School daze: About all those UNCG letters ...
This week's column (expanded from an earlier post).
Some readers have had it up to here with letters from "those social work students at UNCG."
"I'm amazed by the daily barrage of 'entitlement' letters, recently published, particularly from UNCG students,"Tom Imbus of Browns Summit writes in a letter published today.
Imbus is particularly distressed that one of the students, Emily Lawing, suggested in her letter that birth control is too costly.
"Since when does government have the 'right' to use our tax money to subsidize the sexual activities of Lawing and others?" he writes. "If this mentality is indicative of the next generation that will run our country, we may as well adopt European-style socialism now."
Take heart, Mr. Imbus. We get these student letters every year. And most of them aren't about what their country can do for them.
Most are about what students have seen as interns working with foster families and in nursing homes and adoption agencies. Many of them now know firsthand how cold and unforgiving poverty can be.
These experiences inform what they write and help the rest of us better understand what's going on out there.
That doesn't mean these letters can't be a pain, in sheer volume and in the inevitable phone calls from students frantically inquiring about the status of their letters. And, presumably, their grades.
And, yes I'll admit, sometimes we do just want to call over there and tell them to stop.
But the man behind the student letters, Bob Wineburg, Jefferson Pilot Excellence Professor in the UNCG Department of Social Work, makes a good case for their value. "This assignment is intended to get students, for the first time, to interact in their community in their own voices," he says.
Traditionally, Wineburg says, social workers aren't "prepared to go outside of the language of their own field." That is, to relate to the broader community, in terms other than the jargon of social work. A logical place to do that, as he sees it, is the local newspaper, whose stories "tend to be the first draft of what researchers will be getting to later."
Even so, Wineburg confides that he had expected from me the same reaction he gets from most newspaper people: Buzz off.
But our policy on these letters is pretty much the same as with others. They are chosen (or not) on their individual merit.
We do bend the rules slightly, however. We don't typically run letters that are construed as campaign letters -- in other words, letters that are written as part of an organized group effort. But that rule is aimed primarily at letters that cover a single subject and are written from a single point of view with a single agenda in mind.
These UNCG letters don't have a single agenda, except a passing grade, I guess.
Also, I have to appreciate any effort that gets young people engaged in community issues and newspapers -- in an era when printed newspapers aren't even an afterthought among most people their age.
As for the volume of letters, that's because two classes now require the letters as opposed to one, Wineburg says.
And, well, because there are more social work majors.
Despite the promise of an unglamorous, low-paying career working in the trenches, Wineburg says, there are 250 undergraduate students in UNCG's social work program, plus 90 students in a joint graduate program with N.C. A&T.
In fact, so many students want to be social work majors that the program has capped enrollment and requires at least a 2.5 grade-point average for prospective majors.
Impressive.
I've not always been as impressed by some reactions to the letters, such as some mean rebuttals to a student who wrote about the pain of having a father in prison. And, of course, the letters blog is rarely for the faint of heart.
But Wineburg doesn't mind. "With the right to free speech comes the obligation to take what comes at you in response," he says.
Expect disagreement, he tells his students. And deal with it.
Yet, for all the static some of his students receive, Wineburg says, they receive positive responses as well. And at least one letter "turned an entire institution in the right direction."
In a letter published on Jan. 29, UNCG junior Joscelyn Nickerson took the Department of Social Services to task for how workers there had treated an immigrant family.
"I was helping a Montagnard refugee family apply for services a few weeks ago," Nickerson wrote, "and we were treated with an appalling lack of respect.
"We arrived at 10:15, and the family was not seen until after 4:30. I would have thought this was because the county had cut the funding for workers except that an American family arrived several hours later than we did and was seen several hours earlier than we were."
The letter prompted the retraining of all intake workers at DSS.
Which speaks well both for DSS and for the power of a single letter.
From one of "those social work students" at UNCG.
Comments (16)
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"so many students want to be social work majors that the program has capped enrollment and requires at least a 2.5 grade-point average for prospective majors.
Impressive"
Allen, why is that so impressive? A 2.5 grade-point average is a C+, and most good schools require such a GPA in entry-level courses to enter a major study. That's pretty much the price of admission in most schools with some challenge.
As far as the letters go, it seems to me that a far better requirement would be for the students to actually go out and volunteer for a semester, working with a social service group. There are many of them in the area, and I am certain that they would welcome the additional manpower. The students would actually be walking the walk there, not just talking the talk. The professor could create a work experience program in connection with the social agencies and give the students class credit for it. The students would learn a lot by doing and their service would be appreciated.
Any college student can write a letter to the editor. What's impressive about that? And, the problem that most LTE readers have with these letters is that they typically call for government to pay for these services, which just represents the continued spread of government intervention in our daily lives. It would be much more impressive to me for them to go and help on their own, rather than complain that government is not doing enough. When we rely on government to do things for us, we are usually disappointed wiht the results.
Posted on March 2, 2008 1:13 PM
Maybe they're lining up because they have recession-proof jobs wherein they can lounge around until 4:30 to see foreign clients. If you pick a career, just pick it--without the self-congratulation or the "I could have made more as a capitalist" line.
Look, the assignment is fine, and there's no reason why you shouldn't publish the letters. But there's also no reason why readers shouldn't see them for what they are: compulsory exercises in self-interest clothed in moral garb. The stripped-down form of these letters is, almost invariably, "if Americans were better people, we'd have more programs that might hire me." I don't doubt the sincerity of such sentiments, but since I dislike both moral people and government programs, count me among the vaguely irritated.
Posted on March 2, 2008 11:33 PM
Maybe they're lining up because they have recession-proof jobs wherein they can lounge around until 4:30 to see foreign clients. If you pick a career, just pick it--without the self-congratulation or the "I could have made more as a capitalist" line.
Look, the assignment is fine, and there's no reason why you shouldn't publish the letters. But there's also no reason why readers shouldn't see them for what they are: compulsory exercises in self-interest clothed in moral garb. The stripped-down form of these letters is, almost invariably, "if Americans were better people, we'd have more programs that might hire me." I don't doubt the sincerity of such sentiments, but since I dislike both moral people and government programs, count me among the vaguely irritated.
Posted on March 2, 2008 11:33 PM
Maybe they're lining up because they have recession-proof jobs wherein they can lounge around until 4:30 to see foreign clients. If you pick a career, just pick it--without the self-congratulation or the "I could have made more as a capitalist" line.
Look, the assignment is fine, and there's no reason why you shouldn't publish the letters. But there's also no reason why readers shouldn't see them for what they are: compulsory exercises in self-interest clothed in moral garb. The stripped-down form of these letters is, almost invariably, "if Americans were better people, we'd have more programs that might hire me." I don't doubt the sincerity of such sentiments, but since I dislike both moral people and government programs, count me among the vaguely irritated.
Posted on March 2, 2008 11:33 PM
Brian, you work for the government.
Posted on March 3, 2008 8:55 AM
Windy:
My post mentions that the UNCG students do work with social service agencies as interns. I'm guessing this is not for pay but I don't know for sure.
Posted on March 3, 2008 9:02 AM
Well, I meant government programs that (a) didn't exist in 1900, and (b) aren't responsible for my paycheck. Those are the bad ones. But I am thankful for my recession-proof job and I don't whine that I could have made more as a capitalist.
Posted on March 3, 2008 2:22 PM
Allen,
It's Stormy, not Windy. Yes, I noticed that you mentioned interns in passing, but that's not what I was recommending, exactly. A work experience program is one where a student works for an extended period during the school year for an agency, actually doing the work of the agency. In these programs, the student gets paid, and at the end, the student gets a grade and class credit for the work experience. this might or might not be the same as an intern program, as they vary greatly in their depth and quality of experience. I guess that I am suggesting that the immerse themselves in the work of the agency so that they really understand what social work is about.
Honestly, the LTE's that I read didn't give me the impression that the students really got immersed in social work, even if they did intern. I do not remember any that even discussed their experiences, but I may have missed those. My point is an LTE is not much of a requirement. That requirement mostly is a measurement of how well the students can write a letter.
Posted on March 3, 2008 7:17 PM
Sorry, Stormy. Got my meteorological terms mixed up.
I'll check with Professor Wineburg on the nature of the internships. I don't know how long they last.
Also, you should check out the letter involving the student and the Montagnards at DSS.
I think it makes pretty clear the insight these internships can provide.
Also, I recall a letter about foster care and another about adoption that drew on what the students were learning in the field.
Posted on March 3, 2008 7:58 PM
Stormy, Allen, Brian, et al
My wife is one of these students and was thankfully published in HP.
The internship required for graduation amounts to 440 hours (not a typo) over two semesters. Is that enough for you Stormy? So the amount of "volunteer" work put in by UNCG students is extensive and appreciated by the participating organizations.
I can also assure you her GPA is quite a bit higher than the 2.5 minimum. This will be a second degree and a career change for her and is indeed doing it for all the right reasons. Between a 1/2 time job, classes, internship and a family of 4 she has managed to make the Dean's List each and every semester. We are proud of her and proud of her choice to help those in need.
I can also assure you her goal in all of this has not been to acquire a cushy, high paying, low stress, recession proof gubment job. Because social work is none of those things.
These students were required to do this with very little notice. So quit your whining or at least go find something important to whine about.
All that being typed, I too hope we are at the end of these things!
Posted on March 4, 2008 10:49 AM
Thanks for the information, Mick. I think we're just about done with the latest wave.
Of course, we can't be totally sure. Some of the social work students don't identify themselves as such in their letters.
Posted on March 4, 2008 6:29 PM
If an internship is a graduate requirement, it is definitionally not volunteer work; it's not even "volunteer" work. It's a compulsory situation for which most of these letter writers want moral extra credit.
And yes, social work jobs are recession-proof and stable: it's one of the advantages of working for the govt. Of the "right reasons" for becoming a social worker, dare I suggest that a stable paycheck is one? Or are social workers too altruistic for that sort of mercenary consideration?
Posted on March 5, 2008 4:22 PM
Aw, loosen up, Brian. It's still valuable exposure, one way or the other.
And it's paycheck, but a modest one at best. I don't know of too many social workers who drive BMWs.
Posted on March 5, 2008 4:26 PM
I know one with a new Volvo. That's pretty high-end in my book.
Conversely, I drive a 20-year old clunker with 200K miles on it. I eat mostly canned and frozen food: nothing organic. Unable to afford the fancy wines and designer beers of the capitalist elite, I am forced to subsist on Milwaukee's Best. I have to buy the cheap $20 running shoes at Target. All so I could give back to society as a humble teacher, shaping the minds of our young for a pittance. This according to my personal motto: "live for others." But you'll never hear me pat myself on the back just because I was too moral to become a lawyer.
Posted on March 6, 2008 3:43 AM
Are you sure you don't work for a newspaper?
Posted on March 6, 2008 8:31 AM
Volunteer was in " " for that very reason. It is no diff than your student teaching gig. Moral extra credit is not the reason behind the hours and you know it. It is exposure and experience in the field they have chosen.
Lighten up and get back to work. Your 6 weeks of vacation is looming.
Posted on March 6, 2008 11:53 AM