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Dear Social Work Professor:

Thank you for your letters of recommendation. I did get the job and by now I have been a professional social worker for one full month.

I don't want to sound critical but I must take this opportunity to say that my social work education did not prepare me for what I am facing in my new job. I have become very confused. Not only that, I am always afraid of saying the wrong thing.

I have discovered that the social workers in my office get really uptight about language and words. They are striving to be "politically correct." That means, I believe, that they are careful to select just the right word so they won't offend anyone. But that is very difficult, since we spend so much time talking about other people -- who they are, what they believe, and how they behave.

Personally, I like political correctness because I don't like conflict, so I avoid offending anyone. But it is getting harder and harder to keep from accidentally using the wrong word. My relationships are becoming like mine fields and it's so easy to say the wrong word. For example, rather than upset the family of a man who has died and highlight the issue, it is usually best to refer to him as "metaphysically challenged."

We cannot be too careful about the words we use because words do strange things to people. Take, for example, the word "welfare." This is a really great word. It represents a wonderful idea. According to my dictionary, "welfare" is defined as "health, happiness and general well-being." Yet, when I read the newspaper, I find that nearly everyone wants to do away with welfare. No on wants welfare and no one wants to pay for it. How can such a nice word upset so many people? People are really strange--I mean interesting.

I am also told I should avoid using the word "problem." I am told I should use a word that is more positive, less negative. My dictionary defines a "problem" as "a question or situation that presents uncertainty, perplexity or difficulty." Actually that doesn't sound bad to me. I certainly have had a lot of perplexity and I don't think I have been terribly damaged so far.

Some in the helping professions manage to avoid the word "problem" by substituting the word "dysfunctional." Seemingly, it is better to refer to a person or family that has a problem as a dysfunctional person or a dysfunctional family. My dictionary defines "dysfunction" as "disordered or impaired." I don't know about you, but I would rather have a problem.

Still other professionals are able to avoid the word "problem" by referring to a person's questions, perplexities, and difficulties as "issues," "challenges," or "concerns." Thus, instead of saying "Tell me about your problem," they would say "Tell me about your issues, your challenges, and your concerns." Or perhaps they would say "Tell me about your unresolved issues" or "areas of concern" or "personal and family dilemmas."

Some say that I shouldn't focus so much on people's problems (i.e., uncertainties, perplexities or difficulties) and should instead focus on their strengths. I like that idea. However, the problem--I mean the challenge--with this suggestion is that when I look in my dictionary for a definition of "strength" I find that it means "(1) the state, quality or property of being strong; physical power; muscularity (2) the power of resisting force, attack, strain or stress; durability; solidity; impregnability.

Given that, I am not sure what to think of all this emphasis on a person's strengths. Being relatively small myself and out of shape, I think I would prefer to be around people with problems.

I am told to be very careful around children, especially children who have problems--I mean issues. It can be harmful to label a child with the wrong word. For example, instead of saying that a boy has a "problem" or a "serious problem", it is preferable to describe the child as being "at risk" or perhaps "seriously at risk." Such words have a nice ring but they are a bit confusing to me; I am never sure what "risk" we are talking about. And what about the word "at" in "at risk"? Does that mean the boy is approaching a risk, is about to meet the risk, or has now engaged the risk? Or does it mean he has a problem?

As I said, I am a bit confused about professional words and language. You might want to mention this to the students in your classes.

Sincerely yours,
Ben Goode, M.S.W.
(Class of 00)