Hey! I’m a professor at one of those universities no one has heard of, too!


Dinesh D’Souza thought he’d teach an uppity college professor a lesson.

I kinda suspect that Dartmouth is rather embarrassed that D’Souza is a product of their education. Ivy League schools turn out asshats, just like every college — it’s a problem with being egalitarian and trying to educate even tendentious dullards like D’Souza. Don’t feel bad, Dartmouth grads, it’s not your fault. You tried. I don’t think that even the University of Minnesota Morris could have salvaged him.

Kevin Gannon, the target of D’Souza’s attempted snipe, had a great reply.

What all that means, Gannon continued, is that Grand View “serves students, many of whom come from populations or places that have not historically been well served by higher education.” The university is a liberal arts college with many pre-professional programs, and a liberal education should be accessible to all students, in all majors, he said, noting his institution is relatively affordable.

“And here’s the thing: there are a lot of folks at schools a lot like mine doing this same kind of work. The universities ‘Nobody’s heard of’ literally make this country go. We’re out here doing work, y’all. We support entire communities. We make our part of the world better.”

Yup. He could have been describing my university, too. As an undergraduate, I attended both the Giant State University and the Little Liberal Arts College, and I can say with an informed background that both have advantages…but if I were to do it over again, I’d have stuck with the liberal arts school. They provide more personal instruction and a broader background to students. And that’s why I switched from teaching at a large state institution to a smaller university myself in my career as an instructor.

Comments

  1. larpar says

    It wasn’t a pigeon joke, it was a pigeon metaphor. I guess they don’t teach the difference in the ivy league.

  2. kevskos says

    Only thing you can get at an ivy league school than any other decent school are contacts. You will get that job on Wall Street because most of the suits on Wall Street went to an ivy and they hire their own, nepotism pure and simple.

  3. says

    “Intellectual humility”?

    Isn’t he on the side that argues about the “educational elitism” that’s ruining the country? Christ, what a prick.

  4. curbyrdogma says

    Isn’t that the chucklehead helping to perpetrate the myth that Republicans and Democrats are the same “brand” as they were in the 19th century?

  5. brucegee1962 says

    After I came to teach at a community college, it occurred to me that if the big state school where I got my degrees were to disappear, all of those students would just go somewhere else. Whereas if my little community college went away, most of my students would be sol. So which one is more important?

  6. daved says

    D’Souza does not deserve a refund. Dartmouth should just revoke his degree — and Laura Ingraham’s as well, for good measure. They obviously didn’t apply themselves.

    I’m speaking as an alum here, though I graduated several years before D’Souza came along to infest the campus with his brand of aggressive ignorance. It really is embarrassing. On the other hand, I wonder how Wharton feels with Trump as an alum? That’s probably even worse.

  7. lochaber says

    Is he really trying to claim that being a student at an Ivy-League school outranks a professor at a liberal-arts school?

    Dude may have gotten a degree, but he skipped the education part…

  8. unclefrogy says

    just another example of the basic irrationality of right wing political hacks.
    uncle frogy

  9. robertharvey says

    Isn’t is strange that people who went to Dartmouth say that they went to an Ivy League college without ever mentioning that they were rejected from Harvard, Yale, and Princeton?

  10. woozy says

    Witty jabs may not win or close arguments but if the are clever are accurate enough they give punctuation to it.

    Resorting to elitist pedigree and shaming however is certainly a way to lose an argument. It is basically an admission you have nothing and are resorting to name calling.

  11. dangerousbeans says

    kevskos @2
    you only get the contacts if you’re part of the in crowd anyway. all my queer, trans arse would get from going back to an ivy league would be a massive pile of debt

  12. wajim says

    My small state 4yr liberal arts college (3500 students or so) was the best eduction I have experienced; done the larger state university post-grad at a top tier school in my field, which was well worth it I thought (and think, though perhaps because I had a TA and it cost me next to nothing), but that small group of well-qualified undergrad professors dedicated to actual teaching (as much as research) who knew me by name and spent far too much of their own time on my education and enlightenment than they were professionally obligated to do made all the difference. Perhaps that’s why I got a free ride through grad school. Or maybe I’m just that brilliant. Hmm . . .

  13. wajim says

    @tallgrass05:

    What does a felony conviction have to do with a given argument? D’Souza is wrong on the merits, and stupidly so, because, more or less, he is an ignorant reactionary out to sell stuff to fools, not because he was convicted of campaign finance crimes.

  14. kevskos says

    @dangerousbeans 16

    True, but unfortunately that happens to the non cool club most places, not just the ivies.