Random General Headlines

[Khrz]

Wait - students the School of Oriental and African Studies don't want to take a course based on white Europeans? What a shock!!!

Maybe I'll get flamed for this, but I see their point when you actually take it in context. It would be like going to school for political science and being told "okay, here's your Baking 101 class". They're going to a school with a set of expectations about what they'll be studying, then being told the curriculum goes somewhere different.

I get that schools - especially university - are about expanding your knowledge and education. So yes, I can see why people are laughing at and ridiculing students for asking that people be completely removed from their teachings. Maybe calling for the total removal of these philosophers is overkill. And I know that politically, it looks bad on paper for students to tell the teachers how the class should be. But I think the students have a fair (if somewhat hyperbolic) point, and this could be a great chance for students and staff to work together instead of simply antagonizing each other.

That's assuming that Descartes or Kant can't inform a reflection on the place and history of Africa and the orient within the context of the western world they're inhabiting.

I understand your point, mind you.

Ultimately my personal opinion is that everyone's kneejerking a bit too forcefully.