[lbo-talk] teaching the pampered rich at Harvard

[John Thornton]

I didn't use the phrase "hired help" I wrote "mere servants". The 
difference between the two is startling.
We can agree that most (but not all) students attend college to further 
vocational goals but that is irrelevant.
The difference in the approach of elites at elite institutions and 
working and middle class at State Institutions has been explained you 
seem however to chose not to read or else not to desire to understand 
what you've read. So be it.
When elite students view faculty as existing "to validate the students 
preconceived ideas about themselves as elites." while non-elites view 
faculty as "helping students prepare for their chosen careers." (your 
words) the difference should be obvious to anyone.
It isn't that University instructors are viewed as somehow elevated 
above other labors but you seem fixated on the idea that others are 
making this claim and you're unable to see beyond it.

John Thornton

Joseph Catron wrote:
> We seem to be having multiple conversations in this thread
> simultaneously.  I'll not dwell on the point, other than to say that I
> read nothing in your reply below conflicting with my post, to which it
> was apparently intended as a critical response.
>
> I will, however, note how some of the loaded language used here shapes
> the conversation.  Is the idea of professors as "hired help,"
> obligated to help students prepare for their chosen careers, really so
> outrageous?  However we cut the numbers, I hope we can agree that
> many, many students attend college with vocational goals foremost in
> their minds.
>
> And why is conflating tenured academics with residential housekeepers,
> or whatever else "hired help" means, so evocative?  They're people who
> do jobs, some parts of which they like more than others, for money,
> right?
>
> On Tue, Jul 22, 2008 at 7:58 PM, John Thornton <jthorn65 at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>
>   
>> For starters State University students and Community College students have
>> never made we wish for an explosive laden vest.
>>
>> My only elite college experience is at Harvard but I have heard from
>> reliable persons that my impressions were typical of other similar
>> institutions.
>>
>> The sense of entitlement at such schools is almost unbelievable unless
>> you've spent much time with these fucks.
>> Their attitude is, as someone pointed out, that the Professors and
>> instructors are mere servants.
>> People whose job it is is to validate the students preconceived ideas about
>> themselves as elites.
>> I've never experienced that from any of the students at any of the State
>> Universities I've had the pleasure of associating with.
>> You have to be taught such ideas from early childhood and State University
>> students seldom, if ever, receiving such developmental training.
>>     
>
>