Students Tackle Isms
Throughout their two years at the School, students are encouraged to engage with those who may be different by recognizing individual and group strengths and resilience. They are urged to think critically and learn to challenge bias, prejudice, and discrimination that are inescapable in the larger world in which social workers and the people with whom they work exist.
Special attention to these issues and dynamics are at the heart of the Isms Laboratory, a course elective conceptualized and organized by Assistant Professor Elwin Wu. It may be the only one of its kind to focus specifically on the isms that shape our thoughts, actions, and interactions and that have wide ranging ramifications.
Students themselves, not the professor, become the most valuable source of information in the class, says Dr. Wu. “There is a real emphasis on having students drive the topics,” he says. “The critical analysis of their own identities and knowledge of how that might affect their relationships with those on whose behalf they work is essential for a social worker.”
Dr. Wu believes that in the end, the course work prepares students well for life.
“It is much less important to teach people Skill A, Item B, Piece of Information C, than to ensure they become learners themselves,” he says. “After graduation, they will not have the luxury of a classroom and professor as they challenge ‘isms.’ Having the skill and capability to function effectively while not necessarily feeling ‘safe’ will make them more capable agents of change in the real world.”
The Isms Laboratory builds upon work that begins the very first day of the Orientation Program for Incoming Students. New students are engaged in critical conversations about diversity and difference practices through the Self-Awareness Program led by Dr. Peggy O’Neill, senior lecturer, and a team of second-year students who work with her. It provides a unique opportunity for entering students to explore their own experiences and awareness— or lack thereof—of racism, sexism, and other forms of prejudice.
All students have additional options through which they can continue their explorations. Among these are the 24 student caucuses that focus on many of the isms as well as other interest areas and the special guest lectures and the student planned Community Day held each semester.
From start to finish, students at the School are reminded that their development as professionals will require that they grow in their own self-awareness and in their ability to work within diverse contexts with people who may be different from them.