Brit Think, American Think

Authors

  • Paul G Johnson, Dr University of southern Maine

Keywords:

social work profession, social work education, general education, community, social care

Abstract

This paper, looks at my experiences of undertaking my social work education in the United Kingdom and then immigrating to the United States. Despite, what I had read and seen on Television, living and working in the United States was extremely difficult. The United States was not a welcoming country, indeed they had a very negative view on those who required social work services. After ten years as a social worker, the author assumed a career in higher education. Again, this was in stark contrast to his own education in the United Kingdom. Here the philosophy was “more” was better. Students in their undergraduate programs are required to complete 120 credits in order to graduate. However, this approach resulted in the system being more concerned with breadth, rather than quality and preventing one from delving into the issues in greater detail. This results in students not being given enough time to reflect on their education. Finally, the author, provides some suggestions on what could be done to improve the education and the profession in the United States.

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Published

2018-10-26

How to Cite

Johnson, P. G. (2018). Brit Think, American Think. Reflections: Narratives of Professional Helping, 24(3), 6–16. Retrieved from https://reflectionsnarrativesofprofessionalhelping.org/index.php/Reflections/article/view/1657