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Prof Grapples With Fate: Teaching Dolts

Posted May 25, 08 1:32 PM CDT in Arts & Living 

(Newser) – An English professor at a small US college admits that half his job is killing students' dreams—dreams that they can write, think, or even form a sentence, he writes anonymously in the Atlantic. Yet more American jobs require college credits, and his role is to force Joyce and Faulkner on these aspiring professionals—even if "their eyes implore: How could you do this to me?"

Complicating his pain is his belief in the system. Invisible Man may not make a future cop less racist, he admits, but "I can’t shake the sense that reading literature is informative and broadening and ultimately good for you." And night students are so profitable for colleges, administrators don't care how many he fails. "I am the man who has to lower the hammer," he writes.

Source Atlantic Monthly

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An apple adorns a schoolbook in this undated file photo.   (Shutterstock)
"I am the man who has to lower the hammer," says one professor, who claims that half his job is stripping students of the notion that they can think clearly or cobble together coherent thoughts.   (Shutterstock)
A mature student takes home his daily bevy of books.   (Shutterstock)
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