Universities Distance Learning Programs Online

I hear that teaching in a university means not being part of the real world, that it is not a real job, that it is simply a way for Marxists to indoctrinate young people (I have four degrees from two different public universities and can count on one hand how many openly left-of-center professors I have had), so my question is, do you reall believe that this is not a real job’ Do you believe that those who can’t do, teach’ Do you think that a university is not part of the real world and, if so, what constitutes a branch of the real world in which people are employed’

Now, to become a professor you have to go and get an undergraduate degree, take the GRE, get a good GPA, a few solid letters of recommendation and then get admitted into a graduate program. It can take up to four or five years to get the doctorate, which also involves learning how to economize by living on a meager budget, taking courses, passing comps, writing a dissertation, defending the dissertation, and after the degree is granted, it’s off to the work force where you compete for a tenure-track position.

Once a post is acquired, it involves teaching, lesson planning and research, writing scholarly articles and books, serving as a committee chair for doctoral candidates, grading papers, participating in conferences, being part of hiring committees…..hardly what I would call idle.

Now, as for the “real world,” is a person who works for a corporation and is based in the best part of town with minimal diversity living in the real world’ Do farmers, often distanced far away from urban life, not in the “real world” as they live a rural existence which is out of step with what the majority have in the United States; are police officers not in the “real world” b/c they see, day after day, the lowest elements of society therefore they are not exposed to the good and bad that make up the diversity of our society; is a radio host who makes millions telling gullible people what they want to hear not living in the “real world” as he has nothing in common socially or economically with much of his audience’

I wonder, or is it just another way for the anti-educational, reactionary elements of our society to disparage education by claiming that all educators are ideologues and that any lack of formal education on their part is due to bias in the world of academia.

As for, “those who can’t do, teach!” I must say I don’t believe that a person teaching mathematics at Cal Tech is incapable of doing mathematics, and I am pretty sure that my Spanish professor *can* speak Spanish.