Yale students triggered by straight white male classic poets

[DarkAmbient]

Some Yale students are complaining that a mandatory English course entitled Major English Poets - which covers the work of Chaucer, Spenser, Shakespeare, Donne, Milton, Pope, Wordsworth, and T.S. Eliot - "creates a culture that is hostile to students of color":

When students are made to feel so alienated that they get up and leave the room, or get up and leave the major, something is wrong. The English department loses out when talented students engaged in literary and cultural analysis are driven away from the major. Students who continue on after taking the introductory sequence are ill-prepared to take higher-level courses relating to race, gender, sexuality, ethnicity, nationality, ability, or even to engage with critical theory or secondary scholarship. We ask that Major English Poets be abolished, and that the pre-1800/1900 requirements be refocused to deliberately include literatures relating to gender, race, sexuality, ableism, and ethnicity.

It’s time for the English major to decolonize — not diversify — its course offerings. A 21st century education is a diverse education: we write to you today inspired by student activism across the university, and to make sure that you know that the English department is not immune from the collective call to action.

http://reason.com/blog/2016/06/01/ya...-profs-to-stop

What the fuck is wrong with these people?

[Rennadrel]

Considering the only one I have even heard of is Shakespeare, makes me think there probably isn't even a notable black poet in existence.

Besides, this course sounds like it covers classical poetry, which is still the basis of the English language as a whole. God knows you cover some modern stuff, it would probably be full of the word 'like' and fucking emoji's, because that is all these stupid kids understand when it comes to language.

[GrieverXIII]

What the fuck is wrong with these people?

Rich snobby kids always need to find a way to be offended by something, not exactly a new thing.

[Weaponized Nuclear Kitten]

Considering the only one I have even heard of is Shakespeare, makes me think there probably isn't even a notable black poet in existence.

Langston Hughes and Maya Angelou are the only 2 I can come up with off the top of my head. Granted those 2 in particular are a pretty big deal.

[Rabka Uhalla]

SJW's don't exist in real life right? I'm so tired of their crap. The world would be better off if we just rounded them up and put them on a deserted island together. And maybe nuke it. Last part being optional.

[Rennadrel]

Langston Hughes and Maya Angelou are the only 2 I can come up with off the top of my head. Granted those 2 in particular are a pretty big deal.

Still, it's a Classical Poetry course by the sounds of it, which is what our language was built around. I don't think people have been studying the works of poets in Africa for the last 200 years like people have done for Shakespeare and the like.

[Maximus Testiculos]

Why do they hate themselves so much? Dont they know it was that culture that created the conditions they live now? They are so clueless and spoiled.

[Deleted]

To be fair Chaucer is mindnumbingly shit.

[greeeed]

Still, it's a Classical Poetry course by the sounds of it, which is what our language was built around. I don't think people have been studying the works of poets in Africa for the last 200 years like people have done for Shakespeare and the like.

Depend on which part of Africa you mean, in Middle East, it been done for last 1400~ years

(They like poetry to point that even in this ages and unlike the west, song(poets) authors received same fame and riches if not more then the singer.)

[Deleted]

Why do they hate themselves so much? Dont they know it was that culture that created the conditions they live now? They are so clueless and spoiled.

They feel a little bit guilty because of it and they feel like there should be a bigger redistribution in order to level the playing field.
But that would require them to let go of their luxurious lives and pay out of their own pocket. That's asking for too much.
Instead they hate on everyone else and convince themselves they are allies of the oppressed.

It's same kind of pomposity where they go to fancy parties and congratulate each other for throwing spare change to charity and acting like they made a difference.

[Paklaaji]

Daily reminder that this is the future of Europe - we already have ''black studies'' that are full with pan-Africans, contributing nothing to the European society and the preservation of our heritage.

[Orlong]

Langston Hughes and Maya Angelou are the only 2 I can come up with off the top of my head. Granted those 2 in particular are a pretty big deal.

Neither of which are classical poets. They are both 20th century poets and Angelou just died in 2014. The class is about classical Poets which are from the 17th century.

[Eleccybubb]

Aren't Harvard and Yale SJW's getting triggered over anything these days though?

[Orlong]

Depend on which part of Africa you mean, in Middle East, it been done for last 1400~ years

(They like poetry to point that even in this ages and unlike the west, song(poets) authors received same fame and riches if not more then the singer.)

Probably because music is illegal in Muslim countries

[Sunseeker]

They're obviously not very engaged if they're not willing to analyze the literature. Sounds more like some spoiled shits who don't want to do the coursework.

Not that a class that included literature from other cultures wouldn't be cool. But I suspect we'd lose quite a bit in translation. We do even from German and Latin writers and we're pretty good at translating that to english. The course would also have to include a great deal of cultural information for us to even "get it". But guess what? Most of the writers are still going to be men, since as far as I'm aware women are worse off almost everywhere else than the West even now.

[Spectral]

Not that a class that included literature from other cultures wouldn't be cool. But I suspect we'd lose quite a bit in translation.

I'm pretty sure these classes already exist. The complaint doesn't seem to be that these classes don't exist, it's that "diversity" isn't the goal of every single class. Hilariously, the 6K+ word list of demands from the Black Student Alliance at UVA includes this tidbit:

Every course should strive to recognize minority perspectives and every department should make it a goal to offer multiple courses that include or focus on minority perspectives within their field each semester. For example, Biology could study genetics across minority communities, …

Yeah, I'm sure that would go super well for everyone involved and definitely not be labeled racist...

Edit - I went and checked my statement about whether these classes exist. Here's the link to Yale's English offerings. It'd take me to much effort to do justice to the sheer quantity of courses that are explicitly about race, gender, and their roles in shaping literature. So yeah, the complaint is literally that it isn't the focus of every class.

[Kalis]

No Shelley? I would refuse to do the course as well.

To be fair Chaucer is mindnumbingly shit.

You are such a heathen.

Probably because music is illegal in Muslim countries

You are such an Orlong.

[ro9ue]

So many kids in these "top" schools are so sheltered and sensitive I have no clue how they would be able to make it in the real world without being bank rolled by mom and dad.

[Spectral]

So many kids in these "top" schools are so sheltered and sensitive I have no clue how they would be able to make it in the real world without being bank rolled by mom and dad.

What makes you say so? It seems to me that these kids have learned how to manipulate political sentiment and to beat people that are nominally more powerful than them into submission to ridiculous demands. This is a very valuable skill in post-college life. Sure, it's unsavory, but that doesn't imply that these kids don't know exactly what they're doing.

[ro9ue]

What makes you say so? It seems to me that these kids have learned how to manipulate political sentiment and to beat people that are nominally more powerful than them into submission to ridiculous demands. This is a very valuable skill in post-college life. Sure, it's unsavory, but that doesn't imply that these kids don't know exactly what they're doing.

Honestly I think you're giving them way too much credit.