These days we have gotten so politically correct that nothing makes any sense anymore.
Why do we feel the need to sugarcoat everything?
I mean, people in wheelchairs aren’t handicapped, they’re physically challenged. There are no old people left on this earth, only senior citizens. This has gone so far that we now call secretaries administrative assistants and housewives are now domestic engineers. Can’t we just call things what they are?
The Kern Community College District is changing its name as part of a plan to restructure the district into a learning cooperative, according to Kellie Van Westen, administrative assistant to the district chancellor.
The first step taken in this process was to change the name of its office to the Learning Services Center. The next step is to come up with a name for the district itself. The new name for the district will be one that will incorporate five counties which include not only Kern County, but Tulare, Mono, Inyo and San Bernardino counties as well.
A contest is being held to come up with this new name and all are invited to participate.
This idea to rename the district office is a great one. But no, officials have gone “euphemism-happy” and have changed the names of every title in their path. The college deans are now the “Deans of Student Learning” and the vice president is now the “Vice President of Student Learning” and so on.
Is this really necessary?
Isn’t it obvious to everyone that at a college, learning is involved?
Or are we that forgetful that we need to be reminded of it every time we refer to a faculty member or a person in administration?
Many say this new restructuring of the district is some sort of PR move to ease the tensions between the faculty and the district.
Just because the district is getting a new name, doesn’t mean the problems are going to go away.
I can’t speak for anyone else, but when I hear the words “Learning Services Center,” the first thing that comes to mind is a center for the mentally challenged, or maybe a place similar to the Sylvan Learning Center.
Nothing in this new name, says “college district,” which is simply what it is.