War of Words

So the listserv war has begun. As usual, the participants seem to be talking past each other rather than to one another, but I will try to summarize some of the debate.

1st email: An internship posting by someone who works in the grad program office, highlighting an internship with the "Hispanic Council for Reform and Educational Options" (Hispanic CREO), a group that supports school vouchers.

2nd email:
FYI to All Concerned.

HCREO is a far-right wing organization whose mission is to advocate vouchers and de-fund public education. I would urge anyone considering an internship there to check out the group thoroughly to make sure you can stomach their ideology.

3rd email:

Everyone,

It is very unusual that I respond to the listserve, but I feel the need to respond in this case. I fear that our conservative classmates, who are in the minority in the college from my experience, will further keep their views and perspectives to themselves if we do not create a culture where everyone's perspective is valued. Though I appreciate [the above] email about gaining information about an organization for person-fit purposes, the inadvertent use of language (i.e. "stomach their ideology") may ostracize our classmates who identify themselves as conservative. I personally struggle with ways to address this issue especially
in the classroom. Thoughts?

Then a flurry of responses, one of which was mine:

I wrote a note to [the above author] personally, but realized that it might be a good idea to post to the whole community. I thanked [him] for raising this point. Diversity can also refer to diversity of opinion. Some of us do not choose to align with a particular political orientation and rather "try out" viewpoints in their writings and conversations in an attempt to find what best fits their personal orientation. While "trying on" these viewpoints, debate is useful and productive, but personal attacks and negative language are not.

I'd like to extend a big thank you to the individuals in this program who make classrooms feel like a safe place to explore issues fully. Voltaire may or may not have say "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it," but the idea behind the statement is one we should all strive for. The ACLU, seen as a liberal organization, has even defended the right of extremist groups such as the KKK to protest in public. While they certainly do not condone the message, our Constitution protects their right to express it peacefully.

During most of our classes, we identify ourselves with our name, our career, and our research interests. Perhaps if we could also identify ourselves as open-minded by saying, "My personal political orientation is liberal/conservative/moderate

/independent, but I welcome debate and I will always listen to you and respect your opinion if you disagree with me" as part of our introduction. That way, those in the class who hold different beliefs or are unsure would know you as a safe person to whom they could express their thoughts. Kind of cheesy, maybe, but we all have a right to feel safe and respected among our peers.

Thanks for reading this.

The author of the initial email stating that Hispanic CREO has extremist right wing beliefs responded, stating:

My use of language was not inadvertent, it was intentional.

Yes, yes "conservatives" should be included in the conversation and made to feel welcomed and all that.

If you are someone who believes that public schools should not be adequetly funded and that allowing parents to use public money (vouchers) to send their kids to private religious schoolsis great, then by all means call HCREO and sign up. You
might also call the Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO) or the Alliance for School Choice - it doesn't really matter since they are all funded and run by the same crowd.

I'm not looking down on conservatives and I don't think people who agree with the right-wing anti-public education movement are immoral or evil. They are just wrong. If you want to be wrong too - HCREO has internships available.

[Inital author] and other - do you have an argument in support of the voucher movement's agenda, or is this just a chance to complain about how hard it is to be a conservative in the College?

Apparently all we do is complain about how hard it is to be conservative. Which, apparently, is different than "conservative." No, I kid. I don't mean to stoop to his level. When someone responded to this email stating that the emails about tolerance were attempting to establish an environment in which people could debate freely, K (the author of the last email), said that we should stop talking about language and tone and start debating. I think he missed the point. No one, certainly not the minority "conservative" (and please, people, you know I'm a moderate) voices, is going to open himself up to the blistering criticism K lambastes people on the listserv with on a regular basis. What point is there in debating an issue with someone who already thinks you are wrong for not agreeing with him?

Besides that, I'm unsure of how I feel about vouchers. I need to do more research. And I'm certainly not going to post my research on the listserv to unsympathetic ears. I know I have favorable opinions of some alternative school choice, due to my own positive high school experience in a magnet school. However, I'm unwilling to preach when I myself don't hold a strong opinion. I'm in a graduate program to learn, to listen, and to form my opinions based on readings, research, and what I discover about my own values and ethics. Not just to espouse the opinions of the status quo in our department.