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<blockquote data-quote="donner" data-source="post: 3302815" data-attributes="member: 277"><p>i love these kind of threads. They always get a good chuckle from professors i know. They laugh because they know they can barely get some students to read the syllabus, let alone 'brainwash' them. And given some of the stories i hear each year, i don't always trust the 'my professor said i have to X' because sometimes little jimmy or jane has been absent for a month and needs an excuse for the parentals as to why he or she is failing. </p><p></p><p>One of the better ones i heard a few years ago had to do with a student who was put out that 'because my pastor said so' wasn't a valid source for a paper about international conflict. No background for the person, no attempts at credentials, simply 'said so'. Now, if your pastor is someone like Desmond Tutu, it likely would have been acceptable, but getting the student to understand that proved difficult. </p><p></p><p>And i know that some professors (depending on the field), do like to challenge students and their beliefs. Not because they are trying to change minds, but to deepen understanding of an issue. It could either change or reinforce those beliefs. When my wife was at Emory in Atlanta there was a large number of Jewish kids, when at Texas Tech, white and hispanic. At Ole Miss it's much more affluent white students from Jackson and rural african american students from the delta. Each place had a different group with different common beliefs, so challenging those people has been different at each place. </p><p></p><p>She mades her international development students do service hours in the Mississippi Delta (part of a service learning initiative here). Mostly because she found that many students here were willing to talk about how to change things in far away poor countries, but didn't realize they had what amounts to a third world poverty problem within their own state. Many had traveled abroad but never been to the delta and didn't know some folks still have dirt floors here. Is she trying to 'indoctrinate' them? Not to her, though i'm sure some tell their parents she is. </p><p></p><p>Forcing students to 'see' other parts of an issue, or to challenge their beliefs and leave their comfort zones isn't a bad thing per se. I'm sure there are outliers at every turn (i had one political theory professor like that) but it's been my experience that many aren't out to brainwash your child. But being challenged to evaluate your beliefs is far harder to process than 'they are out to get us' so it's no wonder that the 'teach to the test' generation feels threatened when forced to *think* about an issue, rather than just 'know' the correct answer (regardless of which side of the issue they come down on).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="donner, post: 3302815, member: 277"] i love these kind of threads. They always get a good chuckle from professors i know. They laugh because they know they can barely get some students to read the syllabus, let alone 'brainwash' them. And given some of the stories i hear each year, i don't always trust the 'my professor said i have to X' because sometimes little jimmy or jane has been absent for a month and needs an excuse for the parentals as to why he or she is failing. One of the better ones i heard a few years ago had to do with a student who was put out that 'because my pastor said so' wasn't a valid source for a paper about international conflict. No background for the person, no attempts at credentials, simply 'said so'. Now, if your pastor is someone like Desmond Tutu, it likely would have been acceptable, but getting the student to understand that proved difficult. And i know that some professors (depending on the field), do like to challenge students and their beliefs. Not because they are trying to change minds, but to deepen understanding of an issue. It could either change or reinforce those beliefs. When my wife was at Emory in Atlanta there was a large number of Jewish kids, when at Texas Tech, white and hispanic. At Ole Miss it's much more affluent white students from Jackson and rural african american students from the delta. Each place had a different group with different common beliefs, so challenging those people has been different at each place. She mades her international development students do service hours in the Mississippi Delta (part of a service learning initiative here). Mostly because she found that many students here were willing to talk about how to change things in far away poor countries, but didn't realize they had what amounts to a third world poverty problem within their own state. Many had traveled abroad but never been to the delta and didn't know some folks still have dirt floors here. Is she trying to 'indoctrinate' them? Not to her, though i'm sure some tell their parents she is. Forcing students to 'see' other parts of an issue, or to challenge their beliefs and leave their comfort zones isn't a bad thing per se. I'm sure there are outliers at every turn (i had one political theory professor like that) but it's been my experience that many aren't out to brainwash your child. But being challenged to evaluate your beliefs is far harder to process than 'they are out to get us' so it's no wonder that the 'teach to the test' generation feels threatened when forced to *think* about an issue, rather than just 'know' the correct answer (regardless of which side of the issue they come down on). [/QUOTE]
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