If you haven't already seen it, this is worth a laugh: how academics look--down--at those weird people who have volunteered to serve their country. Is that scary, or what?
This video was prepared by Penn State's Counseling and Psychological Services office, as a training device. It is one of a series that depict 'worrisome student behavior.' The 'worrisome student' is a veteran...
James Taranto comments:
The video about The Veteran is similar to the others, in that all depict abnormal behavior by young people who probably are normal, but are immature or temporarily impaired. But the characters in the other videos are all completely generic, with no distinguishing characteristics other than their sex. Only The Veteran is fleshed out enough even to be a stereotype.Read the rest of both links.
The obvious objection to the depiction of The Veteran is that there is no reason to think that veterans are more prone than anyone else to lash out angrily, blaming others for their own failings. If anything, one would think that the rigors of military training and deployment would leave them more mature, at least in this regard.
But The Veteran's status as a veteran is relevant to the video's story, inasmuch as he believes the instructor is treating him unfairly because he is a veteran. This lends another dimension to Maggie Kwok's speculation about the reaction if the character were depicted as a member of an ethnic or sexual minority.
What if the student in the video were black and accused the instructor of racial discrimination? Would this be depicted, as it is in this video, as if the charge was absurd on its face? Would the student's threat to have the (presumably untenured) instructor "fired" come across as an empty one, the way it does in the actual video? And if the department chairman in the opening exchange identified the student by asking, "Oh, the black guy?," would that not be seen--with some justification--as bolstering the charge of discrimination?
In the video, The Veteran behaves inappropriately--but he also accuses the instructor of inappropriately bringing her politics into the classroom at his expense. We are meant to think the accusation is preposterous. But at a university that produces such a video, is it hard to believe that such things actually go on?
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In the video, The Veteran behaves inappropriately--but he also accuses the instructor of inappropriately bringing her politics into the classroom at his expense. We are meant to think the accusation is preposterous. But at a university that produces such a video, is it hard to believe that such things actually go on?
ReplyDeleteThe teacher does not deny that she has brought her politics into the classroom but rather states it had nothing to do with her grading of the students paper, but wouldn't one think that maybe there was a predisposition there on the part of the teacher. Beau
"....but wouldn't one think that maybe there was a predisposition there on the part of the teacher."
ReplyDeleteFor those dedicated to the agenda at any cost Lefties, absolutely.
Their arrogance won't let them miss an opportunity to indoctrinate in the usual mindlessness. They do so with almost no fear of recrimination.
The few conservative academics in the Ivory Towers wouldn't dare do something like this from the Right viewpoint.