I have been teaching this course for years. Literally, for years. I have had hundreds of students come through my classes. We always do discussions. And they are always heated, but always polite. For some reason this semester I have a class with some Neanderthals who apparently do not know what it means to be polite to people. They attack each other with serious vitriol. So I send an announcement saying, please behave like the adults you are, rather than the children you want to be (or something nicer than that). Now they attack each other via email. It's ridiculous - rigoddamndiculous! I seriously want to send an email to each student and say, are you serious? Are you this stupid? WTF?
ARGH.
Thank you lefty bloggers and conservative talk show hosts for creating an atmosphere in this country where we can't deliberate we can only yell at each other.
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4 comments:
WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!?! I KNOW HOW TO DEBATE PEOPLE WHO AREN'T STUPID!!!!!!!
Isn't there something in the PPM about their behavior in class?
There's something in my syllabus about their behavior in addition to the PPM, so there is really no excuse, not that there would be any excuse for being an ass ever.
The climate has changed. With the extreme righties on the radio and the bloggers (even/especially some of the local bloggers) words, insults, blatant use of fallacy, and slander seem to be the MO these days. It really is sad, to be honest with you.
I look at the relationship Eris and I have as a good example of how it could and probably should be (of course, Mrs. Sauce would kill both of us if it ever wasn't this way). We disagree on some things and agree on some things (probably more than both of us would ever publically admit), and we can still have a good relationship and talk about things we agree on and/or disagree about without making it a personal your wrong/I'm right kind of deal. I really enjoy that and wish that more people could be that way when talking politics, religion, or sports.
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