> Does criticizing students mean that
> I didn't care about them?
Um, noone said that or implied that. It's just that the knee-jerk reaction, "Gee, kids today are so dumb" is as true -- and as false -- as the knee-jerk reaction, "Gee, kids today are so smart". It's shocking what they don't know, and sometimes just as shocking when they do actually figure something out.
> Further, when I didn't enjoy full-time teaching where I was teaching, I
> retired. I hope all you saints out there do the same.
The only thing worse than being exploited as a teacher is, not teaching at all. I love teaching and live for the classroom experience, but never got the chance to have a career in the first place, because of the near-apocalyptic destruction of the humanities job market. I've spent six years of my life in a vain attempt to get even the most minimal teaching job. It nearly drove me over the edge.
But I refuse to be bitter, because the loss of my Imperial privilege is insignificant compared to the nightmarish horror inflicted upon billions of people by neoliberalism. I'm saying goodbye to literary studies and doing a Long March into the world of media studies. Just my way of keeping the faith with the students in my classes during the late 1990s, who inspired me (and taught me) more than they will ever know.
-- DRR