Posted by js on May 03, 2003 at 16:46:04:
In Reply to: Re: too many ? posted by Dragomir on May 03, 2003 at 11:46:55:
I probably (hopefully) misinterpreted your remarks, but some of them seem to remind me of the type of elitism that I tried to refer to in the original post. Messages from you and Dr. Sloan both seem to reflect the view that Joe and others can't possibly understand the higher plane of the educational experience ("big picture" - whatever) because Joe and others are not members of the club.
Though there are quite a few folks on this bbs that are obviously quite a bit brighter than I am, (though absolutely and certifiably cock-eyed) I don't believe myself to be the very dullest - and when I try to follow the logic of your response and Dr. Sloan's, the thinking seems to go around in a circle. Again, just because an adjunct instructor is not a member of "the club", isn't there a chance that this instructor can reflect "big picture" concepts, and be able to teach their students how to evaluate, categorize, generalize, analyze, personalize, and to eventually educate themselves? (Come to think of it, very few of my Professors seemed to be gifted to this level in their own thinking and teaching methods. I felt very privileged when I was able to occasionally study under such gifted Professors.)
A side consideration is the "pet" thinking that seems permanently attached to such institutions. Reflecting on your example, I'm not sure that I want my own 17 - 21-year-old children hanging around with folks who buy into the beliefs that "black studies", "women studies", etc. (My God, how absurdly narcissistic can one become?) are worthy disciplines. Curiously, though the cost difference for me was the difference between "free" for sending my kid to a top-tier university's school of music vs. "a fortune" to send my kid to a music conservatory (' should be going without saying, my child's own choice all along), I chose the music conservatory specifically because I viewed the conservatory as more of a "trade school" and not a place bent on institutionally trying to convince young people to buy into "pet" thinking - which is rarely viewed as logic outside the walls of these institutions.