Also, the group is Blacker/Browner and more economically diverse.
Justin Zimmerman
So, people often do this on social media. They insult you personally (though they don’t know you) and then holler first amendment or “how do you know I’m talking about you?! Hmmm???” It’s juvenile and a sign of folks losing their social skills.
I remember having a professor in a honors class. White dude, he had so many basic, condescending nuggets of advice for me. Now, he didn’t know shit about me and never asked, but he sure thought he had me figured out. I remember him rolling his eyes at me when I asked about his PhD. Now look at me.
My back is on fire! I need to stop tensing up.
Also, the idea that professors are the main ones that teach students how to think discounts much of how these students got to college in the first place. I can go on and on about the shitty assumptions we make about students and their backgrounds.
I have to talk to my son about death today and I just don’t want to. I just wanted to say that out loud.
My typical rule is how would you treat this person if you were within punching distance. That’s how you should talk to people on the internet.
So, in much of academia we have this idea we need to wag our fingers at our students based on our assumptions about their motivations and values. But what if we didn’t do that? What if that’s more destructive?
I think teaching at the university level would be more pleasant for many if we accept that the job is to teach the material not try to teach students a life lessen all the time. We aren’t the parents.
What I’m not telling you. To not to teach them. To not teach them important things. I teach race, y’all. What I am saying. Stop trying to dictate their decisions when they didn’t ask you to, even if the decision sucks.
