Not Quite Grasping The Irony
So here’s a thing. A leftist anthropology professor named Mark Zajac – noted on the Rate My Professors website for being politically “opinionated” and “often going off on tangents about political topics which have no relation to the course” – discovered the existence of a website that advises parents and alumni of leftist professors whose views and behaviour are somewhat questionable. For instance, educators describing white people as “the face of the oppressor,” or calling conservative students “white supremacists,” or assaulting a student and then blaming their own behaviour on the “cultural legacy of slavery,” or repeatedly using the classroom as a political pulpit.
Unhappy at this discovery, said professor then proceeded to use his classroom, and class time, to indulge in half an hour of factually dubious leftist sermonising. As the student who recorded Dr Zajac noted, “It’s unacceptable this is happening in a class where I’m supposed to be learning about ancient humans and how they painted caves and used tools.”
Incidentally, two of the questionable educators listed above, Robert Weide and William Penn, have been mentioned here previously.
I’ve alway been impressed witn the ancient cave painters and how realistically they saw their world.
Times have changed.
being politically “opinionated” and “often going off on tangents about political topics which have no relation to the course”
Your tuition fees at work.
Your tuition fees at work.
Quite. Setting aside the content of Dr Zajac’s lengthy detour into politics and personal showboating, the more important issue is that parents aren’t forking out tens of thousands of dollars to have their children endure entirely irrelevant political lectures by a self-indulgent activist part-timing as an educator. Assuming the class mentioned above lasts, say, 90 minutes, then over a third of it has been wasted on Dr Zajac’s views on “white privilege” and allegedly racist policing, and his insistence that the sadistic fantasies of Marx had nothing whatsoever to do with the horrors that followed.
Again, what irks is the presumption, the casual arrogance of it. If you’d hired an expensive piano teacher for little Mary and found that he’d been spending half of the time you’re paying for not teaching piano at all but holding forth on income inequality and the sins of white people, you’d probably be unimpressed and might well demand a refund.
– you’d probably be unimpressed and might well demand a refund.
– And so would all your friends – especially the one who’d recommended that piano teacher to you in the first place.
As a species, we need to do a lot more of that. Hit ’em in the wallet; they won’t listen to anything else.
Agreed.
There’s a sense at the moment that the right is finally waking up and using the tactics the left have used. Shaming, humour, lists like the one detailed above.
I posted somewhere the other day that I am completely OK about the BDS movement, as it identifies the morally crippled idiots who support it in order that I can avoid them.
“the more important issue is that parents aren’t forking out tens of thousands of dollars to have their children endure entirely irrelevant political lectures by a self-indulgent activist part-timing as an educator.”
What did they think they would be getting?
In no other area of life would people spend a six figure sum with no due diligence whatsoever. It’s amazing really.
To be fair, there is no connection between Marxist, socialist ideas and subsequent human misery in places where it’s been tired. After all, Venezuela is a veritable socialist Beulah Land, right?
Right?
There is no (direct) connection between Marxist ideas and subsequent human misery. It’s only the attempt to implement Marxist ideas, which inexorably creates human misery, that has that connection. Since the Marxist ideal is unobtainable, it has no real connection to anything.
But when you complain about a teacher, or anything else about a school, they will tell you to shut up, you are not the customer, but a student, and need to listen and learn
I guess my question is, What value is expected from “higher education” tuitioned remedial course, in what should have been mastered as an amusing sidebar to a high school PoliSci, or economics class?
The cave painters were only concerned about hunting down large mammals and eating them. Of course, this may also describe Political Correctness in our present time.
Again, what irks is the presumption, the casual arrogance of it. If you’d hired an expensive piano teacher for little Mary and found that he’d been spending half of the time you’re paying for not teaching piano at all but holding forth on income inequality and the sins of white people, you’d probably be unimpressed and might well demand a refund.
That.
That.
As a student of William Penn, noted here previously, said, it wasn’t just a matter of the class being repeatedly subjected to lengthy tirades against Republicans, or the casual and baseless accusations of racism, or even the insults aimed at the parents of non-leftist students. It was the fact that, despite being paid a salary of $146,510, Dr Penn seemed to view the actual job he was expected to do as beneath him, and certainly of much less importance than displaying his juvenile politics. As the student put it, “I was more offended he wasn’t teaching the class.”
Well, being repeatedly cheated of what you’ve paid for by a narcissistic wanker will do that.
One tangent, in response to the comment by “A Facebook User”, I do not believe that the student is the only, or even primary, customer. Society as a whole, including businesses, has a larger stake in the success of higher education and the students are the output of the educational process.
I do not make that claim to defend higher education. In fact, it is quite the contrary because of the student was the primary customer then shame on them for paying for the “fluffy” courses and dumbed down curriculum. The biggest loser in this is a nation that does not educate iis incredibly bright youth about its exceptionalism and provide critical thinking skills that allows them to meaningfully contribute to mak ing a great but imperfect nation even better. Most universities to not require economies, western civilization or other cornerstone classes of democracy as part of their general studies requirements. Look at the courses that count toward requirements at almost any university and there will be some that reveal just how low of a regard the institutions have for a classical education.
So many of the problems caused by politicians on the right and the left are largely a result of a lack of understanding of economics, ethics, logic, and basic math. If the politicians don’t understand that allowing someone to purchase new insurance after they get sick is not insurance then they are ignorant. The politicians who understood that basic concept but still advocated for Obamacare were not ignorant, they just relied on the ignorance of others. There are lots of example on the right and the left but this tangent is already too long so I will wrap it up with my wish is that politicians would argue honestly and inelegantly about the issues and that the public was intelligent enough to recognize and vote for people who are honest and don’t attempt to run on the Santa Clause platform.
It’s begging the question that even had Professor Spart stuck rigorously to his brief and taught nothing but the syllabus, a degree in anthropology from “Saddleback College” (really?) would actually merit a positive value being placed on it. As I said somewhere else, non-STEM degrees from US universities function these days rather like the protective colouration of wasps in warning people to stay well away.
There are certainly cranks and grifters in every profession. But I can’t think of another group which has so many. Perhaps a year of waiting tables or answering questions at Home Depot would ground them in reality a bit.
Nobody spent tens of thousands of dollars taking classes from Professor Zajac. Saddleback College is a community college where fees are $46 per unit.
A man would be annoyed if his son returned from the dentist with his teeth untouched and his head crammed with the dentist’s obiter dicta on bimetallism and the Baconian theory. –C.S.Lewis, The Abolition of Man
The ability to deliver a left-wing rant is probably a key skill to advancement in the world of anthropology. The ability to nod appreciatively when someone else is delivering one is also a key skill. So Prof. Zajac is just giving his students career skills, albeit ones that aren’t on the syllabus.
It’s not just the leftist trajectory of some university courses and their lecturers, but the propensity for producing utterly spurious research simple to look busy and justify funding: http://bit.ly/2d6IRkg They have no shame…
I want to know why these students don’t stand up in the middle of class and say, excuse me, professor, but can we get back to the topic I am paying money to learn?
And then dare the professor to retaliate.
NOTHING will begin to happen until these bullies are stood up to on a regular basis.
I dunno, Marxism is an ancient philosophy that has failed everywhere…
An ancient philosophy with a bad habit of becoming an ancien régime, perhaps.
Patrick: “$46” etc…
Speaking as a former CC student, that doesn’t make it much better. When I was taking CC classes (Calculus) I also was not spending many dollars, but I was spending a lot of my time. I expected to learn enough to proceed into more difficult courses at uni, and would have been royally bent out of shape had the teachers wasted my time.
Instalanche!
Instalanche!
Better fire up the auxiliary generator. And once round the gents with a can of Oust.
This’ll mean having to fish the rats out of the water barrel and get them off the table, then?
Perhaps a year of waiting tables or answering questions at Home Depot would ground them in reality a bit.
Both of those require skills and knowledge, a chain gang would do the job much better.
“So Prof. Zajac is just giving his students career skills, albeit ones that aren’t on the syllabus.”
Unfortunately, those “skills” only work in academia.
“How they painted caves” and “how they made cave paintings” are not equivalent phrases. The answer to the first is “Beige, mostly.”
To be fair, there is no connection between Marxist, socialist ideas and subsequent human misery in places where it’s been tired.
Oh. I thought everyone knew that Marxist, socialist ideas and subsequent human misery are all much better after having a good night’s sleep. At that point they’re not so tired.
Rick asks why can’t a student interrupt with the following:
“Excuse me, professor, but can we get back to the topic I am paying money to learn?”
“What’s your name, comrade student?”
Expect to be severely marked on any future assessable work after interrupting the lecturer like that.
In no other area of life would people spend a six figure sum with no due diligence whatsoever.
Fruitcake, anyone? And a drink, of course. Oh, yes, have a menu . . .
This’ll mean having to fish the rats out of the water barrel and get them off the table, then?
No, Sporkatus, David is in London, not Paris . . .
—I keep looking at those stories and going Scuzzi?!?!? Little children, or in this case, enfants, where are your cats?
despite being paid a salary of $146,510, Dr Penn seemed to view the actual job he was expected to do as beneath him, and certainly of much less importance than displaying his juvenile politics. As the student put it, “I was more offended he wasn’t teaching the class.”
Sounds like they want to get paid just for *being leftwing*, like it’s a job.
Sounds like they want to get paid just for *being leftwing*, like it’s a job.
Heh. In effect, yes, absolutely.
And so, despite his behaviour being incongruous, self-indulgent and unprofessional, one suspects Dr Zajac views his political sermonising as some kind of entitlement, as if it were what he ought to be paid to do. As if the students being cheated of lesson time were lucky to hear his sophomoric, near-ubiquitous political views.
This is not an uncommon conceit.
And so we get Grover Furr, an English lecturer, who insists, quite proudly, that what colleges need above all is “more Marxists, radicals, leftists – all terms conventionally applied to those who fight against exploitation, racism, sexism, and capitalism. We can never have too many of these, just as we can never have too few ‘conservatives’.” Apparently, the real job of an English lecturer is to “fight against… capitalism.” And we also get Rhonda Garelick, an associate professor of French and Italian, who loftily dismissed complaints by students that she was using French lessons to express at length her own political preferences: “Frankly, I feel increasingly compelled to look beyond my syllabuses and to devote myself more to teaching ‘wakeful’ political literacy: the skills needed to interrogate all cultural messages.” Wakeful, she says, modestly.
And then of course there’s Wahneema Lubiano, an associate professor of Afro-American Studies, whose students learn that, despite her being tenured at an elite university, she’s “physically traumatised and psychologically assaulted” by global capitalism. And so, for Lubiano, the classroom is chiefly a venue for her own political “activism,” i.e., the propagation of obnoxious racial theory, in which guilt depends on pigment, class and gender. Her job, she says, is “to reconstitute not simply particular curricula, but the academy itself.” Specifically, it should be “sabotaged” by people suitably radical and enlightened, like her. (A transformation, incidentally, that one might think had already taken place and hence Lubiano’s license to take such liberties with students and the people paying her salary.)
And there are dozens of other examples in the archives. Again, arrogance and vanity. It’s who they are.
Related: https://twitter.com/daemonic3/status/808792022970572800
Fruitcake, anyone? And a drink, of course. Oh, yes, have a menu . . .
I’m reasonably confident that ingestion of heavy metals is contraindicated. Even the ones that are more expensive than lead.
Well, how can the globalists make their case for mass importation of workers, if our universities crank out productive students?
Like, duh!
Again, arrogance and vanity. It’s who they are.
Report: Drunken Kim Jong Un forces military patriarchs to write apologies
So apparently Fatty III is not one of those happy drunks that one keeps reading of . . . .
Heh. Got it.
Having gotten my undergrad back when professors were expected to teach the subject at hand, and gone back to get the doctoral when the first crop of “relevant” professors were in charge, I noticed that the first bunch were dazzlingly competent in knowledge of their subject, and demanded the students respond to the work. The second bunch were fond of hearing their own political/social/sexual ideas and beliefs aired out of their own yaps, and favored the students who waved their sexual identities or social/political desires all over the works. Oh, well. I mean, the first way demands a lot of reading and study and thought. the second, just talking into a mirror.