Why I don't practice Social Work

Ah, amusement, thy name isn’t my blog. I was going to put in a post called Words Kill which I even edited the life out of. But I think that some of the comments on one of my recent posts, depict how cruel people can be. Let me not leave out: stupid, ill informed, judgmental, biased, bigoted, and idiotic. Let me not leave out Middle School bully who now finds his kicks bullying people on the Internet.

I was also going to put in a post explaining the rationale for my post on Faith Based Initiatives.

I actually came home early to add that while I put in the OJ thing for a time frame and country feel, the story I’m going to tell is not based on race. There were many Caucasians from Europe or of European descent that felt entitled to a job and to free schooling without doing much in return. It was much more an age thing, and it was certainly not every person under 25. Feel like I’m disclaiming my life away.

The very politically correct faculty consisted of mostly Caucasian Americans. There were a few members of the faculty who refused to play the game.

I went to grad school for social work during the height of Political Correctness. It was a shocking experience and not in a good way. Students over 30 were accepted too readily as they knew we would do all the reading, assignments, participate in classes as well as actually coming to them. We passed the certification test (now licensing) while still students, and served to help keep up the school’s top ranking.

I was challenged more in my last two years of under grad school, some years ago. In one class I refused to “contract’ that the only oppressed people in America where all Black people and all Native American. Really. It didn’t matter if a White man was mentally disabled, in a wheelchair and had a myriad of other problems; he was a White male.

I believe that people have become more sophisticated in the past ten years but during OJ days we were supposed to buy into rhetoric that made sense to a few people.

Many students were sent to get their Masters Degree by the city department that they worked for. Yes I know that it’s been overhauled, but I’m talking about my experiences, in the mid 90’s.

It was then that I decided I didn’t believe in Affirmative Action on any level past Community College. My education was diminished because the teachers (I can’t call them professors) had to cater to the lowest common level. Some teachers rose above the pandering, and were excellent, but out of sixteen courses, I can only count five that taught me things I hadn’t already known, or could have learned easily by reading a few books.

There were students who refused to do any work, refused to come to classes and demanded “A,”s. Many times, sadly, they were given them.

People aren’t owed anything just because they exist. They’re not owed a good grade because they worked for the city. I paid for my education in more ways than I can count. It would have made sense for their education to be paid for if there was a shortage of social workers. But there are many more social workers then there are jobs for in New York.

When I was graduating the new Commissioner (no longer there) for whatever Children’s Services was called for the year, came to school begging for people in my class to take new leadership positions. I know this directly contradicts what I just said, but what you trust a person to be in a leadership position who spent two years in school saying “no, I don’t want to do that assignment?”

I would rather have them in leadership positions than on the front lines because there’s less chance that they can actually over look an abused child. Unfortunately they were in both.

This doesn’t mean that I think all social workers are bad. Quite the contrary. I think many if not most social workers do an excellent job, are grossly underpaid, and over worked.

But in the ‘90’s people could graduate from college and walk into a high paying job. Most of the “rich girls,” in school went onto get advanced training and become therapists.

I was conflicted. I didn’t want to be the manager that was ultimately responsible for somebodies mistakes, who was three levels below me. My family was having many problems; my mother was aging and blind. My own life was hard and depressing.

I am somewhat spoiled and wasn’t used to having a hard and depressing life. It’s not anymore, but I would never want to relive that decade. And again, I will contradict myself. I had many learning disabilities that I have written about, that weren’t diagnosed until my 30’s. I hesitated to put this in as I know how it can be taken out of context.

My life was easier than it could have been because I had a very supportive family, and I was considered to be exceptionally pretty by many people. This meant that I always had boyfriends, husbands, live-in-lovers, and just plain male friends.

Many of the ‘rich girls’ played the disability card at school. I didn’t as I never had before, Once I understood the ‘language of social work,’ after a month or so, I found school to be pitifully easy. I’ve always been a fast reader with exceptional comprehension abilities. Learning disabilities don’t always mean dyslexia in the traditional sense. I will not answer any questions about my non-linear thought process, or any questions meant to goad me. Sorry for the disclaimer.

I didn’t study for the Certification test on the grounds that you can take it over and over again until you pass. I had done all my school readings, led every frigging presentation because I would know every body’s part, wrote every paper without asking for an extension, and read The DSM 1V (the official diagnostic reference book) every night because it was interesting.

Most people I know took test prep study classes; as they were usually brighter than me, I never understood that need or fear. But we all have irrational fears, and fear of the New York Social Work Certification test in 1996 was unwarranted.

The night before I took the test I borrowed a prep book, realized that much of the test was testing common sense (or how a social worker is supposed to think,) and the rest was testing specific knowledge in different areas. I understood that I wouldn’t know about ten percent of the test simply because I hadn’t studied that specific material.

I had up to four hours to take the test. It was on computer and the answers glared out at me. I finished in 45 minutes, thought about some answers I wasn’t sure of, and changed some answers to ones that I knew were wrong but I personally liked better.

That was so much fun I had to force myself to stop.

I noticed somebody else had finished and didn’t want to be the first one to hand in her disc. As I go where people are afraid to tread, I handed in mine so she didn’t have to feel shamed at finishing the easiest test in the world three hours early.

Within five minutes I was given a paper with my grade. It was very high. Though technically I couldn’t be a CSW until I had graduated, and had paper work processed in Albany, my field placement had me sign off on things as a CSW immediately.

Any respect that I had for the profession was lost with that test. This was an actual question:
“You are a social worker at a homeless shelter. You see a couple fornicating in a bathroom. What would you do?
A) Scream at them
B) Tell them it was good that they found an outlet for their sexuality
C) Join them
D) Tell them to stop, get dressed, and see you in your office.

Okay I made up the mid two answers but they were on that level.

This post was about my personal experience in graduate school. It applies to me and me only during the years 1994-1996.

By the time that I graduated the two jobs that had been offered to me in the fall were victims of the Gingrich “Contract with America.” I helped my mother move out of her house to an apartment and left the country for six weeks. I was totally disillusioned before even trying to get a job.

What do I think about faith based initiatives? As long as one worker puts a religious tract in a recipient’s hand, or asks them to pray or think about God or anything religious, I think it’s horrible.

But I also think that most Americans aren’t willing to do “dirty” low paying jobs.

I just don’t know.