BENEPHONS -- and Adminspeak

No meaning, but sound good

ADMINSPEAK

A kind of prose called adminspeak naturally has a high density of benephons. We plan to show examples from time to time. Here is the first. The speaker is the faculty chair of an important curriculum committee at an elite university in April. 2024.  Benephons are highlighted.

Establishing the curriculum for XXX College students is one of the most important responsibilities of our faculty,” he said. “We wanted our process to be transparent and student-centered, with continual input from stakeholders throughout our community. The result is a new curriculum that provides our students with considerable flexibility in pursuing pathways through XXX, while encouraging innovative approaches to teaching and course design.

The question, of course, is What does this mean? Do we now have any idea just what this new curriculum actually is? Well no, of course not. But, the fallibility of memory  being what it is, we just remember the speaker as a serious fellow.

ChatGPT (3.5, a relatively early version) when instructed to write a few words incorporating the highlighted benephons, plus “curriculum,” produced this:

Crafting a transparent, student-centered curriculum entails acknowledging input from stakeholders to design innovative pathways. Educators carry the responsibilities of fostering flexibility in curriculum design, ensuring alignment with community needs. By embracing innovative approaches, they create dynamic learning environments that cater to diverse pathways of learning. Engaging stakeholders ensures transparency and fosters a sense of community ownership, ultimately enhancing the educational experience for all involved.

A little less punchy than the original, perhaps, but more enthusiastic — and equally meaningless.

More to follow…

BENEPHONS

Benephon is a new word for a thing that sounds good, but is in fact bad. Sounds good but is used in bad ways. The current list of benephons is shorter than Orwell’s Newspeak, but the words are familiar rather than novel, so the thought-warping is that much easier.

Benephons are especially popular in mission statements, proclamations from public relations departments and much AI-generated material. Here are a few:

Belonging is a benephon. Surely everyone should “belong”? But anywhere? Everywhere? The ignorant student uninterested in self-improvement: should he belong in college? Should the criminal belong in in a law-abiding community? Yet a college that has failing students, especially if they are of a minority race, will be urged to abolish discriminatory tests so these students can feel they ‘belong.’ À bas with challenge, and merit!

Diversity. It is remarkable how selective is the idea that every enterprise is best carried on by a racially and sexually diverse group. Too many blacks in the NFL? No problem, but too few in physics: modify the curriculum, lower the bar until blacks (and women) are at least proportionately represented — everywhere. Diversity is assumed to be good, rather than irrelevant. What should matter is that individuals are treated fairly rather than equitably. Merit takes another hit.

Equity. The massively mistaken emphasis on groups rather than individuals brings us to “equity,” which used to mean just fairness, but now means equality of results. An attack on merit (since individuals are not all equally good at everything — how boring the world would be if that were true) a truly fair system would never yield all-equal results. ‘Equity’ is obviously bad, but it sounds good: a model benephon.

Inclusion. See “belonging” above.

Self-esteem. Success in meeting a challenge can raise self-esteem, which is good. But self-esteem should be a natural accompaniment to success, not a substitute. Teleporting a runner to the finish line is not the same as winning the race.  

Justice. Used to mean fairness, now (often) means unfairness: treating people dofferently depending on race, gender, sexual orientation, etc., aka social justice.

Lens often means filter: As in “ADVICE Applying a race equity lens to our collective work and decision-making. By: NEA Center for Social Justice.Published: 01/2021 ” from the National Education Association. Meanimg "Social justice is our priority.” See also “framing.”

Authentic. Being “authentic” is usually assumed to be a good thing. It assumes either that everyone is authentically “good” or that it’s best to be authentic even if you are bad. Better forget about “authentic” and just work on being good.

Transparent. A way if saying “I am honest” without seeming to protest too much.