Gonna start this one with a little anecdote.

I hate dull books. I honestly don't care if they're "Important" books, or whatever other marketing ploy has been used to sell them, they bore the shit out of me. Mostly because I can guess the plot, in about ten seconds, and it usually conforms to expectations. So with that in mind, I'm not even going to mention the title of the book I had to read. Just imagine the dullest, yet most "Important" book you can picture in your mind.

I was assigned to read this book by an extremely arrogant instructor at my community college. She was in her mid-thirties, and was convinced that every single person in her class was subject to unconscious racism. We were ALL racists, at least the non-ethnic students. I learned this on the first day, when she proudly announced it to us. It was at this point I knew exactly how to pass the class. It lay in appealing to Academic Arrogance.

Academic Arrogance is the adherence to dogma that some well-educated folks have embraced wholeheartedly. Instead of treating the quest for knowledge as a expansion of the mind, the academic process of gaining a degree is viewed more as an initiation into the deeper mysteries of ideological dogma. The concept becomes almost a perversion of the Christian idea that once you hear about Jesus, if you don't immediately convert, you are an active heathen DENYING the truth.

So of course I didn't read the book. Didn't even crack the spine on it. Just nodded my head at the discussions, because like many forward thinking and liberal professors, this one had decided that because white males spoke disproportionately in other classes, in HER class we would always speak last. Amazing how that perfectly coincided with my not having to say anything at all. Whenever called on, I would simply restate what the last student said, with some buzz phrase that I knew would appeal. I even had to write an ESSAY on the book, IN class. I received an A on it, because I simply guessed the plot, and reversed the racial stereotypes that are endemic to the culture.

Now, here's the real question. Did that professor change my worldview at all, OR open up my paths of critical thought? The answer is a resounding no. By simply acting in a manner that was aping the motions, I passed the class with flying colors. To this day I think I remember one name from the class, and that was simply because I had memorized it in class to serve as the example in my essay. The academic arrogance essentially turned what could have been a true and interesting discussion into a drudgery. It became nothing more than a nod my head as my ancestors are smeared and all blame placed directly onto my plate.

For those who are interested, the class was "Ethnic Studies 101", A REQUIRED class in California.

This academic arrogance is one of those things that is leading to the great disconnect between "The Elites" and the rest of us. Right off the bat I can think of many ways I could have contributed to the discussion. We could have brought up the "Whitening" of the Irish culture from its 18th century discrimination. We could have discussed the fact that I served in a unit which was proud of fighting in the Spanish-American War, and how the military commander actually PREVENTED the ambitions of a US president against the Mexicans by signing a treaty without permission. There are so many little details and shades that could have been discussed, had we been willing to open our academic blinders and reach beyond the narrowest of dogmas which were nothing more than a photographic negative of history.

I see this as a learning experience for when I finally get to teach. It's my goal, at the current time, and I hope one day to achieve it. I have to remember that my students are as much a resource as the curriculum. I also have to remember not to be blinded to a different idea simply because it is different. True bullshit can be ignored, but I also need to be on the lookout for when the bullshit just confirms what I want to hear.