Faculty members tend to be professional They also tend to be sane

There is something to be said for professional journalism that can come up with one of the best all time summations of an event by stating:

Faculty members tend to be professional. They also tend to be sane. Source: Wall Street Journal

The story centers around Dartmouth and an English professor that melted down on the job because the students were interacting in the class, and the instructor, Priya Venkatesan is now busy suing Dartmouth because of that interaction. While many of the college classes we take remind us of Charlie Brown’s parents in terms of what we are hearing, the idea that students were getting into the class and arguing points of order, brilliant.

The problem, the instructor could not cope.

I know that when I teach a class, I pray for interaction, and am always delightfully surprised when I get it. Unfortunately, this is not always the case, students are always worried about their grades, and getting something out of them can be like pulling teeth. I wish I had this class, it could have been a lot of fun. Rather it ends up in the courts system, with one more warning to students not to speak up.

Everywhere I go I’m asked if I think the university stifles writers. My opinion is that they don’t stifle enough of them. There’s many a best-seller that could have been prevented by a good teacher.
- Flannery O’Connor

Keywords: Dartmouth, lawsuit, Priya Venkatesan, English, professor, meltdown.