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Challenging Social Work Education’s Urban Legends

Urban legends circulate throughout society, including higher education and social work education. Some academic mythologies take on the status of a tradition—no matter the evidence or lack thereof—and continue to thrive, to influence thinking, and to shape norms, which, in turn, direct behaviors. As with urban legends, academic myths are able to overpower and dismiss the conclusions drawn from critical thinking processes. Accreditation standards, common program structures, and faculty behaviors and expectations have evolved over time grounded in and shaped by various legends. Social work educators applying critical thinking processes to their educational enterprise will be able to challenge with intellectual rigor the profession’s urban legends, which will then result in national standards and program models that are creative, proactive, and forward-thinking.