May 15, 2018
The following article that I wrote for The Uniter probably marked one of the first times that I realized everyone was not destined to like everything I wrote or write.
After it was published, someone else who ‘helped out’ at The Uniter, announced in the student newspaper’s office that one of her professors said the article had a racist tone. She had emigrated from the United States herself.
This shocked me because, at that time, I think Canada was much more dominated by Americans who lived both in and out of Canada than it is today. It was a little bit like saying bullying and domination only happens if the person who bullies is originally from the same country in which you live.
But trust me on this: anyone feels a sting when she or he writes something and is then thoroughly criticised for it. Especially when it is against domination and control of one group over another.
Maybe it was something deeper than this. Maybe the professor who criticized what I wrote was really criticizing the professor I interviewed for the article.
I have say, to this day, I am still proud of this article as it brought into the open something that needed to be said about Canadian and American relations.
Here is the article:
The Uniter
1978?
Prof. investigates Americanization at U of W
by Tanya Lester
University of Winnipeg (U of W) academics have found it necessary to investigate the Americanization of this university’s liberal arts program.
Peter Brown, Canadian history professor at the U of W, prepared a report for the U of W senate sub-committee based on the Symons’ Canadian studies report, Brown found his own study “deeply offensive intellectually” because it has come to the point where Canadians find it necessary to research the Americanization of their own universities.
However, Brown realized the need for his study.
“A colleague mentioned to me,” said Brown, “that not one student, in his class, could tell him how senators are appointed to the Canadian senate.”
In his report, Brown said Canadian universities must ” reflect the past and present development of Canadian society and political life in its own, and not a borrowed framework.”
Dominance of American ideology, in Canadian universities, has hindered this development. American education emphasizes discipline specialty rather than the students’ “whole” education. Brown feels specialization is turning the university into “a playpen.”
Brown discovered most U of W departments offer a good range of Canadian oriented courses. He is concerned, though, about the prairie regional emphasis. He feels students should be encouraged to study other Canadian regions, also.
Brown is disturbed about courses offered at U of W that are not specifically Canadian oriented. He criticizes the political science department for not using the political ideas of Canadians, such as Bishop Strachen and John Graves Simcoe, in their classes. In the sociology department, many American trained professors have never read, and certainly have not taught the writings of S.D. Clark, a Canadian sociologist.
A Canadian studies program is offered at the U of W.
“The enrollments have never been high,” said Brown. “For one reason, students have to take French as a major requirement.”
The program presents drawbacks because it is a separate discipline. Other professors do not feel obligated to teach students about Canada. They might feel students interested in Canada can take a Canadian studies’ course.
American professors’ infiltration into Canadian universities resulted from the “baby boom” and more democratic Canadian post-secondary education. In the 1960’s, American professors were sought to fill the teaching position gaps. Last year, the Canadian department of manpower and immigration cracked down on American professors coming to Canada.
In the past, Canadian professors have feared job jeopardy, if they insisted upon more Canadian course content, in their American dominated departments. However, Brown found most professors, at the U of W, were concerned about the lack of Canadian content in courses.
In his report, Brown said one American professor was not worried.
“It’ll all blow over,” said the professor. “It’s just the natives getting restless again. You guys can’t pick on the Quebecois anymore so you’re going to make the local Yanks sweat a bit.”
One only needs to look at the U of W calendar to realize the large number of “Yanks” and American educated professors who teach at this university.
–END–
Tanya has worked for a couple of decades as a psychic counsellor with a specialization in tea leaf reading and tarot. She is also a Reiki master and a fulltime housesitter. To read more about what she does, please go to her web site: teareading.wordpress.com and/or her pages on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Google. To arrange for a reading or a housesit, contact Tanya by text or call 250-538-0086 or email: tealeaf.56@gmail.com
Tanya’s books are Confessions of a Tea Leaf Reader, Friends I Never Knew, Dreams and Tricksters as well as Women Rights/Writers. The first two can be purchased from the author or from amazon.ca All of these books are available in some library systems.
To read more posts in this blog of previously published writing by Tanya in many genres and on a variety of topics go to writingsmall.wordpress.com and tealeaf56.wordpress.com
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