Another Example of Classroom Indoctrination

From Right Off the Shore:

. . . yet another example of classroom indoctrination, this time at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

After talking about it from a minorities point of view, my white teacher handed out an article by a Peggy McIntosh entitled “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack.” You can read an excerpt of the article here. The gist of the article is that Peggy feels as though everything white people have attained in life can be attributed to our “white privilege.” She feels that everything from careers, to education, to societal standing is due to our “white privilege.”

Blogger Jenna concludes:

I was extremely offended by this article.

Nothing that I have attained or that has happened in my life has happened because I am white. I would doubt that my race was even a factor in anything. . . .

Peggy, however, decides to doubt my achievements, and every other white person’s, and instead chalks it all up to “white privilege.”

Not surprisingly, checking the Raynor Library reserves shows that this particular article is on reserve for Education 008, one of the two introductory Education school courses that appear to be little more than politically correct victim studies.

But of course an open-minded instructor might encourage critical analysis of politically correct texts.

We would welcome hearing from students who have been assigned this reading in their courses.

[Update:]

An e-mail correspondent sends the following information:

That white privilege piece was circulated among MU English TAs by the director of first-year English in years past. Much of McIntosh’s list has more to do with class (and speech, dress, or behavior) than race, but it passes for wisdom among the guilt-afflicted whose experience outside their own flock is basically nil.

[Further Update:]

Shark & Shephard has turned up an hilarious Eddie Murphy parody of the notion of “white skin privilege:” a routine titled White Like Eddie.