<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 I really want to say something and ask her if she truly believes this (much outdated) theory and why, but I don’t want to seem arrogant, especially as she’s a pretty powerful person in my program. Should I just keep my mouth shut?</p>
<p>Ask about it later (during office hours or by email) but don’t push it; your grade is on the line.</p>
<p>Tell her but tell her as if you’re doubting you’re own answer.</p>
<p>Make it a intelligent debate and not a argument.</p>
<p>Tell us what the prof said, and you’ll get answers that will be even more helpful. Right now I can’t tell if what she said was so harmful that it could cause someone to accidentally kill themself or it could cause her to be successfully sued or to lose her job.</p>
<p>Or it may only be something that the OP considers a “harmful idea”.</p>
<p>Yeah, you need to be more specific. </p>
<p>I think it depends on the situation. Sometimes I’ll ignore it, if it’s trivial. Other times I’ll correct it in class if it’s an item that I know will be tested on. And sometimes, I’ll wait until after class to bring it up, if correcting the teacher could embarass him/her and/or if it is a complicated subject and would take up a signficant chunk of classtime to discuss. Especially in the last situation I’m careful to not come off as arrogant, and approach the topic more inquisitively than overbearingly, with an open mind (or a feigned open mind!).</p>
<p>There are very few absolutes. Truth is often an opinion based upon certain limited facts. It changes often over time–even scientific “truths”.</p>
<p>Confront them with irrefutable proof that they are wrong, preferably in front of a large class. They will be grateful that you didn’t allow them to have the wrong idea about something!</p>
<p>OP, what exactly is the “harmful” and “incorrect” idea? It’s not evolution, is it? Global warming? Chris Crocker’s reality show?</p>
<p>I love it when people ask for advice without giving enough information about the problem or circumstances around it.</p>
<p>Go during office hours. No one likes to get called out in front of a group.</p>
<p>Say you are confused, and how does what she say match up with X, Y, and Z that are in your text book or that you learned from a previous class. I wouldn’t barge in there with some brand new published article from this months “Journal of Wolfpiper’s Major”. </p>
<p>Sometimes it’s best to play dumb, and it will get her to expound on why she believes her statement.</p>
<p>As general advice, I will say that it’s best to simply let it go. </p>
<p>The only exception is when you’re in a math and science class, you’re already friendly with the professor, and you note that they simply made some mistake in writing out an expression or proof. </p>
<p>It’s generally best not to challenge humanities’ professors on anything they say.</p>
<p>Raise your hand and say, “You are wrong.”</p>
<p>NSM, I don’t have time to elaborate now (must rush out to dinner 
), but the professor said that we have eating disorders in society because of “25 pound fashion miodels,” which… just no. Are fasdhion models sometimes used a “thinspiration”? Yeah. Do fashion modles 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 ost bulimics and some anorexics don;t find emaciated bodies skinny or 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>
<p>BRM, I like your suggestion. Thanks!</p>
<p>Is this a psych/sociology class where the argument actually has something to do with the subject? If not I’d just drop it.</p>
<p>this isn’t something that is technically wrong…it is simply his opinion and you don’t agree with it…it is not like your professor taught some math/science concept incorrectly</p>
<p>But empirically, it is wrong…</p>
<p>And this is a social work class.</p>
<p>…i don’t see how that is really wrong, other than exaggerating the point. if our fashion models were 150lbs instead of 80, would “overweight” people feel much need to go bulimic or anorexic? they may or may not want to look so skinny, but remember that there are other facets – a model can’t just be 80lbs, she has to have ample and attractive curves, too. can’t really have that when you weigh too much.</p>
<p>whether bulimics gain or lose weight is a non-issue, the act is an attempt to counter calorie intake. as for binging and compulsive overeating…maybe the person in question wants to maintain or lose weight, but can’t keep him/herself from eating everything she wants from time to time? as for “some anorexics don’t find emaciated [or skinny] bodies attractive” (think that’s what you meant), i’ve been under the impression that anorexics don’t think they’re skinny…which is why they keep starving themselves, right?</p>
<p>if eating disorders were such a big problem in, say, the 40s, though, of course that makes everything i just said incorrect. but there were products then that helped women gain weight, so i don’t think so, except for overeating/binging for the purpose of weight gain.</p>
<p>Toxic<em>waste,
This article helps puts anorexia nervosa in historical perspective
<a href=“http://www.wpic.pitt.edu/research/angenetics/press/cover”>http://www.wpic.pitt.edu/research/angenetics/press/cover</a></em>story.pdf</p>
<p>I see how the statement that eating disorders are “caused” by fashion models can be seen as a little extreme, but I think there’s a logical step between our culture valuing this particular look, and women feeling that pressure to look a different way than they do. There’s certainly more to eating disorders-- it’s a really complex issue-- that might be worth a good discussion (NOT an attack) with your prof outside class.</p>
<p>Wolfpiper, </p>
<p>I’ve been in a similar situation about this exact same topic. I had a sociology class on the Sociology of Health and Health Professions in which we read the book Fatland<a href=“great%20read%20by%20the%20by”>/u</a>, and our prof brought in a dietitian who made the exact same argument about how anorexia and bulimia were the worst things ever and so on. Because she wasn’t our prof, and we had all just finished a book on obesity, the class actually got in an argument with her about what was the greater issue facing america - obesity or undreweight eating disorders… kind of funny in retrospect.</p>