I'm a Liberal Professor, and My Liberal Students Terrify Me: Their Sensitivity and Paranoia

[Dibbs]

@Left_Hand_of_Dorkness

You clearly can’t deal with it now, given that you’re reduced to making stupid insinuations that make everyone else laugh. Shit or get off the pot.

That’s not a very kind thing to say.

[Left_Hand_of_Dorkness]

@Dibbs

That’s not a very kind thing to say.

Which unkindness I presume, given what you’ve implied about He Who Must Not Be Named, you’re perfectly fine with, right?

Pot. Shit or off.

[Jackmannii]

Here’s a good one - an attempt to educate students at Brandeis about “microaggressions” against Asian students was itself targeted as a “microaggression”.

And whatever you do, faculty at CUNY, do NOT address students as Mr./Mrs./Ms.

CUNY: Don’t Address Students as ‘Mr.’ or ‘Ms.’

I can well understand faculty feeling like they’re walking on eggshells, waiting for complaints to rain down on them.

[Red_Wiggler]

Wait. What exactly did Ted Koppel do? Was he hostile to Jimmy Carter? Ronnie Reagan?

[Left_Hand_of_Dorkness]

@Jackmannii

Here’s a good one - an attempt to educate students at Brandeis about “microaggressions” against Asian students was itself targeted as a “microaggression”.

Again, I have no idea why I would care about kids trying to out-sensitive each other. Who’s harmed by this? They’re kids, they’re trying to figure things out, they’re harmless.

And whatever you do, faculty at CUNY, do NOT address students as Mr./Mrs./Ms.

That’s behind a paywall. I looked at other stories. It looks as though a weird memo went out to staff. I have two feelings about this:

1. It’s a pretty unnecessary request.
2. There are no penalties associated with not complying with it.

Again, I don’t see why this little bit of administrative foolishness (I promise that of the bureaucratic memos issued in the United States this week ranked in order of stupidity this one doesn’t rank in the top thousand) is what we should freak out about.

[Slithy_Tove]

Ted Koppel was the Elevator Killer? I thought that was Merv Griffin.

[wevets]

@Red_Wiggler

Wait. What exactly did Ted Koppel do? Was he hostile to Jimmy Carter? Ronnie Reagan?

He created the frequency of which Kenneth spoke.

[TriPolar]

@Dibbs

Seems a little odd that a smart guy like you would be so okay with what Koppel did, saying the world would still be a disaster. My own belief is that the world, especially the States, would be much better than it is now … if he’d never arrived on the scene and did his butcher job for all those years.

I’m not ok with what he did, but it’s hardly different from anything that followed, and it was inevitable. Blame those who didn’t have the guts or sense to stand up to it. It was nothing but partisan reporting, nothing new under the sun there, and been done much worse.

[gigi]

@astro

The days of students being effective non-entities who would have to prove themselves ended when colleges started increasing their prices through the roof. If you provide a select and expensive service you expect to be paid for, you have better be very attentive to your customers. The old teacher-student model is not reflective of a reality where the students are paying effectively hundreds of dollars an a hour to sit in a teacher’s presence and the college is squeezing the teacher as hard as possible. Students are clients these days and that changes the power dynamic.

And creates a vicious circle – the administrators needed to handle the extra demands increase the per student cost! I know that’s not the only reason but administrative staff has been increasing at many schools and this has to be part of it.

[RTFirefly]

@wevets

He created the frequency of which Kenneth spoke.

And here I thought that was Dan Rather. Or was Dan Rather ‘Kenneth’? I get so confused.

[Red_Wiggler]

Wiki isn’t much help to me, stating merely that Koppel was criticized for an over-reliance on administration officials for guests during the Reagan presidency. But it sounds like there’s a more specific beef that everybody else knows but me. Help a brutha out?

[Chessic_Sense]

@GrumpyBunny

University administrations should stop pampering the little snowflakes.

Indeed. They should stop pampering their teachers like they’re little snowflakes and remind them that they’re expendable. “But…but…I can’t show the videos I want to show the class. Whaahahaha!!” Here’s a tissue. Sack up, get in there, and dance, puppet.

@astro

Students are clients these days and that changes the power dynamic.

And it’s about time colleges realized it. Students run this bitch. Employees do their collective bidding. I pay, you dance. That’s how it works.

[Chessic_Sense]

@Red_Wiggler

But it sounds like there’s a more specific beef that everybody else knows but me. Help a brutha out?

Nobody knows but Dibbs, and he won’t say, so…

[Left_Hand_of_Dorkness]

@Chessic_Sense

Indeed. They should stop pampering their teachers like they’re little snowflakes and remind them that they’re expendable. “But…but…I can’t show the videos I want to show the class. Whaahahaha!!” Here’s a tissue. Sack up, get in there, and dance, puppet.

Straight up: do you think this will lead to a better quality of education, to more educated citizens, to a better society?

[Frank]

@Dibbs

If I were to go into the particulars of the man’s evil actions during the time of his Nightline tenure, plainly describing how he abused the great power handed to him and the damage to certain social matters, things in here might become so white-hot that I’m not sure I care to deal with it.

@TriPolar

Ok, well I’m no fan of TK either. Without going into the details I’d say if not for him the world would not be the disaster it is today. However, it would still be a disaster, just some other form of disaster. None of this has anything to do with what the OP is talking about.

What the hell are you people talking about?

[pulykamell]

@Frank

What the hell are you people talking about?

I haven’t the faintest clue, either. The main Koppel criticisms I remember hearing was that he was a mouthpiece for the government. I don’t particularly remember much about him at all other that he was a well-known TV anchor. Then again, I wasn’t a fan of Nightline.

[Boyo_Jim]

I think he was the key media disinformation guy for the fake moon landing hoax and coverup.

[DSeid]

Actually I recall Koppel at his peak as being particularly skillful at giving interviewees enough rope to hang themselves with. He was not the ambush style host; he asked the right questions and insisted on answers that were material to the question asked. But it was a long while ago …

Anyway. Students (or their parents if they are footing the bill) vote for the sort of education they want to have. As someone paying the bills I am not paying for my kids to be coddled, nor for teachers to have full reign to abuse the power of the position. I am paying for my kids to have a broad education and to learn both critical analysis applicable to varied cognitive venues, and the ability to express those ideas, be they held by a majority or only by themselves, cogently and even convincingly. I believe that many of the others who are forking over this sort of moolah to liberal arts colleges also expect nothing less.

[BigT]

@Frank

What the hell are you people talking about?

Pretty sure TriPolar has no idea, either.