Cultural Competency
I am heartened to read that the University of Oregon Oregon has taken upon itself to educate its charges and faculty in Cultural Competency. As an avid believer that Americans know little about their culture, it is about time that Academia has stepped in to turn the tide against the ignorance that threatens to shake the very foundations of Western Civilization.
What does the average American know about the origins of the American legal system in English Common Law, or how the roots of Democracy can be traced back through the British Parliamentary system devised by the Magna Carta, through the rights of the Frankish noblemen under Charlemagne, to the Roman Republic and eventually the deepest roots of freedom: the Athenian Greeks?
But wait… that’s not the culture being taught and tested at the University of Oregon.
The problem is that nowhere in the 22-page diversity draft plan is �cultural competency� defined.
So, just which culture are we indoctrinating our youth – and evaluating their teachers – in?
We don’t know. But that’s not stopping Vice Provost Charles Martinez from doing it.
“If we’re going to make it our goal to advance our skills around cultural competency, we owe it to each other to have accountability for how we do that,” said interim Vice Provost Charles Martinez.
I salute Mr. Martinez for his American ingenuity and determination…
