Starting a Masters in Social Work program in January with the eventual goal to earn my LCSW and practice psychotherapy.

In my undergrad I took several courses in Social Work, one of which gave me concern for the post I'm writing now. To cut long matters short, I received poor grades in one of my classes on social justice due to what I believe were idealogical differences between my professors and myself, despite putting in good effort into my assignments and involvement in class discussions.

For those of you unfamiliar with SW, it is a field with a heavy emphasis on social issues. Ultimately I don't think it's a bad thing in and of itself given the nature of many SW jobs. It can, however, lead to intolerance of challenging views that do not coincide directly with what is expected.

Fundamentally, I agreed with the vast majority of my professors views in our class discussions. But I felt that our discussions were always too much a matter of virtue signaling and uncritical agreement for the sake of believing in what the professor wanted us to believe. In my undergrad, this ultimately didn't matter too much. I dropped the course and went on to graduate from my program without it hindering me in any way. Having said that, I am more concerned now that I will be studying at the graduate level.

As I mentioned, I am planning to practice therapy after graduation. At the same time, I have many, deeply critical concerns related to psychotherapy as a field. This is due to many years of my own experiences in therapy, as well as personally knowing many therapists personally for a very long time. My criticisms are well thought out and, I believe, can be substantiated through other academic literature in the field. These criticisms truly cut to the core of what it means to practice psychotherapy, and I know they will inevitably come up at various points throughout my program.

Even so, I believe that psychotherapy has the potential to benefit many people when undertaken in the right way, and that is why I've decided to do this program. Ultimately, I believe my critical but thoughtful views of psychotherapy will be my biggest assets in my studies and my practice.

Here is where my concern lies. I am afraid that, due to my strong criticisms of psychotherapy, I will eventually receive retaliation from my professors in the course of my studies. I am not willing to sacrifice what I believe is right just to pass.

What is your advice here? What steps can I take to protect myself academically? Should I disclose my views upfront to my program and professors? For context, they are all well-practiced in the field. Thank you.

TLDR: I'm concerned about retaliation from my professors due to likely idealogical differences, and looking for advice about how I can address this issue.