My professor is a kook!

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

I'm graduating from college this year, if all goes well, and am now on my last semester before I get a Bachelor's.

As part of a Pluralism and Diversity requirement that's mandatory to graduate, I had to take an African American studies class and took an African American literature class.

I'm not too happy about having to take the class- nothing against African American literature at all, just that the class didn't fit into my schedule, isn't at a good time and I didn't want to take it of my own accord- but I'm pretty unhappy about the professor. She seems like a sweet lady but doesn't seem like the best or most well educated teacher or the smartest person, to be frank, but that's the least of it.

She believes the Reagan adminstration delibrately planted drugs in the black community.

She tells us about "positive thinking" and how "the universe responds to positive and negative thinking". She told us so when someone offhandedly complained he had a hard time on the paper and she recommended he "think positive" so the universe will help. "Negative thoughts" will only make you write a worse paper, she said.

She believes she can feel the pain of her ancestors as they were taken to America on slaves ships. She blames her back pain on it and tells us she believes each of us might feel the experiences of our ancestors.

She says she prays to nature. Calls nature "Her".

When trying to explain the Out of Africa theory, she seemed to think Watson and Crick discovered it and Leakey was involved and seemed to confuse Lucy with Ardi.

She says she thinks Dick Cheney started two wars and shot his friend in the face because of trauma in his childhood. Yes, she actually said that. When? When explaining the theory of cognitive dissonance, which she says is the explanation behind slavery and racism. "Cognitive dissonance" apparently also made Dick Cheney delibrately shoot his friend in the face.

When she talked about the infamous Central Park Jogger case, she said that the "alleged victim" was taken to the hospital where she "Mysteriously FORGOT! The whole thing!" and it was a conspiracy between the victim and the police.

And she says 9/11 may have been a conspiracy designed to provide justification for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

And more.


Anyone ever had a professor like that? It's the first time I've ever had a teacher like this, in all four years at college. It may be unkind of me but I sometimes wonder how she became a professor. She belongs on Oprah, not in college.

 

[The Man]

Well, I'm glad to hear that you’re graduating.

Congratulations.

Back in the late 70’s I had an electronics teacher who claimed he had invented a device to electronically cure and heal people. Claimed he was testing on himself for “longevity” (extending his lifespan was my take on that) and that it was under going clinical testing (I never believed that one). From the stories he would tell you would have thought he had lived for over 100 years already. When I would ask him how it worked he would just say that it sent 3 “signals” through the body. When I would ask him for more detail he would just laugh and say that he wasn’t going to give away his secret. In spite of those rather bizarre assertions he certainly knew and was quite able to teach electronics (one of the best electronic teachers I have ever had). The point of this story is that people can be both knowledgeable and able to teach effectively their subject of interest even if they might have some rather peculiar beliefs, even about that subject of interest. With some critical thinking (that you seem to have no problem with) one can take the effective information to heart and basically just shrug at the ancillary peculiarities.

 

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

Oh thank you! Yes, I'm happy to be graduating.

I just looked up this woman. Here's a short bio of her from a lecture she did:

"Professor Reid's education began in Jamaica, Caribbean, where she was born, continued in the late 1960s in Ottawa, Canada, at Carleton University; and subsequently in the United States. After receiving a B.A. degree in English literature with a Spanish minor from Carleton, she came to the United States on a Ford Foundation fellowship in journalism and did her internship with The African American Newspaper chain. She later studied filmmaking in a program that was offered by Channel 13 in the early 1970s, and enhanced her skills as a writer in the John Killens Writers Workshop and in theater companies in New York City. Since the 1970s, she has earned graduate degrees from Columbia University - in comparative religion from the Graduate School of Arts and Science, and in Anthropology and Education from Teachers College. For her Ph.D. dissertation research she did an anthropological study of relationships between Jamaica's post-colonial attempts to use education to promote national development, and related learning outcomes among students."


She graduated from Columbia. Columbia. And she's an anthropologist. Amazing.

 

[Marduk]

Anyone ever had a professor like that? It's the first time I've ever had a teacher like this, in all four years at college. It may be unkind of me but I sometimes wonder how she became a professor. She belongs on Oprah, not in college.

Had an ex teacher that claimed he'd been buzzed by alien spaceships when he was in the R.A.F. during the war
the way he told it you'd have thought he was flying the plane
he was about 10 years too young to have participated in that war and he did his national service as ground crew.

that didn't detract from his teaching skills though, he was my teacher between the ages of 10 and 12, when for me, Alien spaceships were kewl

 

[Lucian]

Oh thank you! Yes, I'm happy to be graduating.

I just looked up this woman. Here's a short bio of her from a lecture she did:

"Professor Reid's education began in Jamaica, Caribbean, where she was born, continued in the late 1960s in Ottawa, Canada, at Carleton University; and subsequently in the United States. After receiving a B.A. degree in English literature with a Spanish minor from Carleton, she came to the United States on a Ford Foundation fellowship in journalism and did her internship with The African American Newspaper chain. She later studied filmmaking in a program that was offered by Channel 13 in the early 1970s, and enhanced her skills as a writer in the John Killens Writers Workshop and in theater companies in New York City. Since the 1970s, she has earned graduate degrees from Columbia University - in comparative religion from the Graduate School of Arts and Science, and in Anthropology and Education from Teachers College. For her Ph.D. dissertation research she did an anthropological study of relationships between Jamaica's post-colonial attempts to use education to promote national development, and related learning outcomes among students."


She graduated from Columbia. Columbia. And she's an anthropologist. Amazing.

And she's teaching outside her field.

 

[The Man]

Oh thank you! Yes, I'm happy to be graduating.

I just looked up this woman. Here's a short bio of her from a lecture she did:

"Professor Reid's education began in Jamaica, Caribbean, where she was born, continued in the late 1960s in Ottawa, Canada, at Carleton University; and subsequently in the United States. After receiving a B.A. degree in English literature with a Spanish minor from Carleton, she came to the United States on a Ford Foundation fellowship in journalism and did her internship with The African American Newspaper chain. She later studied filmmaking in a program that was offered by Channel 13 in the early 1970s, and enhanced her skills as a writer in the John Killens Writers Workshop and in theater companies in New York City. Since the 1970s, she has earned graduate degrees from Columbia University - in comparative religion from the Graduate School of Arts and Science, and in Anthropology and Education from Teachers College. For her Ph.D. dissertation research she did an anthropological study of relationships between Jamaica's post-colonial attempts to use education to promote national development, and related learning outcomes among students."


She graduated from Columbia. Columbia. And she's an anthropologist. Amazing.

Writer turned anthropologist, not that far fetched. Writing, symbols and other representations are some of the best ways to help understand ancient cultures (particularly how people interacted). Just as a side note, I’m sure African literature is steeped in mysticism (particularly “natural” and about ancestors, at lest from my limited understanding). So I would be surprised if the class did not include and delve into those issues (at least in literature), but of course you do not have to believe them to teach those aspects of the culture and literature. Not to mention the other rather conspiracy based elements she remarked to.

 

[332nd]

I had several.

A history prof that believed that Reagan was the reincarnation of Washington.

A physics prof that believed in "intelligent design". (before it was cool.)

A math prof that railed about Vietnam on a regular basis. (This was in the early 90's)

Funny thing is, I was a theatre major and never ran into a kook in my Dept.

 

[The Man]

Well I guess they had more ways to act out their kookiness

 

[zerospeaks]

It is quite obvious that this prof is a believer in "the secret"

 

[HumanityBlues]

She graduated from Columbia. Columbia. And she's an anthropologist. Amazing.

My African American Lit professor told our class AIDS was created in Africa in order to get rid of black people. So......that was kind of shocking.

Other than that though, it was a great class.

 

[Foolmewunz]

Eeney,
Just a nitpick.
She didn't graduate from Columbia - she "earned graduate degrees from Columbia". Could've been in Medieval Lute Theory. There's a big difference. Compare "Columbia" to "Carleton" - I happen to have spent some time in Ottawa and know it. It's a moderately "okay" University - but not even in the list of the top schools in Ontario, much less Canada. Certainly no Columbia/Ivy League.
A full Professor, though? That's a bit of a poser! But it seems that there are a lot of people teaching these socio-politically correct courses who have degreees in what would appear at first glance to be unrelated fields. I remember the Women's Studies teacher at McGill had a degree in Fine Arts (I know 'cuz a friend was dating her).

 

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

It is quite obvious that this prof is a believer in "the secret"

Yes, that was my first thought as well.

My African American Lit professor told our class AIDS was created in Africa in order to get rid of black people. So......that was kind of shocking.

Other than that though, it was a great class.

That is exactly the sort of thing my professor would tell us. Exactly.

Speaking of which, I had an Asian American professor who taught women's studies and she believed in alternative medicine and things like astrology and numerology. It only came up once in class and never again after that but I was surprised that a woman smart enough to become a college professor would believe in such a fraud.

How sad that even such intelligent and educated people can be this prejudiced and blinded by their racial, cultural, national or personal biases, be it black people by Reagan-put-crack-in-the-ghetto-AIDS-was-created-by-the-white-man conspiracy theories, Asian people by astrology and numerology, liberals by JFK, moonlanding or 9/11 conspiracy theories, Caucasians by racism and nationalism, etc.

You'd think people that intelligent would be able to easily transcend that type of thinking. That they wouldn't fall into the traps regular humans fall into.

Eeney,
Just a nitpick.
She didn't graduate from Columbia - she "earned graduate degrees from Columbia". Could've been in Medieval Lute Theory. There's a big difference. Compare "Columbia" to "Carleton" - I happen to have spent some time in Ottawa and know it. It's a moderately "okay" University - but not even in the list of the top schools in Ontario, much less Canada. Certainly no Columbia/Ivy League.
A full Professor, though? That's a bit of a poser! But it seems that there are a lot of people teaching these socio-politically correct courses who have degreees in what would appear at first glance to be unrelated fields. I remember the Women's Studies teacher at McGill had a degree in Fine Arts (I know 'cuz a friend was dating her).

I just checked my school's website. Apparently this woman is actually an adjunct professor.

 

[zerospeaks]

You'd think people that intelligent would be able to easily transcend that type of thinking.

Whats messed up! Is my wife can not get tenure track (is that the correct term?) only adjunt. And she is a published Ph.D. That does not believe in any fooeh!

 

[Soapy Sam]

"Cognitive dissonance" apparently also made Dick Cheney delibrately shoot his friend in the face.

If "cognitive dissonance" is newspeak for "not thinking", she may be right.

 

[Sledge]

A theme that cropped up in quite a few of Robert B. Parker's (RIP ) Spenser novels was that a lot of academics assume that their mastery of one subject somehow translates to mastery of all subjects, and that their opinions on subjects they have no real understanding of are more important than those of regular people. Probably true. Can't say I've encountered much of that, but I studied performing arts. I was too busy picking holes in some of the course-related crap we were taught to worry about whether the dance teacher was a creationist.

 

[Dancing David]

It is a lit class the standards are a little different.

I had an abnormal psych prof who thought schizophrenia was caused by social conditioning. (1977)

 

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

A theme that cropped up in quite a few of Robert B. Parker's (RIP ) Spenser novels was that a lot of academics assume that their mastery of one subject somehow translates to mastery of all subjects, and that their opinions on subjects they have no real understanding of are more important than those of regular people. Probably true. Can't say I've encountered much of that, but I studied performing arts. I was too busy picking holes in some of the course-related crap we were taught to worry about whether the dance teacher was a creationist.

That reminds me, I once had a history and economics middle school/high school teacher who was a creationist when I attended private school. He was also a social conservative and made little effort to hide his views when politics came up. The guy was a devout Catholic, as was pretty much everyone there, though it wasn't a Catholic school. We did have religion as a class and it was taught by a Catholic priest, though.

The history teacher was a nice fellow and somewhat knowledgeable about his subject- I think he had been an archaeologist at one point in his career- but boy could he be an ass. He pimped a creationist book to us written by some American scientist at the end of a history lesson and proclaimed that evolution is a theory with more holes in it than Swiss cheese and that America is a godless religion hating nation with a few bright lights still surprisingly left. Hilariously, the only people there who cared about this were him and me. The other kids, though conservative Catholics, weren't intellectual enough to even express curiosity about creationism or get worked up about it. They just listened to him with eyes glazed and gave no reaction. He was the only one smart enough to be excited about it, I was the only one smart enough to be offended at it.

Another time, we went to the Cloisters in Manhattan (if you don't know, that's a museum of the Middle Ages and a division of the Metropolitan Museum) and this history teacher took over as tour guide for the whole school. And he pretty much chose the occasion to deliver a sermon, I guess cause we were in a museum with Catholic artifacts.

At one point, he was taking on Richard Dawkins with St. Augustine's arguments over the bus's loudspeaker system as we were riding from Brooklyn to Manhattan. Yes, he actually did that. And, again, the only person who seemed to a) realize what he was saying, b) know what he was talking about, or c) care about it was me. The others just ignored him and drowned it out. I was the only one with any reaction, either pro or con.

Come to think of it, when he taught history in class he also taught it from a Christian perspective and did things like call Muslims "backward" and "violent" and say things like "All you have to do is compare the Muslim nations to the Christian ones. Do the Christian ones kill anyone?". This on the occasion of the riots in France. And he talked about the arguments from atheism and the arguments from Christianity in history class, too. And, again, everyone let it wash off of them.

Graham Greene's The End of the Affair has a character who is a rational atheist but all the other people in the book who are atheists-by-default ignore him or find him silly because they aren't even interested in the rationalism or intellectualism of atheism and accept it as obvious. This guy was like the reverse of that character: a Catholic apologist who is completely ignored by all the other Catholics when he started on creationism or the logical arguments and evidence for a God.

The guy's attitude might have been to blame, too. He always lectured like a college professor at us- almost never did any actual lessons- and was always so caught up in his own lectures that he forgot all about his audience. And he always had the same 15 lectures that he used over and over again, no matter how irrelevant to the curriculum. For example, he'd be going on and on about the rise of the middle class in Poland of the Middle Ages when that only had the remotest relevance to the subject we were supposed to be learning. People either tuned him out or had no clue what he was saying.

As a matter of fact, when were at the Cloisters and he made himself the tour guide, he also babbled on about the rise of the middle class in Poland of the Middle Ages and all his other pet subjects, even though that had absolutely nothing whatsoever to do with the museum. Imagine that. He made everyone there, parents, teachers, students listen to his "history lessons" when they were on a trip.

 

[Nursefoxfire]

I once had a Political Science professor who believed he was on the CIA's watch-list because he was very left-wing and belonged to an off-shoot of the SDS in the 60s. He thought that there was at least 1 CIA spy in every class he taught, and went absolutely BALLISTIC on a poor dyslexic girl who was recording his lectures on a microcassette recorder, because she couldn't write notes.

In spite of that goofiness (or maybe because of it), he was a much-admired professor and he always had full classes. His lectures were always dynamic and VERY interesting. He'd get interesting people in to talk to us, too, like Noam Chomsky!

 

[Dragonrock]

We have an instructor who no longer teaches here after he proved unable to provide evidence of the graduate degrees he claimed to have. People manage to worm their way into position they are unqualified for and sometimes it can be years before they are found out.

 

[jhunter1163]

Wasn't one of the leading 9-11 Truthers (I want to say Morgan Reynolds) a Cabinet secretary before he went nuts? Just goes to show that education is no guarantee against nuttiness.