Social, not miracle, worker!: March 2011

Monday, March 21, 2011

The first generation at Faculty of political science

Classroom 6 is full! Generation '87, those thirty, at the first sight students without worries, are talking about not so unsignificant topics. Someone loudly, someone by whispering, expresses his dissatisfaction, concern, and some look is wandering between students, asking what actually will they be after graduation? Some of them organized meeting with vice dean of the faculty, who is also the main for cathedra of social policy and social work. Nervous fuss colleague reminded all of them that then was the perfect opportunity to find out whether they would be social worker or politicologist of social policy and social work? Vice dean attempt to, persuade students in validity of Bologna, using demagogy past times, was at the disappointment of all us unsuccessful. Lack of knowledge or ignorance of vice-dean were fully expressed, when she answered on ours questions confusingly, ambiguously and unrealistic. Her concern was the obvious, because she promised then, that everything would be fine, everybody would go to master, get two degrees and find the job! For the first time then, they heard that on the fourth year they would choose between two modules: social policy and social work! They were told that the difference is in a just a few exams, but degree is the same - politicologist of social policy and social work, instead of SOCIAL WORKER! This information divided students on those who would go on one of these modules. Young, unexperienced, separated students were going by the line of less resistence, perhaps even manipulated, and not realizing that, they missed the opportunity to defend the NAME of the profession of SOCIAL WORKER. And after protest in 2009., with presence of majority professors, situation was still unchanged! Disagreement of professors, about the name of profession social worker, was evident but obviously their own interests were more importanat than the future of this unique, and everywhere approved profession of social worker!

How much delusions were told then, judge by yourself! First generation of Bologna, praised by all professors and with a large number of those who graduated on time, received a certificate of graduation - politicologist of social policy and social work!!! Good and commended students were, during the registration at employment bureaus, faced with the fact that profession, as such, does not exist!
Degree disagreed with promises!

J.J.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Extraordinary Harper Lee!

"You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view" (H.Lee)
Nelle Harper Lee (born April 28, 1926, still alive)

Allow me to introduce you a great lady, extraordinary, who is known for her modesty, only published book - To Kill a Mockingbird, best known for her 1960 Pulitzer Prize, and also winner of Presidential Medal of Freedom of the United States. Lee has also been the recipient of numerous honorary degrees, but has always declined to make a speech. She used to say: "Well, it's better to be silent than to be a fool". She is also one of my favorite writers!

She grew up in Alabama, the youngest of four children. As a child, Lee was a tomboy and a precocious reader, and was best friends with her schoolmate and neighbor, the young Truman Capote. Capote once acknowledged this: "Harper Lee was my best friend, lifelong friend". Later, Lee was his crucial research partner for In Cold Blood.

In 1949, a 23-year-old Lee arrived in New York City. She struggled for several years, working as a ticket agent for Eastern Airlines and for the British Overseas Air Corp.

In the summer of 1959, she completed To Kill a Mockingbird, wich was an immediate bestseller and won great critical acclaim, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1961. It remains a bestseller with more than 30 million copies in print. In 1999, it was voted "Best Novel of the Century" in a poll by the Library Journal. Many details of To Kill a Mockingbird are apparently autobiographical.

"Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird." (Scout Finch, in To Kill A Mockingbird, Chapter 10)

Since publication of To Kill a Mockingbird, Lee has granted almost no requests for interviews or public appearances, and with the exception of a few short essays, has published no further writings.

On November 5, 2007. at a White House Ceremony

Lee was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President George W. Bush, which is the highest civilian award in the United States and recognizes individuals who has made "an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors".

The most popular essays by H.L. are:

Love — in Other Words, wich was written for magazine Vogue, 1961 -- "Love purifies," she wrote!
The same year, she also wrote "Christmas To Me", published in McCalls December ,1961.
She also wrote Open letter to Oprah Winfrey (July 2006), O: The Oprah Magazine
I recommend reading not only the book, but also these two short texts!

Until the next post,
J.J.

I'm a social worker! What's your excuse?

I'm studying social politics and social work at the Faculty of political science! Ah...I'm tired of writting this and can you imagine what is the reaction, when you say this sentance in one breath?

I'm a social worker! What's your excuse?

You aren't sure that someone understand you? And how many times have you been in a situation that after this spoken sentence, you have the feeling that someone is pointing a finger at you, and yet he is the one who should be ashamed of his ignorance!!! Ok, reactions are not exactly as I was expected, and almost always, in order to continue our conversation, add another sentance: " I'll be a social worker"!

But it's not the end of our suffering...Can you belive that after all of this, there are still people who simply do not know what "IT" means! Sometimes, I am amazed by human ignorance so musch that at that moment I'd rather just walk away! After their bold or careless questions, I'm the one who becomes confused and startled.

Noooo..., I'm not a sociologist, nor I'll work in "social", and not that I have not where to get a job!

Let forgive those who doesn't know about this profession because of the reasonable grounds, but what about the rest of them, who doesn't informed at all, either misunderstand essence of this unique profession. That is alarming! Although, it can't be surprising, since we are living in country, where superficiality increasingly gets importance!

Recently, I have found among my old stuff, lexicon-on which was written Jovana Jelenic II - 3. What I found interesting is the following...

When today's kids ask what they want to be when grow up, the least can you expect are answers like social worker, pedagogue, special education teacher, adult education teacher etc... It is foreign to them and they usually answer with socially attractive professions like doctor, teacher, singer, movie star...

But, in my lexicon, which was written exactly sixteen years ago, by handwriting that i havn't seen for years, handwriting which is completely unknown, but at the same time, mine, it was written social worker!

And here I am ... after so many years ... ready, proud and pleased!!!
I think social work choose me! :)

J.J.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

15th March is World Social Work day!!!

Social workers have a crucial role to play in each national effort!
Social work is a noble profession and we, social workers, should be proud to have committed ourself to it!!!
I would like to thank them for the work they do every day!

I wish all social workers and social work students a great celebration of World Social Work Day 2011!!!

J.J.

Monday, March 14, 2011

Let's not make the mistake again!

In my previous post, I was explaining the difference between similar but completely different terms. But, I don't think I've mentioned this before... Well, just before this blog, I did some real introspection and came to the conclusion about how people used words without being aware of their meanings, or maybe it's just about that our language is full of language buzzword? In this article, I will explain another difference between, in my opinion, confusing terms.

Let's not make the mistake again...

But before, just a quick note about a book I was reading not so long ago. It's about Nietzsche's moral philosophy, and the book is Thus Spoke Zarathustra. He is talking about herd or slave morality and contrary to that the master morality. I have to say that reading this book without the help and explanations of my professor M. Petrickovic would be more difficult, with much more effort and time. I am grateful to him for that. Here's a little paragraph that I think it is important to share with you:

"I teach you the overman. Man is something that shall be overcome. What have you done to overcome him? … All beings so far have created something beyond themselves; and do you want to be the ebb of this great flood, and even go back to the beasts rather than overcome man? What is ape to man? A laughing stock or painful embarrassment. And man shall be that to overman: a laughingstock or painful embarrassment. You have made your way from worm to man, and much in you is still worm. Once you were apes, and even now, too, man is more ape than any ape.... The overman is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the overman shall be the meaning of the earth.... Man is a rope, tied between beast and overman—a rope over an abyss … what is great in man is that he is a bridge and not an end."

Related to morality, I would like to make clear these following terms:

Morality (from the latin moralitas - manner, character, proper behavior) is a sense of behavioral conduct that differentiates intentions, decisions, and actions between those that are good (or right) and bad (or wrong). A moral code is a system of morality (for example, according to a particular philopsohy, religion, culture, etc.)

Amorality can be determined as neutral or completely indifferent attitude individuals to morality. It is the degree of morality, which means still untouched by the phenomenon of moral.

Anti-morality means attitude individuals or groups of people who don't recognize any moral, or to make it clear: moral is denied as an important and binding standards.

Immorality can be defined like moral category, which means the opposite of moral thinking and moral action.

J.J.

Friday, March 11, 2011

Difference between asocial and antisocial behaviour!

This is something I definitely must clear up! In my opinion, most people don't know real difference between these terms, and they often use them, without being aware of their true meaning. In everyday life, people constantly make mistakes, putting these terms in the wrong context.

Referring to Socrates that ignorance is the source of every evil, I would like to, through this article, prevent or at least reduce damage, which can be caused to our clients.

In order not to mistake, we will explain fundamental differences...

Asocial behaviour ( in English vernacular means not social ) is considered like tender way of deviant behaviour and means violation of moral and generally accepted norms of one society. This type of bahaviour causes disapproval, criticism, conviction and many other negative reactions in one community.

Antisocial behaviour ( with or without hyphen ) is behaviour that lacks consideration for others and that may cause damage to society, whether intentionally or through negligence, as opposed to pro-social behaviour. It is important to know that this type of behaviour is punished because of the disrespect of legal norms and law.

J.J.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

2011 Black History Month Celebration!

In order to celebrate Black History Month, African American social workers were asked to talk about their carees, where did they recieve their social work education, what was their area of specialization, why did they choose social work as their profession... Because I think it's good to know, I would like to share following list with you, it's very usefull and can be profitably.

Below are links to professional profiles of African American social workers who discuss why they choose the professional social work and their proudest achievements.

These are just some of them, and others are also interesting... I warmly recommend you to read them! For more information, click here!

J.J.

National Professional Social Work Month Is Celebrated Each March

The 2011 Social Work Month theme is “Social Workers Change Futures”, and click here to see more details about this!

A highlight to the month will be World Social Work Day, celebrated March 15..

Groups of social workers from across the country are organizing “meet-up” and “tweet-up” activities on March 15, which is World Social Work Day. Jenna Mehnert, executive director of the NASW Pennsylvania Chapter, said efforts are under way to host a “Social Work Shout Out” and visibility campaign in Philadelphia on March 31. “The intent of the event is to make the social work profession visible in a positive light with a blast both in person and through social media,” she said.

“Throughout March we’re encouraging social workers to tweet, update status messages, post on blogs and post videos online that help explain what they do,” said Ebony Jackson, Web designer at NASW. The toolkit offers templates and speaking topics to assist participants with messages and videos. Social workers and fans of the profession can even post the Social Work Month 2011 logo as their Facebook profile photo during March. The Social Work Month 2011 theme promotes the role of social worker as positive change agent. There are many professional social workers in the world who has dedicated their careers to either helping people transform their lives, or improving environments that make such progress possible.

In thousands of ways, social workers help people help themselves. People of every age. From every background. In every corner of the country – wherever we’re needed – starting here and now.

Let's celebrate...and don't forget how social workers are important to our future!!!

J.J.