“Trigger warnings” made me stop teaching. It is impossible to teach about genocide and war crimes without exposing students to horrific and eye opening material? I feel sorry for today’s college students. When I entered Bard College in 1984, the drinking age was 18, the bookstore sold rolling papers and there were no “speech codes,” “microaggressions,” Title IX star chamber courts, much less “trigger warnings.” I was educated at Bard, not coddled, pandered to, or indoctrinated. The most important parts of my undergraduate education were the tiny classes and full-contact exchanges with intense and intimidating professors. It was impossible to hide in the smoke-filled seminar rooms because we sat around tables. While all of my teachers cared about my education, they did not care about my ego. Back then, students were not treated like customers, and if you complained to administrators they laughed in your face. Instead of inflating me with fraudulent and flatulent “self-esteem,” they hammered me on a Socratic anvil. Over the past two decades, many academics and intellectuals have embraced the lamb’s freedom, and their students have paid the greatest price. Their timid perceptions of comfort and safety are now higher priorities than their education. Colleges and universities should not be self-esteem builders where “student success” is guaranteed. I am thankful that my teachers made me earn my success, because it is meritless if mandated.
Eve, please read her essay "The Man in The Brooks Brothers Shirt" (Partisan Review 1941) and her book The Group. Mary kicked my ass and held me to a higher standard like all great teachers.
A few years back I read Pattie Boyd’s memoir, Wonderful Tonight, and it was SO good! She is such an interesting person and I also love getting all the behind the scenes of some famous musicians. Highly recommend!
What a magnificent post! It brightened this rainy day. There are so many things that pleased me in it that I can’t list them all without rewriting the post itself! You are a beautiful soul.
Thanks so much for the shout out Eve! Delightfully nerdy, that could be my tagline..I can't imagine what it must be like to move today, hopefully that dog has an extra umbrella for you. Good luck!
Good luck with the move today! That dead bird is absolutely stunning, it looks like it just peacefully passed away in its sleep? That’s how I’d like to imagine it’s death anyway!
“Trigger warnings” made me stop teaching. It is impossible to teach about genocide and war crimes without exposing students to horrific and eye opening material? I feel sorry for today’s college students. When I entered Bard College in 1984, the drinking age was 18, the bookstore sold rolling papers and there were no “speech codes,” “microaggressions,” Title IX star chamber courts, much less “trigger warnings.” I was educated at Bard, not coddled, pandered to, or indoctrinated. The most important parts of my undergraduate education were the tiny classes and full-contact exchanges with intense and intimidating professors. It was impossible to hide in the smoke-filled seminar rooms because we sat around tables. While all of my teachers cared about my education, they did not care about my ego. Back then, students were not treated like customers, and if you complained to administrators they laughed in your face. Instead of inflating me with fraudulent and flatulent “self-esteem,” they hammered me on a Socratic anvil. Over the past two decades, many academics and intellectuals have embraced the lamb’s freedom, and their students have paid the greatest price. Their timid perceptions of comfort and safety are now higher priorities than their education. Colleges and universities should not be self-esteem builders where “student success” is guaranteed. I am thankful that my teachers made me earn my success, because it is meritless if mandated.
Couldn't agree with you more--particularly within a classroom setting. The point is learning not swaddling!!! True learning is often uncomfortable.
My comment was stolen from an essay about my beloved teacher Mary McCarthy
https://petermaguire.substack.com/p/mary-mccarthy-and-macroaggressions
Eve, please read her essay "The Man in The Brooks Brothers Shirt" (Partisan Review 1941) and her book The Group. Mary kicked my ass and held me to a higher standard like all great teachers.
I absolutely will!!! I look forward to reading your essay and hers!
A few years back I read Pattie Boyd’s memoir, Wonderful Tonight, and it was SO good! She is such an interesting person and I also love getting all the behind the scenes of some famous musicians. Highly recommend!
Ooo must check that out!!! The muse’s perspective!
I’m With The Band is another great rock star muse biography! Pam Des Barres was a big influence on the character Pennie Lane in Almost Famous!
Thanks for the shout-out! So glad you enjoyed the Clarice Lispector piece. Sounds like I need to read An Apprenticeship or The Book of Pleasures!
Absolutely!!!! It’s a real winner.
Layla, Wonderful Tonight, and Something--Pattie Boyd was quite the muse. Thank goodness my best friend is not Eric Clapton.
❤️🔥
What a magnificent post! It brightened this rainy day. There are so many things that pleased me in it that I can’t list them all without rewriting the post itself! You are a beautiful soul.
<3<3
Thanks so much for the shout out Eve! Delightfully nerdy, that could be my tagline..I can't imagine what it must be like to move today, hopefully that dog has an extra umbrella for you. Good luck!
Thank you, Rob!! I love your work :)
Good luck with the move today! That dead bird is absolutely stunning, it looks like it just peacefully passed away in its sleep? That’s how I’d like to imagine it’s death anyway!
Unfortunately I think a big glass window may have been to blame 😢 thanks, Martha!!