Mark Licitra

A Few Reflections on my Social Work Education

July 7, 2009

Posted in: Uncategorized

I know it’s been a while. And I promise that I won’t start every post in this way. But I just have to ask for some grace yet again. I finished school two weeks ago, and I’ve been thinking about just what that means for me. A lot has happened in the past three years since I started my program and I wonder how I’ve changed as a result. I’ve been ruminating on how studying social work has made a different person. So I know that this has nothing to do with my long drawn out series about myths, but I’d like to offer a few thoughts about my experience as a social work student.

1. Politics: When I was a freshman at Oral Roberts University, I remember one day walking to class with my friend Ronnie.  He asked me where I was going, and when I told him English class he responded “are they going to give you a healthy dose of that right wing Christian propaganda?” Even though Ronnie was joking (I think), the answer was of course, yes, because despite the fact that I was studying social work there, it was still a (very) conservative Christian school. And for some reason that question stuck with me. I found myself asking as I walked into my social work classes at Temple, “are they going to give me a healthy dose of that left wing social worky propaganda?”  And the answer was almost always an unequivocal yes. Because Temple was a mainstream social work program and like other social work programs tended to be somewhat biased in the other direction.

So here is my first point: studying social work helped me to reconcile my political and moral/religious beliefs and so reengage in the political process. I once told my dad that politics is stupid and useless, and as politics were presented at ORU, I was correct. I disengaged from politics while at ORU because I couldn’t fit my deepest convictions into  what I was being told was the “Christian political view.” I read a book called So Want to be a Social Worker: A Primer for the Christian Student (a book I read in its entirety while on the toilet) and it helped me immensely. Studying social work helped me to see that my political concerns and my religious beliefs were not mutually exclusive or contradictory. And I have to say that being exposed to two very differing world-views was healthy for me.  Having been immersed in the “right wing Christian propaganda” that my friend referenced helped me to think critically when I was thrown head first into the deep end of “liberalism.” (If only I could describe the scene when I first admitted to my class at Temple that I went to a college that barred drinking, cursing, and homosexuality) I hope that the result has been a word that I have come to love: balance.

2. Confession: Lest you think that I have been changed 100% for the better by my social work education I will now offer a confession. Before I began studying social work I attended Bible school in Dallas, Texas. While I was there my best education in theology occurred when I was on the streets spending time with homeless people. I began to really believe that this was how Jesus would have spent his time. I got to know several homeless folks occasionally giving them some money or lunch or simply hearing their story. In fact, this time of my life was very influential in my decision to study social work. So here is the confession. I realized recently to my dismay that since I left Dallas I have not spoken to a single homeless person just to hear their story or buy their lunch.

For some reason studying social work has caused some kind of disconnect in me  between the problems people face and the people themselves. I got into social work initially because it was the closest thing to ministry I could imagine and yet I’ve been so immersed in social issues that I sometimes have forgotten the actual people that I care so much about. So I guess I know what I need to do now: get back on the streets and hear some stories.

3. Second Chances: Suffice it to say I am a big believer in second chances. Being a social worker requires it as does being a Christian. One of the reasons I oppose the death penalty by the way.  Anyway, studying social work very much reinforced this belief in second chances. And in unexpected ways. First, working with people suffering from mental illness has offered me the privilege to witness some profound things: people in anguish extending grace and, yes second and third and fourth chances to one another. Nothing to do with us professionals, folks. Just people in pain offering each other grace. Can you think of a better metaphor for the Church?

Another way my belief was reinforced was actually literally being offered a second chance. My graduate education was kind of wrought with obstacle. The most difficult time occurred when the building where I worked (and most of our clients lived) burned to the ground. I worked a lot for several weeks. It happened to coincide with a housing emergency my wife and I were going through. And she was about 7 months pregnant. Anyway, while one of my professors allowed me to adjust some due dates on a few things, another led me to believe she was willing to give me an incomplete. When grades came out, I learned that I had failed that course. I thought the best course of action was to take a year off, get things back together, help my wife with our new baby, and get back to work in a year. Well, I didn’t realize that I was supposed to tell people at school my plan and because of that I was almost unable to return. Then I found out that failing a class made me ineligible for student loans, my unfortunate method of financing my education. At Temple there is a professor that is nothing short of a saint. When I went to her office to tell her my situation, she had compassion on me and offered me a second chance. She authorized my retroactive leave of absence and wrote a letter recommending my funding be restored. She basically extended grace. And I hope that in my educational experience what I really learned was how to become a professional second chance giver, or in another way of saying it, a social worker.