Defense Language Institute teachers are directed to remove language perceived as DEIA.

Agata Popęda here, with my personal pick from the news section of this week’s issue of the Weekly. Our new California Local News Fellow Chrissa Olson wrote a piece in which she describes the Defense Language Institute moving to remove perceived Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility (DEIA) language from the classroom, and why faculty members argue this a bad idea. I find it troubling and important. 

Before I started working in the U.S. as a journalist, I spent years teaching my native language, Polish, to American diplomats and military personnel. Alerting my students to the social and psychological realities of the country they were about to be sent to was as important as teaching them the actual language. 

Knowing culture, understanding the temperature of the society and being prepared for how they treat their ethnic and sexual minorities can be a matter of survival. There’s no space in the classroom for partisan games, just as there’s no space in combat for political correctness.

At the moment, teaching materials are becoming aligned with U.S. Army policies regarding DEIA language. People of Afghanistan or Russia don’t know about DEIA, what it stands for or why discussions about diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility are currently controversial. But they also face societal problems that need to be properly understood—Russia oppresses its LGBTQ+ communities and imprisons activists, while implicit bias shapes the reality of women in Afghanistan. 

Unfortunately, using the phrase “implicit bias” is not an option in a DLI classroom anymore. To see some words and phrases that are being denied to DLI students, read Olson’s story in the current issue of the Weekly, or online.