[lbo-talk] RE: Learning to be Stupid

[Jose Rodriguez & Sally Everson]

You seem to have all the players there that I remember ... now where I fit
in there I have no idea -- I was really lost ...no political group I came
into contact would have me (too white, too straight, too neat and orderly
looking, etc etc)
Wish I had taken some sociology classes though (and maybe had someone like
you), along with history and philosophy, etc. (I don't think I had to take
any there -- but then I was a transfer student and had gone to a Community
College prior to that where I did all my core courses - which was basically
a complete repetition of h.s.). I found out rather late that the way to an
education is by not following a major course of study ...
There were some exceptionally bright students in many of my lit classes, and
fairly politically engaged profs -- that is, once I got to the upper level
courses - which is the problem, by the time I found them I was finished ...

But I suppose thats whats grad school for, eh?  If one is fortunate enough
to continue.

Sally

----- Original Message -----
From: Wojtek Sokolowski <sokol at jhu.edu>
To: <lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org>
Sent: Monday, September 15, 2003 3:25 PM
Subject: RE: [lbo-talk] RE: Learning to be Stupid


> Sally Everson
> >
> > As for US colleges and Universities being designed to teach students
> > stupidity -- I found this true in my experience as an undergrad at
> Rutgers.
> > As a working class girl who struggled to get myself into college in
> order to
> > be educated - I was extremely disappointed to discover what college
> was all
> > about - playing the game. (I think I rejected that notion -- which
> explains
>
> I went to the graduate school at Rutgers (sociology), which was quite
> progressive and critical of the status quo.  As far as the undergrads
> were concerned, however, there were several kinds:
>
> - the frat-jocks (perhaps not the majority but very loud and obnoxious)
> - stupid and reactionary, interested mainly in sports and parties and
> barely making it through the course, or not making;
>
> - the white suburban kids (probably the majority) - treating college as
> a continuation of high school, doing as little as possible to pass,
> pretty conventional and pro-status quo
>
> - the black urban males - without a clue and seeing conspiracies
> everywhere;
>
> - the black urban females - no BS, businesslike "what do I need to do
> pass this class"
>
> - the feminist white females (a vocal minority) - basically ok, but
> sometimes too soft-skinned
>
> - the assorted odds and ends, lefties, pwogies, etc.  (a colorful
> minority).
>
> My favorite was teaching intro to sociology with a heavy dose of
> Marxism.  Most students did not give a shit and hinted that "I go back
> where I came from" - however, one working class white female found it
> very relevant to her own experience as a supermarket sales clerk -
> reading her term paper on deskilling of service labor was worth putting
> up with the other 80 or so doofuses.
>
> Wojtek
>
>
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