Letter to the Editor: Neighbours, the Future of IDIS
November 24, 2005
Re: “Won’t you be my neighbour?”
Dear Editor,
When I started studying at TWU it was the first time I had lived in a country other than the U.S. for any length of time. When America invaded Iraq in 2003, there was a lot of tension in the air, especially after the Mars’ Hill presented three opinions on how evil the U.S. was for invading Iraq. The articles essentially labeled us as impatient, imperialistic, and my personal favourite, “Babylon in Revelation.” People treated me as if I was leading the charge into Baghdad myself, and they did not care that I have a lot of friends in the military who I hope to see again. In the past three years I have suffered more personal attacks for being of U.S. citizen than for being Filipino or of having mixed heritage. While I am by no means suggesting that attacking the U.S. is akin to racism, I have no control over either, and as the son of an immigrant father I am keenly aware of the benefits U.S. citizenship offers. I will be the first patriot to say that the U.S. needs to be critiqued by people foreign and domestic–it is the personal nature of attacks that have gotten to me. When making a personal attack, some Canadians offer the ridiculous excuse that “When I say ‘you’ I really mean your government.” You cannot point your finger at someone, use the second person personal pronoun and then act as if you’re the one who should be offended because you were misunderstood. If I seriously mouthed off against Canadians and Canada I would have at least deserved some of the comments I have received these past few years. But as I have not picked one political or nationalistic fight since driving up here, the treatment I have received here leaves something to be desired. So while I do not necessarily agree with Mr. Prowse’s assessment of the reasons for the hostile attitudes of some Canadians towards the U.S., I do appreciate his analysis of how unproductive and unfounded those attitudes are.
Kevin Gonzaga
From marshillonline.com.
IDIS debated in cyber-space
Students at TWU have a really distinct opportunity to pick up some great material from some very passionate profs. And if the random fortune assigned to men like Cal Townsend holds out, the students will be matched up with competent and satisfactory mentors. But the majority of the material is stuff that needs to be sought after. It won’t come to you like the relationship talk in UNIV 101 or the 4 year plan each student gets to do for 101.
VEP on Nov. 8th
The future of IDIS is easy. It should be eliminated. The course already overlaps with other classes such as PHIL and RELS anyway. So why make students take a short annoying class that will not help academically. The other issue is the professors teaching it, such as Townsend, who thinks it more important to indoctrinate, than to apply a liberal arts approach.
Undergrad on Nov. 16th
The idea behind IDIS is a good one, but the follow through is a major disappointment. Does anyone under the age of 40 understand the course pack for 102? It is filled with large words that even the mentors have a hard time explaining. The course pack is written for a book, not for IDIS, much less first years, so we can’t understand it. University should enlarge our vocabulary, but start us off slow. What I remember from the lectures is the amount of movies that were referenced, and something about worldview. Instead of getting insight from the scholarly faculty members, who obviously use large words in their everyday vocabulary, ask for students feedback (and by this I mean not just the 4.0 students). We are the ones who have to sit through the class. We want to learn, but as of now, we can’t understand it.
CAB on Nov. 17th
I hold deep, sincere sympathy for those who “can’t understand it”. First off, its not mathematical equations, IDIS deals with words, perhaps long ones, but hey what do we do when we don’t understand what the algorithm of 3500 to the power 484 is? We ask questions S! This is also what university would like to teach you! And, yes, I am a 19 year-old student who has taken the course and I find the competing ideologies taught in IDIS fascinating and at times disorienting. Thus, I would like to contend that I understand it, in the sense that it is faith-seeking understanding. As for Mr. Townsend, I am displeased that he is heading up the interviews only because I find him a daunting, intimidating mass of a man who has power to enforce some type of quasi-authority over others. I find that unnecessary for students who would like to partake in an interview but fear they might be in jeopardy if they answer a question incorrectly. I’m sure this is not intentional and that Mr. Townsend is a gentle giant, however, in a world that values perceptions and not authenticity, it is a relevant opinion.
IDIS LOONEY on Nov. 19.
Now you go...
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