<p>What do you do when a professor says something that you know is not only incorrect but potentially harmful and offensive? I really want to say something and ask her if she truly believes this (much outdated) theory and why, but I don’t want to seem arrogant. Should I just keep my mouth shut?</p>
<p>Go visit her during her office hours and broach your question with tact and kindness.</p>
<p>Sometimes when I’m uncomfortable bringing something up, but feel it’s important, I’ll preface my comment with, “I’m actually hesitant to discuss this, and thought carefully before I came because I don’t want to appear in any way disrespectful to a professor, but I just couldn’t rest easy without discussing this with you. May we?” And then get her to agree in advance to having the discussion. That also gives her enough warm-up time to not be taken by surprise, which makes people defensive even in one-to-one conversation. The office hours are a good idea because you remove the issue of embarrassing her in class, and keep it confined to an honest discussion of the idea, which sounds like what you’re all about here.</p>
<p>In the realm of “potentially harmful and offensive” it’s helpful to figure out in your own mind whether YOU were offended or you think “others might be.” The first is usually a clearer discussion; if the second, you sometimes get into both of you deciding if nameless others might be bothered, so it’s hypothetical and harder to persuade. If YOU felt personally offended, you can claim that. Can you go with others or talk to anyone else in the same class from the group you think would be offended, as a reality check that such persons actually were, or weren’t “offended.” </p>
<p>I think you can argue a wrongheaded theory without even worrying about “if others are offended” too. It doesn’t have to be a socio-drama to warrant correction if she’s really mis-informed!</p>
<p>I third the suggestion for tact and diplomacy. (Which sounds silly to say – of course you’d want to be tactful!)</p>
<p>Focus on the academic side, not the “professor, you made a mistake” side. Broach it privately as a question about the topic as a whole, not pointing out whatever she may’ve said wrong.</p>
<p>Another preface, “I like your class and it really makes me think.” so she knows you’re headed only for an academic debate, not to some kind of grievance against her.</p>
<p>If it is concrete information which will impact your foundation in the relevant discipline, or if it is possible that test questions will require acceptance and development of the theme of this concept, you need to consult with someone in the department. If it is an opinion which is politically suspect, or a concept which is professionally outdated, a written document to the chairman, with a request for privacy, might be a better. If you confront her, her discomfort may disadvantage you academically. Beware.</p>
<p>As others have said, go to office hours and focus on the academics. Do not be disrespectful or presumptuous.</p>
<p>You probably can tell from the overall attitude of the professor how s/he would feel about being corrected. I would not stress being offended in a huffy way in any case.</p>
<p>However, I love being corrected in class. I don’t know everything. I make frequent blunders. When a student corrects me, I know s/he’s listening and engaged, and it is in the service of other students.</p>
<p>About saying something offensive, that is definitely in the ear of the behearer. Recently, a student in my myth class told me she was offended that I didn’t preface my discussion of how the Adam and Eve myth resembled others (and I pointed out the others) with the remark, “There are Christians here, so be careful not to offend their sensibilities.” Huh? She maintained that “Christians”, but that I think she meant Fundamentalists, are the most persecuted group in the classroom.</p>
<p>I explained that my job was to teach mythology and for me the Bible fit into that category. I assured her that her beliefs were not under attack and to view the course as an intellectual exercise. I did apologize if she were uncomfortable. I also pointed out that because Christianity is so influential in the US it might seem to be taking more of the knocks.</p>
<p>It was hard for me to keep my cool to that extent, because yes, I did feel attacked. But I had to remember that I wasn’t being attacked, and it was my job to care about my student.</p>
<p>I wished she had brought this up during class time because her real complaint was against students who dismissed the Bible as “untrue”. In her mind I was only at fault for not issuing a preliminary warning.</p>
<p>Sorry, if I ramble. Cutting to the chase: if said respectfully I welcome any and all student corrections, even of my attitude. We talk all day long; it stands to reason that sometimes something misguided comes out of our mouths.</p>
<p>Well, I didn’t see explained what you consider potentially harmfull or offensive. Depending on the class, how much you care about the grade, and how harmfull or offensive it is (Very subjective), I would wait til the semester was over and I no longer had this professor.</p>
<p>1st; it is very unlikely that you are the first student to have been given this information from this professor. 2nd; If you are no longer their student, they won’t feel defensive and you won’t possibly be the recipient of any backlash.</p>
<p>You can believe that open communications is the right answer here, and normally that is true, but not always. This is a great example of the real world. While many think college is some higher level of mankind’s evolution because everyone is supposedly “More educated”, the truth is that in many ways it is no different than the real world when it comes to interpersonnal relations. Just like i don’t tell my boss what i really think of him; you can’t always say what you think to your teacher, professor, counselor, etc…</p>
<p>Now, if the class doesn’t really mean anything to you. then fine. Go for it. But by looking at the context of your original post, it sounds like the thing you are concerned about is probably personal/moral/belief/etc… type issue instead of a scientific/mathematical/historical/factual topic. If so, you probably aren’t going to change their opinion immediately. Therefore, it’s better to wait until you aren’t a student any longer. If it’s a factual/scientific type disagreement, then you risk the prof becoming defensive. Anyway, i’d wait until the semester was over.</p>
<p>You could just approach her in her office hours and say “I was interested in what you said about Theory of Blah. I have been reading about Theory of Whatever and wondered what you thought about it?” That would allow you to gauge whether she has a well-thought out reason for maintaining her adherence to outdated Theory of Blah, how passionate she is about it, and how you should procede. </p>
<p>I would avoid throwing around words like incorrect, harmful, and offensive at this stage. Without knowing the context of your complaint, I would say all these things are very subjective and sometimes, particularly in college where people like a good debate, you have to accept that people will hold different view-points to you, some of which you may personally consider wrong, but holding them is not in itself wrong. I think you must find out more about why you professor taught what she did and be clear in your mind whether what you object to is incorrect facts or simply different opinion. You can mention that you personally were offended and explain why, but it is better not to describe her personal opinion as essentially offensive.</p>
<p>See the food discussion responses. Many opinions and few right answers.</p>
<p>I had a prof that put errors in his lectures on purpose in order to stimulate discussion - thermal hydraulics, oddly enough.</p>
<p>And an English professor that proudly announced that 10% of starting NFL quarterbacks were gay. No estimate for wide receivers.</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies! This is a scientific thing (well, social science, anyway), not a matter of opinion. I’ve known many people personally who would be very much offended by this statement, and I’m offended on their behalf. It’s a subject I’ve done a lot of research on, and I firmly believe no professional in this field (which is not the professor’s) would ever agree with the statement made. It is something she said at the end of class, so it’s possible that she could have shortened her remarks to a blanket statement in the interest of time. I am going to bring it up with her during office hours, but in a very respectful way (“I noticed you said y about x the other day in class. I’m curious because I’ve done research on topic x in the past, and it seems many studies support theories a, b, c…”).</p>
<p>hmmmm, this makes me want to know what she said</p>
<p>was it religious?
was it about IQs?
was it about sexuality?</p>
<p>If there is anything that is subject to much manipulation and disagreement it is most of social science. To begin with most social scientists have an agenda.</p>
<p>Professors present all sorts of theories with which they disagree. That’s part of what they should do. Otherwise, you’d have professors only teaching from their own point of view. In the humanities and social sciences, the disciplines have multiple theories that are not in agreement. There is not a consensus view. That means that some people will view a particular theory as outmoded or wrong or even offensive. </p>
<p>So what did she say?</p>
<p>By the way, one of the things I say in my classes is “Being offended is not an argument.” What I mean is that if you think a theory or argument or line of evidence is incorrect, you should argue about it in a rational way, using logic and evidence. Simply saying “This is offensive” or “I am offended” stops discussion and has no intellectual content. It’s just too easy. So I make students EXPLAIN their responses to particular theories and arguments.</p>
<p>First, I would keep my mouth shut. If the professor’s claim is offensive, you can bet that people have tried to correct him or her many times without success. You won’t accomplish anything except to possibly alienate the professor. If you really feel like you must confront the professor, why not wait until after you’ve been graded?</p>
<p>Second, my guess is that more likely than not, the professor is right and you are wrong. The vast majority of people have their judgment clouded by their wishes. Thus, they are likely to consider the hurtfulness or offensiveness of a claim in evaluating its truth even though logically these things are irrelevant.</p>
<p>I suggest you ask yourself the following question: What evidence would it take to change your mind? If you can’t answer that question, then probably you are not assessing things critically.</p>
<p>Just my humble opinion.</p>
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<p>Beprepn, you just reminded me of a geology prof I had back in the day. He had the unfortunate task of teaching an intro course to those who took it only to satisfy their science distribution requirement (“rocks for jocks”). It was at 8 a.m. and many of us wished we were back in bed or somewhere else like planning the latest anti-Vietnam demonstration. Some were great scholars of the humanities but clumsy at science. He also could hardly wait for his next class of interested upperclass majors.</p>
<p>One day he challenged us by showing us a map of S.E. Asia and Australia, asking, “Now doesn’t this look like AUstralia could fit right back into SE Asia? That proves the theory of continental drift, right?” </p>
<p>“Right,” we muttered.</p>
<p>“Wrong!” he shouted. “Just because it looks like it, doesn’t mean it is. Italy LOOKS like a boot but Italy’s not a boot.” He glared, “Y’see, I took philosophy, too.”</p>
<p>Well after that I woke up and actually ended up taking a few advanced courses from that department. It got very interesting after the intro course.</p>
<p>Anyway, wolfpiper, yours sounds more serious but I thought I’d share that tale.</p>
<p>cgm,
I don’t have time to elaborate now, but the professor said that we have eating disorders in society because of “25 pound fashion models,” which… just no. Are fashion models sometimes used a “thinspiration”? Yeah. Do fashion models sometimes trigger people to start dieting, which can lead to an ED in vulnerable subsets of the population? Yeah. But to say that the fashion industry causes eating disorders is just ovesimplified to the point of lunancy. It ignores such things such as the presence of “non-skinny” EDs (binge eating, compulsive overeating, and sometimes bulimia–there are a good number of normal, overweight, or even obese bulimics and I really doubt they’re doing it to look like Twiggy), the theory of restricting and binge/purge “highs” and emotional numbing, the biological/genetic`theories, the fact some bulimics gain weight when they start binge/purging and yet still don’t stop, the fact that most bulimics and some anorexics don;t find emaciated bodies (including their own) attractive, the trauma theory, etc., etc. I’ve known people with eating disorders and to say that they did it because they wanted to look like a fashion model offends me by proxy.</p>