A follow-up on the NAS case against CSWE

This is a follow-up on The National Association of Scholars critical report of social work education.

http://www.nas.org/print/pressreleases/hqnas/releas_11sep07.htm

And the letter from this author to NAS:

Dear Stephen H. Balch and Peter W. Wood at National Association of Scholars,

I applaud the efforts of NAS to bring Social Work and the CSWE under control. As a recent graduate of a Social Work PhD program, I found much of the CSWE leadership to be extremely ideologically liberal, politically biased, closed minded, and in many cases outright hostile to any ideologies other than the Democratic Left. In my program, I continually fought what felt like was a one man battle as I advocated for outcome-based solutions to social issues, rather than the current Social Work mentality of elevating "political correct" methodology above all. Among my current colleagues, I encourage inquiry into all solutions, no matter the ideological genesis. However, routinely, I find that politically liberal methodology trumps and permeates all social work discussions about deciding on and solving social problems. In my estimation, I am not sure if NAS knows exactly how prevalent the problem truly is.

On several occasions, I walked out of national meetings with CSWE leadership because the discussions would derail from the posted topic to the "evils of the Republican Party." I have personally witnessed colleagues and professors tell students that they must put the NASW code of ethics above their personal religious beliefs, make them join in campus political rallies for class grades, use the bully pulpit of the classroom to preach ideological points of view, and openly discuss why "political conservatives have no business being in social work." On many occasions, I have persuaded "conservative" students from dropping out of social work programs (Masters and Bachelors) in order to accomplish personal achievement and coached them on how to ignore or play the "liberal" game long enough to receive their degrees. Furthermore, I spent countless hours privately teaching students about the "other side" of social policy, because they sought a balance in their education.

As you can imagine, I have had to be very tactful (which meant many times being quiet) about my true opinions about CSWE and NASW to achieve academic success. Even though, I was successful in completing my PhD (to the credit of a handful of open-minded faculty and brilliant scholars in their own right) and have been honored to be apart of the most prestigious gerontology fellowship in the country (which in my estimation is more balanced that most), I have had to be very strategic with my "complaints."

I have been so frustrated with the current political environment in academic social work programs, that I am considering not seeking employment in academia because I am not sure I want to teach CSWE accredited Social Work classes, deal with the majority of close-minded faculty, and face a tenure process that includes all of the above. I am simply worn out by the political one-sidedness and feelings that I must kowtow to leadership that is openly hostile to the other half of the ideological spectrum if I am to succeed in social work academia.

Please do not give up your pursuit to bring balance to Social Work academia. I confess that even with my best efforts, I too am somewhat biased in my points of view above, but I know that there are many, many students and at least one Ph.D. that would applaud any effort to bring balance to social work higher ed., especially if it remedies students being ostracized for their political and religious beliefs in the classroom.