Quote:
Originally Posted by WinchesterAA
Is this different from what you're thinking?
If I'd been the professor, I would have promptly clarified that the next person who makes a completely baseless and uneducated statement as fact will fail this class.
^^-- Seriously, this is what I get from what this entire thread is about. The professor is the key ingredient here. He is the "most knowledgeable" person in the classroom for a reason.. To teach what he knows. I would assume a political science professor would be just as pissed as I am that, not only are random, baseless statements made just about every class period, but also they are encouraged by the professor, as if to say.. "Good job, I liked the way you said American."
Isn't it that the kind of behavior that would lead a kid like the one in question to say what he said? Never really having an interest in the subject of course, TV is far more important, but his degree plan requires him to have that class apparently, and that's what the professor expects.
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The professor as the class mediator is the key in this situation. What you have to understand about professors is that they are not teachers per se. First and foremost they are researchers that publish their research. Second they "teach" classes. Most (all?) have less training as teachers than Primary and Secondary teachers.
This is not to excuse his behaviour but rather to understand the context that not all Tertiary professors are very good at teaching.
A good professor would not have shut either party in the OP discussion down but should have opened the discussion up. He was right to correct Walter's tone of response but should have encouraged a debate on the topic if it was relevant to the course.