Professors see the world in terms of experts and students: “We are smart; you are dumb.” That’s the Infantile American Principle in a nutshell. Now go play with your toys and don’t bother me. —David Gelernter —The ‘We’re Smart, You’re Dumb’ Principle (LA Times (will expire))
The article is really a critique of Democratic philosophy, but I thought I’d post this quote about professors as a reminder that I should stay humble.
I don’t agree that professors should behave this way, but because our job regularly places us in the front of a room of bright people who nod and write down things that we say, it’s important to remember the artificiality of the situation. I mean, if civilization collapses, and we’re all scrambling for food, who’s going to care that there’s a typographical error on the last non-radioactive can of soup? I sure won’t. So let’s keep things in perspective.
Gelernter himself is a professor, so he’s not just lobbing missiles randomly.
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It is prudent to stay humble. And to avoid the subtle inverse role that students will adopt and project: "We're dumb; you're smart!" I see this binary as the hidden script that Friere is critiquing in his work on the "banking model" of education, so I'm not sure Gelernter's conservativism really supports his analogy of professors to liberal politicians. In any case, the truth is that we're all smart, in our own ways, and a "democratic" classroom is a place which enables everyone to share those ways and critically arm themselves with new ones.
Well, that comment pretty much puffed that ol' professorial ego right up again. Have you read or seen Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth? That play argues that the long-term survival of humanity depends on our willingness to value -- and make sacrifices in order to preserve -- our cultural heritage. Of course I don't feel that what I do is worthless, but every day I try to remind myself that, had I been born in a different society and/or different culture, I might not have the luxury to think beyond scrabbling for my next meal.
Worse, I think of all those people going through life without giving a second's thought to the tremendous social achievements that permit them to obsess about the scratch in their car or the rising cable TV rates or how they regret trying a new brand of salad dressing or how much work they have to do before school gets out.
Professor, I shall gladly gather rocks and build houses while you find something with which to write down the experience for history.
BTW, the article, while aimed at Democratic professors, is something I relate to extremist liberals who do indeed, while in the name of caring for the less fortunate manage to portray them as inferior and incapable, which is my main complaint with some liberal thinking.