Cambridge University warns against ‘sexist’ terms like ‘genius’ and ‘brilliance’ By Thomas Lifson
Evidently, one of the dons at Cambridge University thinks women can’t cut it when it comes to extraordinary feats of intellect. Naturally, she is part of the gender industrial complex. The U.K. Independent reports:
Cambridge University examiners have been warned against using words such as “flair”, “brilliance” and “genius” when assessing students’ work because they are associated with men, an academic has revealed.
Lucy Delap, a lecturer in British History at the top-ranking institution, said History tutors are discouraged from using the terms because they “carry assumptions of gender inequality”.
She told The Telegraph: “Some of those words, in particular genius, have a very long intellectual history where it has long been associated with qualities culturally assumed to be male.
Well, then, isn’t it time to smash some of those assumptions? Apparently not:
“Some women are fine with that, but others might find it hard to see themselves in those categories”.
News flash: Most people aren’t geniuses and have a hard time seeing themselves in those categories for excellent reasons. This includes most men.
And even if we limit ourselves to the very far end of the bell curve of intelligence distribution, lots of people have a hard time of thinking of themselves as geniuses. There are lots of very smart people on the faculty at Cambridge, and some people, even of the highest level of intelligence, might have some emotional difficulty thinking of themselves as so far above that peer group. Even males! Especially if they are students, the sort of people who might be awed by the erudition of their dons.
I spent about two decades at Harvard, as a student and faculty member, and can report that the word “genius” was used sparingly in faculty conversations about students. Not that there weren’t some amazing people, but once you start categorizing that way, it leads to more conversations about others who may or may not merit the label. It is easier to avoid that term. “Brilliant” and “brilliance” were far more widely applied, perhaps because those terms don’t connote a status so different from the others who are also smart.
What is it about the left that makes them want to “ban” words?
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