uni. prof, ask me anything

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:my kid came from a good public to a top DC private in high school and there is just zero comparison between the two with regards to instruction in the humanities (ELA, history, foreign language).
My kid read 8 books this fall and produced 12+ essays. The kids write all.the.time. Lots of in depth literary analysis, etc.

I think it's awesome and my kid actually enjoys it but is this skill necessary for life? Most adults will never need to be good writers and especially this type of writing. So yes, these private school kids are about 20 times better prepared for being English majors than most of their public school counterparts. But for most people this won't matter.

Almost all the parents on DCUM seem to be lawyers, and yes, it does matter for law school and lawyering.

[Anonymous]

Ok, let’s indulge OP and say that students open up and say where they went to high school in the first class. Which is generous, given that I’ve been teaching college 20+ years and we have similar get-to-know you discussions and high school never comes up. But if someone mentions the name- how do you know if it’s public or private? I have students from all over the mid-Atlantic and the northeast, plus a handful from the south, the Midwest, the southwest and the west. Hearing a high school name means nothing to me.

Serious doubts about OPs legitimacy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok, let’s indulge OP and say that students open up and say where they went to high school in the first class. Which is generous, given that I’ve been teaching college 20+ years and we have similar get-to-know you discussions and high school never comes up. But if someone mentions the name- how do you know if it’s public or private? I have students from all over the mid-Atlantic and the northeast, plus a handful from the south, the Midwest, the southwest and the west. Hearing a high school name means nothing to me.

Serious doubts about OPs legitimacy.

You are questioning his legitimacy based on only one answer?

[Anonymous]

You sitting in your room and your girl out buying money. You pour a glass of kool-aid and eat the container while the dog brushes his teeth. How many kids does the next door neighbor have?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Serious question: do most humanities profs (a) not realize that covid vacc mandates are not supported by data and are unethical, (b) are afraid to say anything to the contrary for fear of retribution/ostracization, and/or (c) have no pull whatsoever where college administrative decisions are concerned?

I feel fairly certain that (c) is true, but it's much harder to discern (a) or (b). Guessing (a) is true (they just don't realize) (no personal offense intended if this includes yourself). Perhaps you might offer observations on this issue, considering the anonymity of your thread.

The data clearly demonstrate the COVID-19 vaccines prevent serious illness and death. Do you disagree with that? If so, based on what?

(a) Mandates are unethical without transmission prevention (or at the very least, durable and significant reduction). The vacc does not prevent transmission. Short duration increase in antibody levels, combined with the lack of any antibody level correlate of protection, do not support mandates.
(b) College students are not at significant risk of severe disease and death. Seroprevalence is very high (>90%) nationally. There is no age-stratified clinical trial data proving a marginal benefit to previously-infected college students against severe disease.
(c) There are risks. Studies on such risks have not even finished and been released (more are due at the end of this month).
(d) All available products in the US are still under EUA only, which prohibits coercion.

See e.g. COVID-19 vaccine boosters for young adults: a risk benefit assessment and ethical analysis of mandate policies at universities, https://jme.bmj.com/content/early/2022/12/05/jme-2022-108449

You are a humanities professor. Please stay in your lane. Vaccines don't prevent transmission, but they DO prevent acquisition, which in turn means no transmission needs to be prevented.

Op here: you are misreading if you think this is me spouting this. I addressed it early on, and this person continues to post false information about vaccines.

Well thank goodness, anyway.