Email This StoryStudy says social work schools too political
Sept. 18, 2007
By Star De La Cruz
Staff writer
Last week The National Association of Scholars released a study concluding that social work education at public schools is highly political.
The top 10 public universities with the highest enrollment in social work were chosen for the study, including the University of Texas at Austin. The researchers behind the study were interested in knowing if political allegiances in the social work profession had "blurred the line between academic practice and political activism" and become incorporated into classrooms to change the opinions of students about social work issues and problems.
Dr. Diana Garland, dean of Baylor's School of Social Work, has read the study and said it's a political document attempting to discredit social work programs.
Garland said the aim of those behind the study is to get people on their side, which is political and not scholarly.
"It's not a good research paper," she said. "They basically took the experiences of three students and then generalized it to all social work programs."
The study said that taking into consideration the traditional academic ideals that go against closed inquiry and partisan engagement, its findings are scandalous.
The study gives four crucial factors to support its conclusion. First, the study states that all 10 programs examined are accredited by the Council of Social Work Education. This organization "requires programs to embrace and/or prepare students to advocate for social and economic goals described by decidedly liberal/left formulations such as social and economic justice."
Baylor's School of Social Work is accredited by the council, but Garland said it absolutely doesn't require advocacy.
"What we teach is skills of advocacy and critical thinking of assessment, not to indoctrinate (our students)," she said.
The second important finding, the study says, is that nine of the 10 programs require students to conform to the Code of Ethics of the National Association of Social Workers, which commands social workers to "engage in social and political action, to advocate for changes in policy and legislation, to improve social conditions to meet basic human needs and promote social justice."
Garland said there is a NASW chapter on campus, but students aren't required to join.
"We're prohibited to advocate certain legislation to our students, and that would be considered unethical for NASW," Garland said. "The study is full of errors and wrong about what they say is going on in the classrooms."
Katy junior Lizzy Hamburg, a social work major, said the academic discipline goes beyond politics.
"Part of the social worker's job is to work with the government and trying to advocate social justice," she said. "I don't necessarily think it matters if you're conservative or liberal or if you even care about politics as much as you care about humans and their problems."
The third finding of the study states that the mission statements of the chosen programs are full of ideologically burdened statements dealing with the empowerment of the oppressed and understanding how discrimination leads to poverty, racism and sexism.
The mission statement of Baylor's School of Social Work is, "To prepare students in a Christian context for experience in professional social work practice and leadership in diverse settings worldwide."
The last finding of the National Association of Scholars dealt with social work course descriptions containing highly politicized content. One course at the University of Michigan, "Organizing for Social and Political Action," is described as preparing students to use "political advocacy as a form of mobilization."
Garland said the study took courses it saw online from the programs and chose the courses that helped prove its point.
"Our course descriptions cover everything from play therapy with abused children to organizing communities for economic and social development," Garland said.
The study states universities shouldn't be a setting for politics and concludes, "politics is politics and doctrine, doctrine, wherever it is found."
"Preparing students to think critically about social policies and positions is different from endorsing what side to be on," Garland said. "It's not a criterion in our program to ask for political preference, and it's not an issue for us."
Hamburg said last year a group of Baylor social work students went to Austin for a social cause, but she wasn't forced to go or even encouraged to by professors; they just inform students of the events.
"In my research class we learn how to interview and analyze," Hamburg said.
"We practice with each other as well as volunteering in the community, so we learn about going into the work."
Big Spring senior Vanessa Parra, a social work major, said, "We don't ever feel like we have to go protests, rallies or marches, and we are not encouraged to protest."
Parra said the most important thing she has learned is how to communicate well with others, "a really important skill" in the field of social work.
There are discussions about issues, Parra said, and since all students come from different backgrounds, then they have different opinions and views.
"Our professors don't give their side, they're just there as facilitators and help us see each others' points as well as helping us move along in our discussion," Parra said.
Garland said it's very important to know that "it's not as though Baylor is different from other social work programs, but the study is too flawed to be taken seriously."
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