Guilt

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My Professors over the last two semesters, and the one I have now, have been very good at driving guilt in their lectures. They speak a great deal about the various social problems of the world and how we students are not doing enough to fix them. However, when I say things like this I feel as though I am being bad and that I am being accusatory towards others. This is even if I simply have that kind of a thought to myself.

I have always felt rather left out at school, but I got into a disagreement with a Professor a few weeks ago that has made me feel really bad about this. We did a project in the class that was rather worthless, though again I feel bad about criticizing it. I politely asked him about why we did the project and he turned it around and said that I was attacking his teaching methodology and that I should understand my place as a student.

Were you intending to criticize his pedagogical technique, or was that simply how he understood it? If so, it may be worthwhile to clarify, either during office hours, or by e-mail, depending on your comfort level.

That being said, instructors in my field (sociology) often focus on the ills of the world because these are inherently more interesting than the things that are right with it. Racial, gender, and religious inequalities exist all over the world, for instance, and these have meaningful and deleterious impacts on many people's lives. While people who study these issues often do so out of a belief that changing them is important, this does not suggest that you, personally, are responsible for fixing those problems. Certainly, the actions of one individual are unlikely to have much impact. Regardless, your professor should have a thicker skin than this, and you should not feel guilty for wondering what the purpose of the class exercise was. If anything, your doubt was an opportunity for the instructor to clarify why the exercise was not pointless. It's unfortunate he did not choose to do so, because your place, as a student, is to ask questions.

yeah? well, next time remind him who pays his salary! I got this crap in college, but I was a neo-traditional student, an adult that was paying my own way. I heard them brow beat the young adults with the whole "I'm an adult and your a kid" I am the boss and you are the underling' sort of thing.

I had had it in class one day and happened to suggest to the prof (in the amphitheater class) that every student sitting before him were going to be Alumni one day and the Alumni Foundation would certainly miss those funds just because they had long memories.

Oh, they hated me in that school. . . I just had 'no respect!' 'back atcha' is what I said

idiots. . and now, when the Alumni Foundation calls. . .I ask them if Prof Alum is still there and as long as he is. . they get nothing from me, and I tell 'em so!

Merle

I thank you both for reaffirming my position. That is very kind of you. I have already made good on a personal level with him, though thank you for reminding me to do so.

Strangely, though...well, I'll start with saying that as you bring up, sociologists inherently handle more negative aspects of society. However, what concerns me specifically in this case of guilt is the blending of academic disciplines. I am studying to be an archaeologist, and contrastingly, archaeologists are often concerned with the positive aspects of culture and what unifying aspects there are among all human beings. (This idea, pejoratively called the theory of noble savages, was once so didactic in fact that it was said that the practice of human sacrifices by Mesoamerican civilizations was wholly a myth.)

However, in the archeology class I took last semester, my Professor brought a good deal of concepts like the suicide studies of Emile Durkheim up repeatedly, often preaching about how these indicate larger social ailments that are the fault of students.

Again, I do hope that I am not sounding like I am vilifying anyone or bothering anyone. I hope I didn't sound like I was offending sociology as a discipline.

This is precisely the wrong tactic to try. We hear the "We pay your salary" thing constantly, and it will either make the professor contemptuous of you, or just angry. You aren't getting one over on the professor, whose job teaching most likely encompasses 1/3rd of his work during his 70 hour week. You're just going to tick off the one person who controls your grade. It's far better to communicate from a position of respect. If he's unwilling to do so, then I'd consider withdrawing from the class.

I already completed his class. I was speaking in retrospect. No, I did not say anything close to that to him; I did not want to offend anyone. Rather, I described college in a manner of service that I purchase and requested, using this analogy, that I have a little more say in the way in which the aforementioned service is delivered. I certainly did not mean to be offensive in the way I had spoken, and certainly hope I do not sound it now. As I said, neither of us in real life harbors ill will against one another after the event

Kraken, from your rhetoric is it safe to surmise that you are a Professor?

Close. I'm a graduate student who has taught and TA'd for courses. I don't think you're offending sociology as a discipline, though I do think you're misunderstanding it somewhat. Durkheim never argued that suicide was something for which individual members of society were responsible. Rather, he thought that the way in which society was structured naturally ensured that some people would live in such a way that they would seek to commit suicide. He argued that they do so as the result of anomie, which is a sense of detachment from social relationships and bonds. It should never be implied that he believed individual members of society were somehow directly responsible for this. Sociology is largely incapable of making such an argument, since it deals in studying groups of individuals, rather than individuals themselves.

Forgive me for not being as clear as I should of. I was not personally suggesting that Durkheim was arguing those points. Rather, I was stating that my archeology professor was saying that Durkheim was arguing those points. I was paraphrasing her ideas about how she thought that he believed that society was directly responsible and that the social constructs were purposefully put in place to do those things (She is also a bit of a conflict theorist.)

Again, I do not mean to be insulting. I hope I have cleared up any misunderstanding and I certainly hope I show no ignorance on my own behalf. Furthermore, while I do not see eye to eye with my archeology professor, I certainly hope I don't sound like I am attacking her as a person.

Thank you for proving the very points I was making.

you hear "we pay your salary" constantly? Constantly? What kind of prof gets push back constantly from dissatisfied students?
I am also astounded to see you admit "you are just going to tick off the ONE PERSON that CONTROLS your grade?" don't you see the THREAT implied in that simple statement? Don't you see the hegemony behind this statement?
So this is what you want us to respect, eh? getting us ready for the cubicle farms because we are slaves to our educational loans for 30 years just to pay you that salary you get reminded of constantly.

Besides, getting one over on the professor is later, when the Alumni Society brings us in to see who gets tenure.

Merle

1. Of course he controls your grade. He runs the class. He sets the standards. He determines whether you meet the standards. he's the expert in the field who has been judged, by other experts in the field, to be capable of deciding what does and does not constitute mastery of the material. He may not be intentionally biased, but he's only human. If you throw feces at him every day in class, there's every possibility it will impact his judgment.

2. Of course I see the Hegemony. He's an expert in the material who has likely dedicated a fair chunk of his life to studying things you will be studying for a semester.

3. His research will determine tenure, not your evaluations. It will also most likely pay the bulk of his salary. You pay tuition to get an education. You get to decide what kinds of courses you take, and what areas you wish to study. You do not get to determine what standards you must meet in order to receive your degree. It's not a flea market.

Hmm. I never got the "your a kid, I'm an adult" feeling. There was a proper respect toward the professor as an educator. I was an adult student, but my fellow students were treated in the same manner I was. I always felt like part of something, rather than just a student there to be taught. I suppose I had really good professors.

I miss college.

Mik (I hope you don't mind me calling you that) I am very glad to hear that your experience is better than mine is =)