They have a masters degree program called "Leadership in Ecology, Culture and Learning." Before I even start, let's just take a few moments and gaze in awe at this wonderful name. What would it mean to be a "leader" in "ecology, culture and learning?" Wouldn't you be embarrassed to be at a cocktail party and tell people that you had a masters degree in Leadership in Ecology, Culture and Learning?
Isn't it kinda scary that apparently some people AREN'T embarrassed? And these folks are teaching our kids somewhere in some public school?
Well, take a look at some of the courses in this program.
ELP 410/510: Ecology and Social Justice (4)
ELP 410/510: Garden-Based Education Research (4)
ELP 410/510: Global Indigenous Cultures: Journey into Biocultural Diversities (4)
ELP 410/510: Learning Gardens and Sustainability (4)
ELP 410/510: LECL Naturalist Mentoring (2-4)
ELP 410/510: Nonviolence and Gandhi's Educational Philosophy (4)
ELP 410/510: Global Indigenous Cultures: Journey into Biocultural Diversities (4)
ELP 410/510: Learning Gardens and Sustainability (4)
ELP 410/510: LECL Naturalist Mentoring (2-4)
ELP 410/510: Nonviolence and Gandhi's Educational Philosophy (4)
ELP 410/510: Permaculture and Whole Systems Design I (4)
ELP 410/510: Permaculture and Whole Systems Design II (4)
ELP 431U: Gandhi, Zapata and Topics in New Agrarianism (4)
ELP 448U: Introduction to Global Political Ecology (4)
ELP 449U: Spiritual Leadership (4)
ELP 450U: Introduction to Leadership for Sustainability (4)
ELP 501: Theory and Practice of Sustainability (1-4)
ELP 503: LECL Thesis/ELP 506: LECL Culminating Project (2)
ELP 510: Ecological Education in K-8 School (4)
ELP 510: Urban Education Farm: Food Policy, Curriculum Design, and Action! (1-4)
ELP 516/616: Collaborative Ethnographic Research Methods (4)
ELP 517/617: Ecological and Cultural Foundations of Learning (4)
ELP 519: Sustainability Education (4)
ELP 548: Advanced Global Political Ecology (4)
ELP 550: Leadership for Sustainability (4)
This is a masters degree in EDUCATION program! I promise - I didn't cherry pick only the most outrageous sounding courses. I just copied EVERY course listed in the program. For an even better laugh, go read some of the course summaries that describe these important and worthwhile courses. Here is the description of the first course:
ELP 410/510: Ecology and Social Justice (4) What have social classes, gender, ethnic and race relations got to do with ecology in the greater Portland area and North America? Are there various types of environmentalisms depending upon how people concerned are situated in a particular culture of habitat and “relations of ruling? This course addresses these questions within the rubric of Earth Democracy, while expanding democracy to include intra and intergenerational democracy as well as inter-species democracy, intercultural democracy and inter-economic systems democracy. While intercultural democracy seeks equal recognition and respect for all bio-cultural diversities, inter-economic systems democracy seeks mutually beneficial exchange between producers and consumers, industry and agriculture, and rural and urban livelihoods.
Inter-species democracy? Again, I am not cherry picking. This is the very first course listed - pretty much each and every one of them has a course description which is just laughable. They actually have Perfessers who teach this crap!
Keep this in mind next time they whine about not having enough money.
4 comments:
Heck Rob, the course ought to be entitled "Leadership as a Watermellon Green".
Dave Lister
Had a conversation with Son #2 Sunday.
He is required by OSU to take a class in Women's Studies. He hates it.
He spends two-three hours a week finding out why men are to be hated. How do you get a grade in the face of this?
Back in '82, I ran into a former Oregon Secretary of State who was involved in getting the Women's Study Center established on campus. I don't think she was pleased when I asked her why she wanted to institutionalize the inferiority of women.
Twenty-six years later, the Women's Center has obviously failed at uplifting women. But they have done a fairly good job of separating.
.
What's amazing about these courses is that they're part of the EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION program. Educational admin ("leadership") courses are intended for principals, superintendents, and other school administrators. Wouldn't it be better if they spent more time on school finance, school law, testing and measurements, and other aspects of mananging schools?
Is the goal here to develop "educational leaders" who will indoctrinate students in a lot of this green garbage?
I also don't understand how there can be a program in "Leadership for Sustainability" when we can't even agree on what "sustainability" is.
Didn't see this in time. These classes look perfectly fine to me, if a little redundant. I'll just say that for a while we had too few people studying externalities and unintended consequences. Maybe now we have a few too many. That doesn't make it a bad thing.
OregonGuy - tell your son to open his mind a little bit. Another perspective isn't the worst thing in the world. And are you sure he isn't "required" to choose from a group of "social studies" classes, and this is the only one that fit his schedule?
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