrant railroad workers.

SCOTT D. MONROE

Alexandria


© 2007 The Washington Post Company