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Date: | Wed, 23 May 2007 22:36:28 -0400 |
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I would like to add something from my own experience as a student at
Penn, Duke and a grad student at Penn and Wm & Mary. There was a
major shift from the free wheeling debates I experienced as a student
at the University of Pennsylvania in the 70s and Duke University in
the 80s to what I saw more recently at Wm & Mary. If there was
discussion in class it tended to involve three people- the professor
and the two old guys in class (I was one). All of my fellow students
had degrees from good universities, but apparently had little or
nothing to say on a wide range of subjects, and they did very little
but take notes. This made seminars a bit triangular, and not nearly
as satisfying as they might have been. One day the two old guys
agreed before one class that we would not make any comments. The
professor stormed out of class after 15 minutes of deafening silence
saying "If none of you did the reading you could have told me!".
After he left the rest of the class looked accusingly at we two, as
if it was all our fault. There are many possible interpretations as
to why this occured. With what I have seen in other venues, I'm
convinced it is "PC". A free and open debate is virtually impossible
when most of the potential participants are unwilling to say anything
that might possibly be interpreted in way that might offend.
James Brothers, RPA
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