Fighting ‘The Man’ one rant at a time
Professsor Keith Kilty: Ohio State University - Social WorkBehold the notorious 1960s transformation
View Professor Profile Your Comments
Professsor Keith Kilty: Ohio State University - Social WorkBehold the notorious 1960s transformation
View Professor Profile Your Comments
June 20th, 2008 at 1:12 am
You don’t get paid to go on leftist political rants to a captive audience. You get paid to teach us how to do something.
Why don’t you show some courage and run for an office in a centrist district if you’re so confident in your ideas.
June 25th, 2008 at 10:05 pm
Why don’t you show some courage and go shoot people in Iraq?
June 30th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
What is wrong with being on the left and being confident with your ideas. Maybe the reason B. Jenkins rejects Kilty is because he is on the right, stubborn, and closed minded. And for Charles: that is the most ignorant response I have ever read. Being courageous is standing for what you believe in, not fighting a money making war for the neocons.
July 5th, 2008 at 3:17 am
Jessus christ. My generation really is full of idiots. For anyone who reads this please dis the comments left by the the hicks above.
Billy your an idiot. Why don’t you shut up so the world will be spared of your ego.
Charles,… kill yourself. Now. I want you out of the spawning pool.
And I have no idea who this teacher is. He seems like the typical teacher to me. Get over the fact that we all have to deal with *** holes. If you want to do something about the jerks that thrive in this environment preach some real solutions to real problems.
July 5th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
Why all the hate for Billy? He actually has a point, and his comment does not indicate a right-wing political bias. Charles is the only one who said anything stupid.
July 6th, 2008 at 4:47 pm
Wow! This guy looks much younger than he is.
Rant on, Keith, rant on.
July 7th, 2008 at 11:15 pm
Dr. Kilty, if I’m ever up in the Buckeye State, can I sit in on one of your classes?
I respect somebody who responds to his criticisms. I respect them even more when they respond to comments left by people too afraid to show who they are.
July 8th, 2008 at 3:52 pm
Well, here’s a professor not afraid to admit that his objective is to shape young minds into leftist drones. He’s in the majority of professors around the nation; pushing their own political views and agendas on young people there to learn from an objective, unbiased instructor. That kind of behavior should be illegal.
To all of you liberal professors who can’t help but take advantage of your position in the classroom to push your views and opinions on your students…LET ME MAKE UP MY OWN MIND! JUST THE FACTS PLEASE! I don’t need you to dissect the current political climate and spoon feed me your soap box view! I can think, rationalize, and come up with my own opinions! Quit force-feeding me yours!
July 8th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Angie. What professors do is to present a point of view. If you’ve ever been to a school of business, you’ll know that most of the professors there hold a somewhat right-wing point of view. There are a fair number of liberal arts professors who are also conservative. That’s all cool, too, you know? It’s incumbent upon the professors to present points of view and for the students to sort them out. That’s part of education. Students are not the mindless drones you make them out to be. What an insult!
Also, you should know that no fact goes unmediated. No bit of information is acontextual. For example, “Columbus discovered America in 1492.” Need I say more?
I suggest you either go to an accredited college before you post again, or maybe you can just save your statements for your local school board’s yearly discussion on Intelligent Design.
July 8th, 2008 at 10:23 pm
Love those political rants. Keep it up!
July 9th, 2008 at 11:15 am
Raquello, I agree with what you said. Every professor of mine has thrown in his/her opinion here and there and revealed their points of view in the classrooms. As a matter of fact, I’ve done it myself in every presentation I’ve given to an audience. But going on a long rant is a whole other thing. For many students, it can be quite annoying if this occurs in a class for which they paid over $600 to attend (that’s approximately how much it is at my university). However, I can’t say if Mr. Kilty is bad at it, considering I’ve never taken his class.
Expressing your point of view in a lecture at one point is okay in my book, but you need to know when to stop! In other words, don’t rant while teaching me new things, please.
July 9th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
True, Daniel. It’s actually not about the cost of the class, however. It’s whether or not the rant can be construed as educational. I mean, if an economics professor wants to trash Jimmy Carter and his money policy or the Nixon wage and price freeze and, by so doing, lapses into politics, then God bless her. If a music or art professor has to talk about 2LiveCrew or Andres Serrano and wants to go into some long rant about censorship in the arts, then, I think, he’s entitled. But I suppose you might want to say the same about a discussion of Macbeth and Dick Cheney in a lit class, right?
I don’t know if there’s anything out there that is completely a-political except, maybe physics and chemistry–except, of course, if you’re talking about the pharmaceutical industry, pollution, nuclear power and alternative forms of energy, the NSF, etc.
OK. How about math? That seems pretty much a course in which the instructor would logically keep away from anything political. But that’s about it, huh?
Also, I really hated those classes in which the prof talked about his ex-wife, his son’s SAT scores, or his current argument with the superintendent of his apartment complex about getting the plumbing fixed. My high school geometry teacher taught us about camping in the wilderness somewhere between proofs.
Teachers do have a captive audience, and they’ve got to understand that their personal BS should be kept to a minimum, political or not.
July 9th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
why have we been brain washed to think professors are supposed to be a-political and if they aren’t they are trying to push a political agenda? i have mostly leftist political views but I go to school in the deep south so a fair share of my professors have conservative views on things. why is this considered bad? it challenges you to look at what they are talking about and form your own opinion. part of education is having your views challenged. that helps you learn. you are supposed to look at things from other’s point of view. to think that you should go through college without having your views challenged is asinine.
July 10th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
Math teachers are the strangest, eh, Raquello? I just finished college algebra in the Spring and my professor was WEIRD. He talked about random stuff including his cats and Quiznos sub sandwiches the same day we’re looking at the quadratic formula. Also, he looked at the floor the whole time (no joke).
July 10th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
I hear you, Daniel. He looked at the floor the whole time because he’s got Asperger’s Syndrome. We have a guy in my department who has it (diagnosed by me, a layman, so take it for what it’s worth). He’s got the lowest, most bizarre RMPs from the students. We call him “the Sphinx” behind his back, sometimes “Rainman.” This is all very manageable, except for the fact that he’s really not bright and has absolutely no social skills. He answers student questions with questions and thinks he’s getting them somewhere. Poor dude.
July 11th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
Yo Ramon–
I find it interesting that you are so quick to defend the same type of teachers that you are out there calling “Sphynxes” —
Professors in universities are overwhelmingly government employees who get their paychecks from a budget comprised of TAX DOLLARS. Is it really so hard to believe that there is a fair amount of Liberal propoganda flowing in classrooms full of impressionable minds?
In fact, their livelihood largely depends on a new generation of obedient and subservient working class citizens who will protect their financial futures by not questioning why they should be taxed to the max to pay for aging teachers salaries and later, medicare expenses. It is people like you who are so quick to buy in to the agenda of the average instructor (anti-capatalist, pro- nationalized healthcare, anti-gun, pro boosting gov’t funded social welfare) that will ultimately bow down to an oversized government when they begin the indoctrination process typical of socialist society.
Also: You say that “It’s incumbent upon the professors to present points of view and for the students to sort them out. That’s part of education.”
but later you say : “Teachers do have a captive audience, and they’ve got to understand that their personal BS should be kept to a minimum, political or not.”
Whats the difference? A point of view is exactly that — A point of view which could feasibly be considered B.S. by anybody. Although opinionated discussions do often crop up in the classroom, it is NOT up to the students to “sort it all out” it is up to the professor to keep it all factual, relevant and educational.
July 11th, 2008 at 11:19 pm
I guess I’m just a sorry “anti-capatalist.” You sound like a leftist as well. Get your political rhetoric straightened out, OK?
Nevertheless, there’s a difference between the economics professor who lets his class know that he can’t abide the money policies of Paul Volcker or Ben Bernancke and the economics professor who begins each class talking about his cat’s most recently vomited-up hair balls or about his distaste for Hilary Clinton. The economics professor should render his opinions on things economic.
There is no such thing as a pure, objective fact. (”William Shakespeare wrote Macbeth.”) Once an idea is expressed and contextualized, it carries the intellectual baggage of the delivery agent. I’m surprised none of your professors ever told you that. Or maybe they simply expected you to just “sort it out” from all that factual, relevant material they presented you with.
July 17th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
Wow. As an aspiring teacher my instructors have taught that it is educational malpractice to preach ANY sort of political opinions to students. I find it abhorrent and a disgrace to the profession that this behavior occurs. Professor Kilty should be ashamed of himself. We are paying teacher’s salaries to learn facts, not the warped, un-researched, media regurgitated opinions of paranoid, unpatriotic jerks. Although, I can’t say I’m surprised as Sir Kilty represents about 95% of the instructors at our fine educational institutions. Sad.
July 17th, 2008 at 10:56 pm
Yes. But you are a teacher and Kilty is a professor. Big difference. It’s not like he’s telling kindergarteners to go home and tell their parents to vote for Obama. He’s speaking to thinking adults.
You should be ashamed of yourself. Which unaccredited institution do you attend?
July 26th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
I love how some people equate dissent with being unpatriotic.
Of course they had no problem dissenting with Clinton’s policies.
People like mc are not worth responding to since they lack any sort of intellectual base on which to create and defend arguments.
July 28th, 2008 at 11:51 am
Ramon:
You said to me, “I suggest you either go to an accredited college before you post again…”.
You said to MC: “Which unaccredited institution do you attend?”
Are you here to discuss relevant topics or just try to cut people down and make yourself look arrogant & haughty? You’re doing a great job at the latter, especially considering you don’t know us or our education background. What kind of “highly educated” person assumes to know the background of a person they never met and then insults that person with those assumptions? It has been said that a person who resorts to insults has nothing intelligent left to offer. Stick to the topics and try to refrain from being a condescending jerk.
Jon White summed up my viewpoint very well, “Although opinionated discussions do often crop up in the classroom, it is NOT up to the students to “sort it all out” it is up to the professor to keep it all factual, relevant and educational.”
MC: You are right, it is a disgrace that this goes on. Opinions should be formed after one has an understanding of facts NOT after one has an understanding of their professor’s opinion. It’s pretty simple really.
July 28th, 2008 at 12:14 pm
P.S.
Ramon: I said the Professor’s objective was to create “leftist” drones NOT “mindless” drones. The Prof is a liberal who unapologetically attempts to shape young minds to mimic (hence: drone) his own views & opinions. I did not call the students “mindless”, I was merely pointing out the Professor’s agenda to produce carbon-copy liberals.
You are very crafty at twisting words.
Try to be accurate if you quote someone.
July 28th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
JoksRDum- I would’t expect anything less from you as you offer a typical Liberal response to an alternative opinion. Let’s call people dumb because we don’t have any other appropriate comments! To further Angie’s point accusing me of having no intellectual base is just a useless insult. I think I made my point quite well thank you.
July 28th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Jeez. What are you guys doing? Both on your two-week vacation together?
And I’m not a leftist, actually. I’m a fascist and often make statements to that effect in my classrooms–to the consternation of my liberal students, I might add!
It’s unfortunate that you don’t realize that there is no fact that is not political or objective. I know this is a difficult concept, but see if someone at Pensacola Christian College can help you get your heads around it.
July 28th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
You prove my point Ramon. You can’t learn anything when you think you know everything. I knew you wouldn’t stop the insults and I knew you wouldn’t miss another opportunity to mention you have “students” (in an obvious attempt to establish a lofty level of education or intelligence). You are so full of yourself you cannot see how transparent you are.
July 28th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
I am, indeed, transparently lofty. Go vote for Obama now.
July 29th, 2008 at 1:11 am
Professors expressing their relevant opinions in the classroom is fine. In fact, that’s much of the charm of attending class. If you just want the facts, read your textbook or find another book. I’ve had professors that I completely disagreed with that expressed their opinions in class and some have been my favourite professors! Professors are there to animate the material in the text book and to clarify any confusion about the material, not just to repeat what the textbook says. If they were, you could just include CDs with every textbook.
Also, as someone who attends school for many and greater reasons than to earn a degree to make more money, I appreciate hearing my professors’ and my fellow students’ opinions just simply for the value of expanding my knowledge and recognizing what other people believe and what reasons they have to believe these things. The best moments I’ve had in class have been the animate moments: when my professor goes on a rant, engages in an interesting and meaningful conversation with a student or argues with a student. I probably wouldn’t attend if my professors were so clinical and sterile that they only repeated the facts by the book. I attend to learn more than just the course material.
Also, as Ramón said, it’s a practice in critical thinking, which is the most important academic skill. It doesn’t matter if you know facts if you can’t think critically. You may as well be an encyclopedia. Thinking about what the professor says about course and non-course material helps you find where you stand on issues by challenging your beliefs, whether that strengthens them or changes them. Is not the point of academia to expand your mind and to inject reason? Just look past your professors’ rhetoric and analyze their arguments, no matter what subject, no matter if it’s relevant or not. You only have to think about it as long as they’re talking about it. And they’re going to talk about it, so you may as well think about it. You might actually learn something!
July 31st, 2008 at 2:12 pm
Haha the second video he met people that “changed” his ways of thinking 1964…. could it have been with…. LSD!