PC or Counterproductive?
| Author | Graham Beech |
| Published date | 01 October 1993 |
| Date | 01 October 1993 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/026455059304000324 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
175
belief
in
the
values
and
inherent
goodness
of
the
human
race.
A
renaissance
is
needed
so
that
the
artistic
nature
of
both
Probation
in
particular
and
Society
in
general
can
have
confidence
to
re-assert
itself
against
the
’let’s
measure
everything’
mentality
which
eventually
will
bore
everyone
to
death.
The
Probation
task
has
to
be
underpinned
by
an
informing
spirit.
This
cannot
be
predicated
on
quantitative
and
statistical
principles
alone,
however
important
they
may
be.
The
nature
of
the
human
spirit
is
too
elusive,
will-o’-the-
wisp
spontaneous
and
potentially
free
to
capture
its
spiritual
essence
through
measuring
lines
and
monitoring
forms.
It
is
this
vision
we
need
to
capture
qualitatively,
so
that
the
substance
rather
than
the
shadow
of
the
human
experience
is
asserted
in
all
its
richness
and
endeavour.
It
is
quality
that
makes
quantity
count!
I
am
grateful
to
all
those
who
have
reminded
me
of
it.
Terry
Crolley
Research
and
Information
Unit
Merseyside
Probation
Service
PC
or
Counterproductive?
Am
I
alone,
I
wonder,
in
my
negative
reaction
to
the
article
’Working
with
Racist
Offenders’
(PJ
July
1993)?
I
found
the
tone
of
dogmatic
certainty
very
off-
putting.
’Politically
correct’
ideas
were
presented
as
though
they
were
established
facts.
The
thought
of
clients
being
indoctrinated
with
these
views
is
disturbing.
I feel
it
is
likely
to
be
counterproductive.
I
suppose
I
may
be
denounced
as
a
’covert
racist’
for
venturing
to
question
the
wisdom
of
this
approach.
I
find
it
depressing
how
one
kind
of
oppression
seems
to
breed
another.
Graham
Beech
Probation
Officer,
Middlesex
Refreshing
Blast
I
write
in
appreciation
of
the
whole
of
the
July
’93
edition
of
Probation
.Iaurrtal,
dealing
as
it
did
in
an
accessible
and
practice-based
way
with
the
crunch
issues
of
equal
opportunities
and
anti-discrimination.
However,
the
piece
by
John
Devlin,
’Class
Oppression,
as
if
it
mattered’,
was
really
welcome.
My
recent
experience
of
teaching
a
DipSW
Practice
One
student
and
finding
an
examination
of
class
(and
poverty)
nowhere
on
the
university’s
curriculum
reinforced
for
me
the
elitism
of
social
work’s
academia -
to
ignore
the
whole
issue
of
class
oppression
smacks
of
the
worst
form
of
blinkered
complacency.
Are
our
DipSW
course
planners
so
out
of
touch
that
they’ve
forgotten
Britain
is
still
a
class-ridden
(and
riven)
society,
and
that
to
be
at
the
’bottom
of
the
heap’
is
in
itself
a
form
of
oppression
arguably
as
potent
as
racism,
sexism
and
other
forms
of
discrimination?
John’s
article
admits
a
refreshing
blast
of
the
real
world
into
our
self-
conscious
political
correctness
-
or,
in
his
own
words,
our
’self-serving
rhetoric’.
Liz
Lucas
Probation
Officer,
Sheffield
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