I think there is something to the notion that there should be schools which are inclusive to students who would struggle under teachers like this.
I just don't see why that school should be Duke University. I don't understand why the most elite schools seem to be among the most likely to decide that their students need protection from harm. Polarizing teachers seem like they should be right in an elite universities wheelhouse.
I believe some students who struggle with "being challenged" could do quite well at something like a trade school. I believe that higher education doesn't have to wholly be an intellectual battle of the minds where only the strongest survive. You can just teach somebody a trade so they can put food on the table. You can teach people to be better writers, better reseachers, how to study effectively, etc.
I believe higher education should be that PARTIALLY. However lots of students can get value from school without being put into a class which has difficult discussions about sensitive polarizing charged issues.
I'd like to agree, but then we'd have an even larger uneducated and willfully ignorant mass. Perhaps we could be more tactful, or find some way of easing people into sensitive discussions. Quarantining those people, enticing as it may seem, will just make things worse.
That's not what I'm suggesting at all, we shouldn't coddle anyone. I'm advocating for a system that can effectively handle pigheaded people so we don't end up with more anti-vaxxers.
Although you're more likely to change the mind of someone at university than anywhere else in the world, you're never going to change the mind of your professor. They've invested years if not decades in their opinions.
I think pulling out the dirtiest, most underhanded rhetorical tricks is fair game in college. It's up to me to pick apart the nonsense. (Thanks philosophy!)
I also think it's completely reasonable to say up front, these topics are off limits - for no reason whatsoever. It's hard to get a 17 year old to say, no discussion of X.
Another aspect is, the classic victorian phrase, "you have the advantage of me". Some key word or phrase to indicate, i'm not prepared to deal with this, and you can't hold it against me. Not just can't, but will be held in contempt by every person participating in the conversation if you press the issue.
It requires subtlety, taste and discretion. I don't think an arbitrary set of rules can actually capture the subtlety required. Can tact be a standard?
I think it’s the other way around - people at elite schools are the most likely to complain and be listened to by their fellow elites, and that goes for the Professor here too.
I didn’t hear about any incidents like this at my alma mater, which is 20 miles away from Duke, probably because the elites don’t care about what we have to say. It’s one of the many things that turns me off from the “campus war” meme.
You do realize that not everyone that attends Duke is an elite, right? Some of my best friends were as middle class as you can get and were super smart kids who earned their way in. Your view on society is rather jaded as well, probably too influenced by the media and their far-left/far-right biases. In the US, society is definitely somewhere in the middle of "everyone" and "the 1%".
I don't and furthermore it's possible I am biased simply because the media is unusually likely to report on when an elite school engages in schemes like this. Media reports are the root of my perception.
Catering to their fragility is probably more harmful. Sending a soft student into the professional world is cruel. Students should be properly fortified in higher ed.
You shouldn't just cast them aside though like the parent comment suggested.
Not at all. Catering to fragile students ruins the educational experience for everyone else. Some people aren't a good fit for liberal higher education, and would be better suited to other environments.
I just don't see why that school should be Duke University. I don't understand why the most elite schools seem to be among the most likely to decide that their students need protection from harm. Polarizing teachers seem like they should be right in an elite universities wheelhouse.