> I didn't use the phrase "hired help" I wrote "mere servants". The difference
> between the two is startling.
Others have used the former phrase, and I intended to make it clear that I was referring to the thread as a whole.
> 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.
I suggest you reread Summers' essay. Its references to "the careerist, vocational orientation" and "preparing clients for monied careers" indicate that his grasp of the difference - which I believe is what you're defending - isn't quite as nuanced as yours.
> 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.
Again, I suggest you reread Summers' essay. (For that matter, it wouldn't be a bad idea to reread my e-mails, since your responses to them contain little suggesting you've done so already.)
-- "Hige sceal þe heardra, heorte þe cenre, mod sceal þe mare, þe ure mægen lytlað."