4 ms·

it is the very reason why a lot of really smart people drop of out of the universities. essentially the only thing it really proves is that you're very good at

it is the very reason why a lot of really smart people drop of out of the universities. essentially the only thing it really proves is that you're very good at doing what you're told, the way you were told. yes, there are very smart professors. I have met many. I have met equally if not more really dumb professors. they're not stupid per se, but they can only think in the procedures they have been taught to think. chomsky made the argument that by the end of your academic career in general you are already chewed, so that you are part of the system, unless you have strong enough peers that keep you from getting assimilated. gatto in his book the underground history of american education made the argument that the education system is really made to generate a class society. personally I think it's a system that nurtures mediocracy. the university system wants is based on the most common denominator to get as many "well enough trained" workslaves out as possible. to do that efficiently you essentially have to cut out the top and the bottom, and keep the rest. i recently sat in a room where they wanted to introduce the new head of development. some random dude, not particularly interesting, but just got a ph.d in computer science, associate professor in a random university. If I was running the show, he wouldn't even have made it past the first interview. but i just sat still nodding and making a note on how I could use a ph.d right now

Bjuukia 14y ago
Yeah, I'd like to know what this particular professor was trying to teach me. The semester was almost over, and I was turning in my last paper. I tried my best to do it well. But he kept returning it to me, saying it was "bad" (no reason given even though I asked several times to know what was wrong so I could fix it). Each time I tried to improve it, he said it was "bad" and returned it to me, saying he refused to grade the paper I was really ill at the time (sleeping 14+ hours per day, then falling asleep everywhere; I was really weak). The effort I put on the paper was making me have bad grades on my other classes. I begged the professor to let me turn in the paper as it was, even if I got a zero (I would still pass the class). I explained my situation, but he still refused. I dropped out of the class even though semester was practically over. The stress of it was killing me. So I got no grade or credit for the class. Idiots like these shouldn't be teaching. Then again he was pretty racist and misogynist, and was always picking on me and glaring at me even if he was talking to another student. Wish I'd known better at the time, I should have reported him, but just the effort to get to my classes everyday was awful. It took me 6 years to get healthier (I had to drop out because of how bad I got), so it's only recently that I realized how absurd the situation was. I wonder what he was trying to teach me?
- textminer 14y ago
  Best Kafka-short-as-an-HN-comment I've ever read. Won't be sleeping tonight.

Bjuukia 14y ago

Yeah, I'd like to know what this particular professor was trying to teach me. The semester was almost over, and I was turning in my last paper. I tried my best to do it well. But he kept returning it to me, saying it was "bad" (no reason given even though I asked several times to know what was wrong so I could fix it). Each time I tried to improve it, he said it was "bad" and returned it to me, saying he refused to grade the paper I was really ill at the time (sleeping 14+ hours per day, then falling asleep everywhere; I was really weak). The effort I put on the paper was making me have bad grades on my other classes. I begged the professor to let me turn in the paper as it was, even if I got a zero (I would still pass the class). I explained my situation, but he still refused. I dropped out of the class even though semester was practically over. The stress of it was killing me. So I got no grade or credit for the class. Idiots like these shouldn't be teaching. Then again he was pretty racist and misogynist, and was always picking on me and glaring at me even if he was talking to another student. Wish I'd known better at the time, I should have reported him, but just the effort to get to my classes everyday was awful. It took me 6 years to get healthier (I had to drop out because of how bad I got), so it's only recently that I realized how absurd the situation was. I wonder what he was trying to teach me?

textminer 14y ago
Best Kafka-short-as-an-HN-comment I've ever read. Won't be sleeping tonight.