“Growth” as a Euphemism
August 5, 2010
I get an alumni magazine which includes stories and notes related to my undergrad’s divinity school. They recently featured a bio of a recent graduate of the divinity school; she was quoted as saying that she experienced a lot of “growth” during her studies.
It suddenly hit me: “growth” is a euphemism for “I don’t believe the same crap I did when I started my divinity school training.”
I can see why they use the word “growth”—it’s a lot less threatening to the conservatives who donate to the school and potential future students.
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She didn’t really indicate which crap she doesn’t believe anymore, though. It might just be that she’s become more nuanced about the crap she does believe.
I’d like to think that any kind of education without “growth” isn’t education at all.
In keeping with the neo-liberal language, someone who enrolled at that school believing in dinosaurs, and after taking Introduction to the Old Testament no longer believed in dinosaurs, can be said to have experienced a painful but necessary period of “negative growth”.