School of Social Work » Edward Gumz

Rural Social Work

Edward Gumz — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 15:53:02 +0000

Remember studying the states of our country in elementary school? The state capitol of Kentucky is Frankfort; of Vermont–Montpelier. I took a family vacation a couple of weeks ago and was reminded of the diversity and uniqueness of our country. We visited little Vermont–the second smallest state in the country (landwise) with the biggest city being Burlington with about 38,000 people. Vermont is covered with trees, the Green Mountains, and dairy farms. Vermont has the only independent US senator–Bernie Sanders and the state has just passed single payer health insurance. A lot of diversity in a little state; anybody interested in rural social work–wow, what a spot. Oh yes, I forgot Ben and Jerry’s–try their chocolate ice cream; their hot fudge topping is the best ever. Happy travels wherever you go this summer.

An excerpt from a MSW Intern in Kenya

Edward Gumz — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 18:48:53 +0000

The town of Kibera, Kenya where they are interning.

A few of our MSW students are doing an internship abroad in Kenya this Summer. Here is an excerpt from S.G.’s blog. I find it fascinating and such a tremendous experience if you are so inclined to experience social work on another continent…

‘This is our work schedule. Monday through Friday we go to the school from 9-2:30/3, and on Tuesday and Thursday we go to the rescue center from 5:30-7:30 and Saturday we have committee meeting from 4-7, and Sunday is our Funday.

We are trying to figure out how we are going to contribute our social work knowledge at St. Vincent’s School. Just this week we started going through the school’s files and checking the background of each child. We have found out that there is a lot of information missing that the school should have, and some of these kids’ backgrounds really get to my heart. We will be attempting a lot of home visits before we head back to the states, and trying to get as much information together as possible. We have also decided to take on the kids who misbehave in class, and how we can redirect their behaviors. I am happy to report that our efforts have been going well, and we are excited to see more changes.

When we were not working on files we were working with our individual classrooms. I was not with the baby class, but rather with the PP1 class, so kids around 4-6. The kids in the class are very cute and love to repeat everything I say. I have a little boy in the class named Dracoline who repeats every Spanish word I say. He is also the only boy that will join me in all of the games we teach the girls during recess. I also made the mistake of roaring at the kids like a lion the first lunch I had with them because now at lunch all of the kids in the class try to show me their meanest roar, with food still in their mouth. They did not take note that I did not have food in my mouth when I roared at them. I am going to be with this class again next week as I am working with one of the misbehaved kids and I am seeing progress so I would like to stay with her another week before switching with one of the other girls.’

Hope you enjoyed. I did.

We all deal with conflict…

Edward Gumz — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 15:10:13 +0000

We all deal with conflict in our lives at multiple levels–the workplace, the university, the family and many other places not least of which are social institutions. (in my last blog I wrote about conflicts in recent labor disputes in Wisconsin). Recently I saw a French movie (with English subtitles) that tells the story of a Trappist monastery in Algeria; the monks have done much to help the poor and sick in a nearby village. The seeming tranquility is interrupted by the Islamic mujahideen who threaten death. But this is not a movie of black and white, good and evil. What faith means and how it is played out is something that both sides have to deal with. The existential questions are beautifully posed with the backdrop of dramatic scenes from the Last Supper and Tchaikovsky’s music from Swan Lake. It’s all based on a true story; it made me think “What is faith” and what am I willing to fight for and maybe die for?

The movie, “Of Gods and Men” is playing in Chicago

What’s going on in Wisconsin?

Edward Gumz — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 18:08:49 +0000

There are big things happening in our neighbor to the north–Wisconsin. The events are changing rapidly and are complex. To me, it is reminiscent of one of President Reagan’s first acts as President–breaking the air traffic controllers’ union. A newly elected governor in Wisconsin–Scott Walker–may not be trying to break public employee unions but is attempting to do something equally destructive–remove the rights of employees to collective bargaining. The Republicans outnumber Democrats in both the Assembly and the Senate. But the Democratic senators left town and went to Rockford so the Senate can’t do business and vote on Walker’s measure to void collective bargaining. What can be more interesting than this for a social policy professor?

But this is not only an intellectual query. It impacts the wages, pensions, and health care of many state employees. By the way, the union has already agreed to some concessions but will not give up the right to collective bargaining. This also affects social workers employed in public agencies.

I think this raises issues for us as social workers.

1. Under what conditions do public employees have the right to strike as many school teachers did in the state, so that students could not attend schools. Is there a higher good than missing work?

2. Can public officials as state senators not appear in session? Ethical issues here?

3. Is collective bargaining an idea that has seen its time–the vast majority of American workers simply don’t have it.

4. And a research question–are public employees actually paid more than private sector employees–what are the facts? Much, of a somewhat contradictory nature, has been written on this subject.

5. E-mail responses to all of this often attract persons with extreme viewpoints, but there is considerable support for Governor Walker’s proposals.

Watch what is happening in Wisconsin–similar goings-on are happening elsewhere, perhaps with not as much drama.