One of our Sr. Electrical Engineers sent his today:
A United States Marine was attending some college courses between
assignments. He had completed missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. One
of the courses had a professor who was a vowed atheist and a member of
the ACLU. One day the professor shocked the class when he came in. He
looked to the ceiling and flatly stated, "God, if you are real, then I want
you to knock me off this platform. I'll give you exactly 15 minutes." The
lecture room fell silent. You could hear a pin drop. Ten minutes went by
and the professor proclaimed, "Here I am God. I'm still waiting." It got
down to the last couple of minutes when the Marine got out of his Chair,
went up to the professor, and cold-cocked him; knocking him off the
platform. The professor was out cold.. The Marine went back to his
seat and sat there, silently. The other students were shocked and stunned
and sat there looking on in silence. The professor eventually came to,
noticeably shaken, looked at the Marine and asked, "What the hell is the
matter with you? Why did you do that?"
The Marine calmly replied, "God was too busy today protecting America's
soldiers who are protecting your right to say stupid shit and act like an
asshole. So, He sent me."
Message...
Moderator: RLG MGMT Team
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Buffalo Six
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BlackHawk*K
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- Location: Oklahoma
hehe good one steel 
since im not the edumakated sort i cant tell first hand. but from second hand accounts. seems this type of thing happens more and more in universities. i know what i think and feel about religion, war, etc. and i have my reasons, as im sure most people do. thats the cool thing about the USA we have the freedom to have those and express em if we wish. and thats becuse we have brave people who put their lives on the line for us.. what realy eerks me about some teachers, is they feel they have a right to subject people who PAY to be in a class and be educated with meaningfull stuff, to what they personaly believe, think or feel. these teachers most often wont leave room for differing points of view in 'their' classrooms. my question is, since most of yas seem college educated, have any of you come across this attitude during your schooling?
i was lucky, my teachers in Hschool were very openminded about different points of view. but not everyone has that.
since im not the edumakated sort i cant tell first hand. but from second hand accounts. seems this type of thing happens more and more in universities. i know what i think and feel about religion, war, etc. and i have my reasons, as im sure most people do. thats the cool thing about the USA we have the freedom to have those and express em if we wish. and thats becuse we have brave people who put their lives on the line for us.. what realy eerks me about some teachers, is they feel they have a right to subject people who PAY to be in a class and be educated with meaningfull stuff, to what they personaly believe, think or feel. these teachers most often wont leave room for differing points of view in 'their' classrooms. my question is, since most of yas seem college educated, have any of you come across this attitude during your schooling?
i was lucky, my teachers in Hschool were very openminded about different points of view. but not everyone has that.
I had a psychology professor like that. I dropped her class. I had a writing professor very similar and made the mistake of staying in his class before that. Fortunately he disappeared for whatever reason. I had heard that he was ill, which is unfortunate, but he was a pompous ass, so I really had no hard feelings about it.
I had the same Writing Professor that Hudson had; however, my experience with him was quite different. He was a good mentor and colleague of mine, and unfortunately he died of cancer before he was really meant to go. The English Department lost one of its finest professors and a brilliant mind. Sometimes, student-teacher relationships really do come down to personal dynamics or other extenuating circumstances. In fairness to Hudson, I don't think he liked teaching that course all that much.
Sure, I've had my fair share of profs who wanted to use the classroom as their soapbox, but most professionals don't do that; it's unethical to do so without allowing others to express their opinion. The inciident above is probably fictitious, I'm sure. But consider the possibility that it might have been an Essentials of Philosophy course; in which case, the prof may very well have been trying to prove a point or start a debate. Who knows...bottom line is if you don't like a professor, you should drop their class if at all possible. No sense in wasting your money unecessarily. What's more is you should report him or her to their department dean.
Sure, I've had my fair share of profs who wanted to use the classroom as their soapbox, but most professionals don't do that; it's unethical to do so without allowing others to express their opinion. The inciident above is probably fictitious, I'm sure. But consider the possibility that it might have been an Essentials of Philosophy course; in which case, the prof may very well have been trying to prove a point or start a debate. Who knows...bottom line is if you don't like a professor, you should drop their class if at all possible. No sense in wasting your money unecessarily. What's more is you should report him or her to their department dean.
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BlackHawk*K
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- Joined: 12 May 2001, 17:00
- Location: Oklahoma
i didnt mean to come across that this was a real occurance. i mean, it could of been, but even so. i looked at it more like a joke.
i can see the dynamics of teacher/student might allow for some things the general student body wouldnt get or understand, considering the conflicting viewpoints. the main reason behind the question was this. i head of this type of thing happening. i agree that its unethical, but it seems that ethics play a smaller and smaller part in everyday life. i was mainly curious as to what real instances where out there by people who i kinda knew, rather then baseing opinion on second hand gossip or total strangers that ranted about it. despite being a conservitive type hick here, i like to be as open minded as possible, and love the chance to get new data into the mix. i love to debate here with you guys about different subjects, becuse im the type that thier ideas, feelings and even ideals grow and change with stuff learned. i find new RL info refreshing, and has learned a long time ago that if you cant defend your stance on a subject, then perhaps you need to rethink your stance.
thanks for the input grifter!
i can see the dynamics of teacher/student might allow for some things the general student body wouldnt get or understand, considering the conflicting viewpoints. the main reason behind the question was this. i head of this type of thing happening. i agree that its unethical, but it seems that ethics play a smaller and smaller part in everyday life. i was mainly curious as to what real instances where out there by people who i kinda knew, rather then baseing opinion on second hand gossip or total strangers that ranted about it. despite being a conservitive type hick here, i like to be as open minded as possible, and love the chance to get new data into the mix. i love to debate here with you guys about different subjects, becuse im the type that thier ideas, feelings and even ideals grow and change with stuff learned. i find new RL info refreshing, and has learned a long time ago that if you cant defend your stance on a subject, then perhaps you need to rethink your stance.
thanks for the input grifter!
Come on Grif. The guy was giving me C- grades on ALL my papers and I was one of about 5 people in a 25-30 person class passing. Others were getting nothing but D's and F's. Meanwhile he'd go on tirades about going to whatever it is writer's go to and talking and being torn apart at them, and basically using the class as his on little gripe/bitch session, while tormenting us with his ego. The class finished out being taught by grad student who more or less handed out A's and B's to make up for the slaughterfest he waged on us. What can you possibly believe I walked away from that mess of a class with, aside from a headache and bad attitude?
The fact that he may have enjoyed teaching students majoring in the subject matter is no excuse for him completely disregarding those of us trying to get the basics so we could hang out at the other end of the campus and learn mathematics and computer programming, as being completely unworthy of his time. It just goes to show in my mind that he shouldn't have been a teacher. How would you like to take a basic programming course, only to be failed out of it, because you couldn't handle the higher level courses I was in?
To this day I will never understand how his wife could be such an excellent teacher, while he could be such a total bastard. Opposites attract I guess.
The fact that he may have enjoyed teaching students majoring in the subject matter is no excuse for him completely disregarding those of us trying to get the basics so we could hang out at the other end of the campus and learn mathematics and computer programming, as being completely unworthy of his time. It just goes to show in my mind that he shouldn't have been a teacher. How would you like to take a basic programming course, only to be failed out of it, because you couldn't handle the higher level courses I was in?
To this day I will never understand how his wife could be such an excellent teacher, while he could be such a total bastard. Opposites attract I guess.
i am also quite sure it is fictitious, but non-fiction quite often leads to some type of story which has a moral. like this one. like the Bible. like the innumerable writings we are subjected to in school that most of us do not at all enjoy analyzing and over-analyzing...
i have taken very few college courses, the last was cultural anthropology - needless to say that teach was quite open minded... i too am unedjumekated...
i have taken very few college courses, the last was cultural anthropology - needless to say that teach was quite open minded... i too am unedjumekated...
Helmut
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Slamhammer
- Posts: 279
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- Location: Missouri
that special..I did'nt say I approved his behavior Hudson; in fact, I said quite the opposite. You had every right to approach the academic dean and complain if you felt you were being treated unfairly.
All I'm saying is that I had a different experience with him and I found him to be an excellent instructor. Like I said, I think your bad experience with him came down to either student-teacher dynamics or extenuating circumstances.
In my opinion, and I'm not entirely sure about this, I think he resented having to teach the lower level courses. If that's the case, it's unfortunate that he couldn't see the benefit in teaching novices, and it's really unfortunate that you never saw him really teach.
On another note, I'd like to clarify that I think a teacher does have a right to express his or her opinion on a subject; however, they must be willing to let students voice their opinion on the subject as well. Doing so can be a very delicate balancing act at times because the class may runaway with a topic and the educational process is lost in the midst of frustration and anger; dominating personalities can squelch out other voices, and in the end people feel slighted. It's important to present such opinions in very carefully and clearly under certain ground rules because the dialogue is between multiple people. Time is a factor, personalities are a factor, the subject is a factor, and the benefit versus the costs of such a conversation must always be measured. The very best professors can manage all of this very casually, seemingly without effort. But I've found that it takes a lot of time and planning to do this so that everyone feels like it was time well spent.
By the way Hawk, it seems to me that you're right, ethics do seem to play a smaller and smaller role these days.
All I'm saying is that I had a different experience with him and I found him to be an excellent instructor. Like I said, I think your bad experience with him came down to either student-teacher dynamics or extenuating circumstances.
In my opinion, and I'm not entirely sure about this, I think he resented having to teach the lower level courses. If that's the case, it's unfortunate that he couldn't see the benefit in teaching novices, and it's really unfortunate that you never saw him really teach.
On another note, I'd like to clarify that I think a teacher does have a right to express his or her opinion on a subject; however, they must be willing to let students voice their opinion on the subject as well. Doing so can be a very delicate balancing act at times because the class may runaway with a topic and the educational process is lost in the midst of frustration and anger; dominating personalities can squelch out other voices, and in the end people feel slighted. It's important to present such opinions in very carefully and clearly under certain ground rules because the dialogue is between multiple people. Time is a factor, personalities are a factor, the subject is a factor, and the benefit versus the costs of such a conversation must always be measured. The very best professors can manage all of this very casually, seemingly without effort. But I've found that it takes a lot of time and planning to do this so that everyone feels like it was time well spent.
By the way Hawk, it seems to me that you're right, ethics do seem to play a smaller and smaller role these days.
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Jedi Master
- Posts: 1364
- Joined: 11 Feb 2004, 14:32
- Location: Melbourne, FL
None of my college profs were like that. Not a soapboxer among them. I did have a few that just weren't good at it. They were good at their profession, but not teaching, which was required for them to be there and do their work. They knew what they were doing...just couldn't tell anyone ELSE how.
The Jedi Master
You would think that knowing how to do something would be enough to teach others, but it's not. There are strategies for delivering information, modeling skills in action, and you need to be able to diagnose student needs relatively quickly so that you can help that student correct errors in close proximity to the lesson taught, or they won't connect the correction with the lesson. It's a lot of juggling.