BY HANK REICHMAN
Earlier this week Hungarian universities received 24 hours from the Ministry of Human Capacities and the Ministry of Justice to comment on a proposed amendment, which declares that gender studies courses may no longer be offered in Hungary, the Hungarian economic and political weekly Heti Világgazdaság (HVG.hu) reported yesterday. According to a report in Hungary Journal, “the part of the amendment which concerns gender studies provides no explanation whatsoever. Two universities are concerned: Hungary’s biggest state-funded university ELTE, and the Central European University, founded by George Soros. If the amendment becomes official, it will mean that nobody can attend gender studies courses in Hungary and get a degree in the subject.”
The government’s rationale is that the discipline is “economically irrational” because there are no jobs in Hungary for graduates in the field. According to the ministry, gender studies takes resources from other courses and harms the economic stability of the universities. Members of the government say gender studies is an ideology, not science.
Ironically, I first heard of the ban from a posting on the notorious right-wing website, Breitbart News, not usually considered a friend of academic freedom. Nevertheless, they argue, “Conservatives should be concerned about the precedent this sets considering their limited influence on academia. Not only does the decision risk making gender studies an intellectual forbidden fruit, progressive governments could use this decision as a catalyst to restrict conservative and libertarian thought in classrooms around the globe in the future.”
The point is well taken. But I hope that Breitbart and others of its ilk will join those many principled academic conservatives who have already recognized the dangers in American efforts to eliminate or reduce programs in a wide range of humanistic disciplines, including gender studies (for example, at Wisconsin-Stevens Point and Wisconsin-Superior), a development decried by the AAUP and the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU) in a joint statement issued May 31. That statement noted that, like the authoritarian nationalist Orban regime in Hungary, American “politicians have proposed linking tuition to the alleged market value of given majors. Students majoring in literature, art, philosophy, and history are routinely considered unemployable in the technology and information economy, despite the fact that employers in that economy strenuously argue that liberal arts majors make great tech-sector workers precisely because they are trained to think critically and creatively, and to adapt to unforeseen circumstances.”
The government of hungry is right. They serve no purpose. It’s like going and getting a degree in pooping. There’s no way I would pay to send my kids to one of these College Cesspools. I will however be paying for them to go to a vocational school to learn a trade. Like welding, carpentry, Nursery, auto mechanics. You know stuff that you can get a job doing that makes pretty decent money. Just something for you to think about.
I agree with your conclusion but for different reasons.
My degree in Philosophy has been useful, regardless of a direct pipeline to employment.
Gender Studies should be banned because it is unsound, invalid and is an outright fraud. Economics is secondary. Truth is primary, and “critical theory” simply teaches students to use moral subjectivism and social constructionism to view the world.
These are ideologies, not science. It’s not even a valid “approach” to interpretation. No aspect of gender studies is true- not one single fact, theory or prediction gives is sound or valid on any level of analysis.
I agree that should not teach things or do scholarship on topics only when we think they lead to students getting specific jobs after they graduate. However, as a former director of two gender studies programs myself, I’d just like to note that “banning gender studies” is a bit different from cancelling or defunding gender studies programs/departments/majors. Gender studies is something scholars engage in across a wide variety of academic departments, and often teach through their own home departments (eg, English, history, sociology, biology), so not having the major in gender studies or a department of gender studies is not quite the same as not having gender studies scholars or classes on gender studies. I’m not trying to defend the Hungarian government or universities here. I’m just suggesting we be careful not to overstate the case if in fact they are not _banning the study of gender_.
Hello Martha,
It is my position that not one single claim within internationality is true. Can you offer me a single feminist/critical theory claim that is true? Please send me any article to prove me wrong.
Thanks,
Kyle
funincluded@gmail.com
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We ban all sorts of things from being taught. We don’t teach Creationism. We don’t fear that banning creationism will harm our academic efforts, because no honest person would defend Creationism (or “Intelligent Design Theory”) as valid science.
Critical theory does not teach students to think critically, it teaches students what to think; namely, to be hostile to Western culture in all forms. It teaches moral subjectivism. Gender studies, women’s studies and black studies are all different versions of the same “rubber stamp” claims against all harmony and stability in society. George Soros founded the school for god’s sake. It is an outright attack via cultural subversion.
Intersectionality is a form of dividing society, not of recognizing our shared humanity. White men are too privileged to understand the struggles of human beings, and that’s why white men don’t care about you- and thus the only way to fix the system is to overthrow it.
Yes, we don’t teach creationism, but not because the government prohibits us from doing so. The faculties of colleges and universities must be free to decide for themselves what will be included in an institution’s curricular offerings, whether it be gender studies or marketing. That determination is not the job of government, including the government of Hungary.
False. It was determined in the court of law that Creationism cannot be a required part of public education because it is not rooted in fact- regardless of what teachers want to think.
That said, in the absence of law, capitalism will correct these issues naturally.
In terms of academia, 80% of published women’s/gender studies works goes unread, uncited, and totally ignored. That’s not how legitimate studies work. It’s crap. People like me have literally written up total nonsense like “The Conceptual Penis” and gotten it published. It looked like a duck, quacked like a duck, and these fake papers are just as legitimate as actual women’s studies literature.
LINK: https://www.skeptic.com/downloads/conceptual-penis/23311886.2017.1330439.pdf
Critical theory, the feminist perspective, social contructionism, and the like are not rooted in fact, but in opinion. And unlike literature, it claims to apply principles of logic and science.
Using the fact that “51% of people are female, but only 5% of CEO’s are female” as evidence of discrimination is unscientific, and is the root of marxism.
You don’t understand education, you don’t understand the underlying concepts behind policy, you don’t understand the Constitution or US law, and you don’t understand gender. You are subverted by propoganda disguised as science, just like the “Intelligent Design” proponents.
While Dover case (wiki linked below) is in regards to requiring the education on a subject, it is very similar to the encroachment on free speech (and thus free thought) under the “respect my gender” laws. Truth and science will win.
LINK: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kitzmiller_v._Dover_Area_School_District
No, it is your first paragraph that is false. The case you refer to applied to K-12 education, not colleges and universities. And in any event barring schools from requiring material is by no means the same as barring them from offering material. As for the rest of your claims, you’re entitled to your views, however biased and misinformed they may be.
What you’re pushing for is the epitome of “teaching what to think.” Just like creationists, you pick your conclusion and then hunt tirelessly for facts that fit your perspective. THAT is a bias.
You said that the government does not have a roll in limiting what perspectives are valid/can be taught. You are wrong, and that was my point.
However, the financial reality of selling nonscientific facts as if they’re valid, rather than opinion, will catch up to you before the law will. Gender studies will die by the capitalist reality that these students’ gender studies diplomas aren’t employable (or more knowledgeable).