Teacher Shmeacher

If there is one thing that I have learned in college, it's that teachers really believe they have all of the answers. To have a sociology professor claim that my logic is flawed and direct me to a University of California paper describing "Fallacy of Logic" is laughable. This professor acted as if anyone who had not graduated from college with a history degree had no place referring to history. This is the definition of "intellectual elite".

I have stated my position on teachers and lawyers before but let me do it again. MOST (not all) teachers became teachers because they were good at going to school but had no idea how to apply knowledge in "the real world". They usually have no real skills but think of themselves as brilliant because they outscored their peers when tested.

There are exceptions to this law. My English Comp professor, for instance, was passionate about teaching. He loved writing and was good at it so he felt obliged to impart his skill on anyone who would choose to learn. He is the teacher by which all others should be gauged,

As for the other kind, they are a joke. Just because you know all of the answers that the book has to offer, you think you are smart. The problem is that teachers NEVER experience the test of application. For the most part, teachers have been taught, they have not learned. Someone can teach you that steel is hard or lead is heavy but you never really learn until you break a few drill bits or drop it on your foot. Working knowledge is almost always better than the theories you've learned in your books.

I frequently hire people from trade schools who can recite all of the rules of electricity and acoustics. I have yet to keep one though. The better employees are the ones whose minds have not been guided, nor restricted, by formal education. They can do the things that "aren't supposed to work" when the educated guys refuse to try.

This applies to everything. There are many history majors who have been taught how our founders were and what they believed so they think they know them. I, on the other hand, chose not to read about our founders, I chose to read their own work. I have read thousands of letters written by Jefferson, Madison, Benjamin Rush, and several other great Americans. I have read letters regarding politics, religion, and even plain old family letters. I have learned their personalities and how others perceived them. I doubt many History teachers have the same knowledge as I but if you ask them, I am ignorant.

The fact is that: if you ask 30 soldiers how a battle went, you will get 30 different answers. The guy in the front might say that it was fast paced and scary but successful. The last guy in might say that it was a bloody failure and that it took forever. Chances are, the last guy left the Army to become a teacher.

The point is: Don't expect me to respect you simply because you have completed the necessary tasks to earn a teaching degree. I will respect you as a person until I see you using your position of authority to propagate your political opinions, at that point, you become my ideological enemy.