Father Inire Theory cont.

Lee Berman · 13 Dec 2010, 20:52 · from 2010-December.txt.gz

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From: severiansola at hotmail.com (Lee Berman)
Date: Mon, 13 Dec 2010 15:52:49 -0500
Subject: (urth) Father Inire Theory cont.
Message-ID: <SNT123-W1BA53F34C96D67EF386D4CF120 at phx.gbl>

>Craig Brewer- Is this becoming the same conversation I always have with freshmen in my literature 
>classes? I invariably get some form of the complaint: "But it's art! You can't tell me that my 
>interpretation is wrong!"
>....that's also why I almost always disagree with my freshmen...not because they're wrong, but because 
>I want them to get better at defending whatever they think about what they read.)

Thank you Craig. I think that was a very illustrative post. The reason you see a similarity
in tone to the conversations on this Board to your lessons to your freshmen is that some here do feel 
their role here is to serve as a professor and instructor to others who are not quite as experienced in 
life or in the subject matter at hand. 

Craig I am going to guess that if you were asked to review a work of your peer/colleague you would not
take the same tone that you do with your freshmen, no matter what your opinion of their work. would they 
really value being talked down to and told their conclusions are substandard. Would your peers appreciate 
your criticism because you, "just want them to get better". Do you "almost always disagree" with your peers
as you do with your freshmen?

Likewise I would expect you to feel offended and defensive as your freshmen if one of your peers reviewed your
work with the same tone that they take with their freshmen. Do you get along with peers who "almost always
disagreee" with your conclusions?  If you debate what I'm saying and assert that you and everyone you know 
appreciates all criticism no matter how condescending, you are not being honest.

Contrast those situations with an invitation for friends to come over and see the fruits of your labors 
after spending a few months remodelling your home. I would hope your friends would be even more careful
of your feelings and circumspect with their tone and word choice than your peer would reviewing your
professional work. Let's hope none of your friends would discuss your remodelling efforts in the way you
speak to your freshmen.

I consider my participation on this board as somewhere between the situations of peers reviewing each
other and the inviting of friends over. I understand that others consider me a freshman and speak accordingly and
I really don't mind that much. They can't help having poor manners with their obdurate students such as myself
who do not know their place. I have gained a LOT of useful help from other people on this board. But that help
rarely comes from those whose criticism are in part motivated by testosterone and the desire to play alpha dog 
professor.

Can I be blamed for engaging in a little nose-tweaking and provoking some furious tail-chasing before I wander off to conversations with those who consider themselves my peers and friends rather than my professor or rival. 
Surely we all get what we deserve, including me.

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