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Blogger: Vincent L. Mach Thursday, November 12, 2009 @ 10:39 am SUBJECT: An Unsettling SceneToday I was in Port Sky with some other members of B.U.S.T. (being united for social transformation). Many of you probably saw us stationed at the table by the mail room with our bright green shirts, asking people to sign a petition to end the horrible practice of abducting children from their villages, brainwashing them, and then using them, often against their own families, as soldiers, which is a practice that has been going on for many years in Africa. Like any similar endeavor, there are people who stop and sign and there are people who walk by, and I am sure that each person had his or her own reason for each particular decision. There was one instance though, that I am rather upset about, that occurred during the hour we were stationed at the table.
A group of several professors walked in, and I immediately assumed that they would be very interested in, at the very least, hearing what we had to say. When I asked them if they would like to sign the petition, they walked right by while barely acknowledging me. Later during the time, another member of the club was walking around to tables to obtain signatures, and she walked up to the same group of professors. She asked them if they would like to sign the petition, one acquiesced, she asked if anyone else would like to follow suit, and one replied with the snarky comment that the one person who signed had already signed it for the rest of them. On the way out, I again asked these same professors if they would like to support our cause, just to even acknowledge that we were doing something good, and this time the person who signed earlier said he already did so and the rest just kept walking like I never said anything.
I hear a lot of professors talk about civic engagement and supporting causes, but the example set by those that I encountered today was quite contrary to any rhetoric I have heard about showing interest in the world around us. Personally, I think they all set a rather poor example to the other students. Here we are, a group supporting what I believe to be a very important cause, and they just walk by without acknowledging us and favor us with irritable remarks. I am not saying that they have to agree with us, and that they are bad people just because they did not agree with me. I am merely suggesting that they could have at least stopped, enquired what we were asking people to sign for, debated the issue, disagreed, and left amicably, instead of walking by like we were not there at all. Their actions undermine professors' encouragement to care about our citizenship on the campus as well as our citizenship in the world. User Profile - Subscribe to this Blog - Share on Facebook - Add a Comment - 740 Hits COMMENTSThursday, November 12, 2009 @ 2:47 pm
Perhaps they were busy, perhaps they think differently, perhaps they just don't care. But your generation is what counts now! Its your world. My generation is handing off a bundle of big problems to your generation. Luckily, the more of you I get to know, the better I feel about the hand off. So shrug off the lack of engagement. Go out and fix it anyway. No single political problem has ever been solved by people asking nicely. Imperialism will not be solved by polite action either. So do your homework, find out if your issue is real or if it is another attempt by underhanded to enrich themselves from the so called "Clash of Civilizations" (one of the most profitable gigs around, much bigger than Y2K!) Then if you make the decision that you are on the side of a more peaceful world for you and your children, then argue, pester, threaten, and cajole. Soon you will see that your enthusiasm is contagious, that your moral compass will point you right, and the world is yours anyway. But if you expect applause, it won't happen until after you change the world. Then all of those disengaged, appropriate, polite, and reserved people will be clamoring to say they taught you back when you were just an undergraduate. You'll see! 
Thursday, November 12, 2009 @ 2:58 pm
Gor-gor, I appreciate that you are such an avid reader of my thoughts. If you would like, I would certainly enjoy meeting you in person for a real discussion. First off, I understand people get testy when they are interrupted during their lunch or what have you, but I do not see that as any sort of excuse. Are we just supposed to wait until everyone is ready and comfy in their perfect state of mind to approach them with our ideas? We have schedules and lives just like everyone else, and we found this time and this location to be the most advantageous. Also, we were not taking any large amount of time, just a few seconds for an explanation and a signature. Heck, if they just would have bothered to acknowledge and give some sort of recognition to what we were doing, I would have thought that just fine. Yes, I do know about the bystander effect and I think part of their reaction could be attributed to that phenomenon. Though, once again, I do no think this is an excuse. I believe that people, especially professors, should be conscious of such things and try to have a more positive reaction when a group of students ask for their ear or their support. If they hated our group (B.U.S.T. and Invisible Children) then that is just fine. My point is that they showed utter indifference. I also think that the meddling America argument does not apply here. We are part of an organization that is separate from the the government and very well could have originated in any country around the world that is dedicated to social justice. A relatively small group of people trying to affect positive change, in this case trying to stop the kidnapping and brainwashing of young children with the intent of making them ruthless prepubescent killing machines, could hardly be construed as "the big guy" meddling in the affairs of the world. Thursday, November 12, 2009 @ 7:04 pm
Vince, the group asked them a minimum of 3 times they obviously did not want to sign. Maybe they have a reason, maybe not but the fact of the matter is their wishes became clear after at minimum the second request yet you continued to bother them. They obviously did not want to sign and you should respect that, instead you chose to bother them several times and then write a blog post condemning them. The cause may be worthwhile but your actions are painting it in a negative light. I think all parties in this matter should remember the line form the alma mater; "May no act of our's bring shame, to one heart that love thy name, dear old state". That goes doubly for whoever thought this neon green eye burning text was a good idea Thursday, November 12, 2009 @ 9:11 pm
I agree with Kirk. Though I admire and commend your passion for what you feel is right, there is also a negative connotation found in over persistence. Be careful.
Thursday, November 12, 2009 @ 9:45 pm
Kirk, I really do appreciate your opinion. Perhaps I should not have tied this to my specific cause and instead commented on this issue from a more general perspective. The point that I am trying to make transcends a specific cause. I have seen this on several occasions from different causal perspectives being that I am in a couple of organizations. I see professors who are supposed to embody the ideals of our university exhibit the same flippant conduct and treat students in an offhand matter like they can't be bothered. I am not trying to campaign for my own cause, I am trying to say that the professors are here to support us and at least listen to what we have to say, even if they don't agree. Ignoring us and walking by with an air of indifference and disgust is completely uncalled for and sets an extremely bad example for other students. If I did the same thing to a professor, I highly doubt he or she would like it very much. Where is the mutual respect? Where is the comradery?
Thursday, November 12, 2009 @ 9:47 pm
Joe, I just noticed your comment. Thank you so much for your support. I am trying every suggestion of yours and more. Thursday, November 12, 2009 @ 10:11 pm
Last time I heard, the role of the professor is to guide and serve as vessel through which students can learn. May I remind that professors are not mere teachers who have specific times in which it is appropriate to contact them at rigidly specific hours with concerns, they are a group of people that often times hand out their home phone numbers so that you can contact them if you need academic help, because they are here for US. Their role is not that of a disciplinarian who needs demand respect from their pupils(as in a high school setting) but someone who is alongside the student on level of respect because they are both adults. They should not demand to be left alone while on campus because they are socializing with colleagues- as far as I'm concerned, on-campus hours should be a time when professors should invite students to interact with them. To reject students' concerns because they are gabbing at lunch is to go against what the role of the professor is- the questions of students should come first. To disagree with the cause is fine, but to ignore the students is not. At least seize the chance to communicate with students and to provoke thought. If I wanted to interact with a TEACHER on a classroom-only basis, well then I never would have left high school. The college campus should be a community in which opportunities to provoke thought are present and the professors encourage such efforts. To ignore students because you "don't want to be bothered," well, go teach in a place where the idea is not to spend the entirety of your time there expanding the thought process of the student body. The professors are here for the students, and if you have no passion for interacting with students at every given opportunity then WHY in god's name are you a professor? Thought that was the point? Friday, November 13, 2009 @ 12:42 pm
Sir Mach, I actually agree with you on the importance of professors being a campus role model.On the other hand, it isn't our role as students to be telling our professors how they should act. We are students and in no way equal and deserving of their respect. That is not to say we are just a bunch of "good for nothings." As far as the professors at Port Sky, we shouldn't be overly eager to judge their character based on one incident. Nonetheless, I think we should continue to monitor how are professors act and not let an incident like this go by unnoticed. We are Penn State.
Friday, November 13, 2009 @ 4:12 pm
Willy Po: We are students yes, but we are quite deserving of professors' respect. They are here for US as our equals to stimulate an environment of higher learning. Where did this idea come from that we are undeserving of our prof's respect? I give everyone of my professors every ounce of respect, and if I disagree with them we have a discussion about it. College is not a one way learning experience!!! And I completely agree, we need to keep tabs on this issue. Friday, November 13, 2009 @ 9:48 pm
Sir Mach, Yeah let me explain my comment on "undeserving of their respect." I am basing it on the fact professors have more education than us students. BTW: I agree that higher education should be more than just one sided. Anyway, I think it is pretentious to say that we are equal to them academically. I mean they have PhD's and other higher degrees of the same caliber. As far as equality goes, I am not positing that we are not equal in the sense of humans but rather unequal in experience, wisdom, and knowledge. Of course, that is not to say that their are not exceptions to this. Thanks for responding. I appreciate your follow up. Saturday, November 14, 2009 @ 7:52 am
Personally, I think we are all overlooking the strategic importance of child soldiers.
Saturday, November 14, 2009 @ 10:26 am
Melvin, I do not think you are funny at all. Not one bit. Sunday, November 15, 2009 @ 8:02 pm
hehheh.......no dude. Monday, November 16, 2009 @ 9:33 pm
WOW, just wow, so many things wrong with this... shall we begin? 1.) some people just get offended WAY to easily, you my friend, are one of them. 2.) let me quote here, "asking people to sign a petition to end the horrible practice of abducting children from their villages, brainwashing them, and then using them, often against their own families, as soldiers" petition.... really? you are going to petition to stop heinous war crimes being committed in another country? Because I am sure if I was a heartless child abducting war monger that would definitely stop me... I can just imagine the situation "well small African child, i was going to abduct and brain wash you, but apparently there is a petition against that now soooo.... have a nice day" 3.) just because you have a "cause" doesn't mean everyone on campus is required to agree with it. for some reason you seem to believe this, and were unwilling to accept that someone would have an opinion other than yours (this is dictionary defined as intolerance) even after three attempts. I could decide to start a petition to promote communism, this would be a "cause" I could wholly believe in it being a good thing for the world (I don't, death is a preferable alternative to communism!!) but just because i have a cause and believe in it doesn't mean you would sign it no matter how many times I asked you. 4.) If you truly wish to make the world a better place be more optimistic towards the character of people. You make it seem in your blog that these professors hate babies kick puppies and traffic with communists and left you standing in port sky as they walked out with a maniacal cackle thinking about all of the oppressed children in Africa . c'mon, are you really so close minded as to think that they might have some reason as to why they did not wish to sign your petition? did you try asking them? I'm sure they would have answered, and I'm sure it wasn't simply to make your life miserable. 5.) Finally, I just wanted to say that it isn't a bad thing to have a "cause" and believe in it, I am not a cold hearted or evil person, what your doing is commendable, but very misguided. It is good that you are doing something to help the world to be better (which is something I believe we should all do). However, next time you decide to do such a thing, perhaps use your brain a bit more, and come up with something helpful rather than jumping on a "cause bandwagon." If you do happen to find a way to REALLY help fight against African kidnappings I will most likely be the first to volunteer, but until then, go about doing what you think is right, take heart, don't expect an award, and stop whining about it, if the world was easy to improve, it would have been made perfect long ago. Monday, November 16, 2009 @ 9:35 pm
sorry about the formatting there, html editing fails quite miserably on most PSU apps, if it is any consolation, it looked very pretty when i posted it... Thursday, November 19, 2009 @ 1:48 pm
I find myself in agreement with Mr. Pierce. What can Obama do to help, shake a finger?
Thursday, November 19, 2009 @ 4:11 pm
Hawkeye, if you had bothered to read any of the comments that were posted subsequently you would have read that I was not so much referring to the specific cause as much as I was referring to the way the professors acted in general. Not only the way they acted in this instance, but the way I have seen some professors behave towards various student groups all over campus. So since you seemed to have missed my point, let me reiterate: I am NOT angry that the professors disagreed with my cause. If they would have taken one second to stop and ask a question or tell us that they weren't interested for X reason, then that would be just fine. I still would not be pleased because I think this is an important cause, but I would not have bothered writing a blog about it because I can accept when people disagree with me; it happens every day and I certainly don't go "whining" on my blog every time it happens. I am persisting on this issue because I believe the professors should show more respect to people who go out of their way to try and improve their surroundings. To answer your question, YES I tried to start a dialogue with them and they all ignored us completely. I don't want them to praise us, I don't want them to bow down and worship us, I just am asking for the same respect they would want if they were asking me to sign a petition. To comment on your ridiculous remarks toward our actual cause, let me begin by saying that perhaps you should check your facts before you start criticizing someone's efforts. Yes, petitions to end war crimes. Yes a petition for a Citizen's Arrest Warrant for Joseph Kony. Yes a petition to ask the president to take a closer look at the issue. What is so terribly far-fetched about those goals? What exactly is so laughable? For organizations such as Invisible Children (the organization that we were partnered with for this effort) petitions are often some of the most effective means of, at the very least, getting people in high places to look at these issues and think about them! Did you bother to ask exactly what the petitions would do to achieve these goals? Last but not least... Did I ask for an award in my blog? NO! Did I ask for anyone to support my cause in my blog? NO! If you would have bothered to READ it and the COMMENTS after it you would have seen quite clearly what I was trying to convey. You brought up the issue of the petition, not I. Instead of seeing that my goal in writing this was to raise awareness about professor's civic engagement, you tried to color me as a whiny, irrational kid who threw a fit because a few people didn't sign a petition; a petition that YOU tried to color as a worthless, frivolous effort that could not possibly make a difference in the world. Next time, instead of trying to twist my words, you should ask a few intelligent questions, use your brain a bit more, and perhaps research a cause before you start lambasting it. Thursday, November 19, 2009 @ 5:08 pm
All I can do in the end sometimes is laugh. It really seems pretty clear to me that the blog is about the lack of professors practicing what they preach- that students should care about the world around them and attempt to change this world, and quite clearly not giving students the time of day by acknowledging them or asking them what their cause is is quite contrary to that image. Somehow, I suppose becoming annoyed over apathetic professors equates to calling them communists who kick babies, which is really the irrational stupidity that is more than laughable in this conversation, not to mention along the lines of the same phenomenon that equally pollutes the political conversation on the national level. How one could see a direct connection between those two ideas, of annoyance with apathetic professors and calling them evil communists, I'm sure I don't know, because to call the ideas even remotely similar sounds pretty outrageous at best to me. It's the same moronic drivel that hampers progress in politics- the cable clowns and fear-mongering idiots who try to cattle-prod everyone into neat categories in an attempt to distort reality use the same tactics. As a sidenote, what communism and your opinion of it had to do with this is also a question without an answer, but it definitely had nothing to do with this discussion- it's polarizing crap. Let's step up the discussion a little, shall we? |
Thursday, November 12, 2009 @ 1:50 pm
Posted by Gor-gor
Perhaps those professors were busy, so even if they had any desire to care about your groups’ cause they could not lend time due to other important matters. And as for your fellow group member who was totally snubbed off by a professor, maybe they just do not like to be bothered while eating or ordering their meal. There are some people who get terribly irritated when their peaceful, relaxing, and social expressing mealtime is interrupted. You also have to take into consideration the whole “band-wagon” theory; if the majority of professors show no interest then the other professors who do have interest will lack the balls the express in front the majority their true opinions. It is just like trends and such for our generation, I speak to everybody when I say do not think that when we grow older we are able to stand up for our intentions. I take off my hat to the professor who did sign if this was the case. And lastly, they could have just felt utter hatred toward your group. After all why do we insist on getting involved in other countries affairs while our own country is subtly riddled with problems of its own? One could argue that this is why majority of the world has a grudge against us. Whether we are helping, manipulating, or endorsing another less fortunate country the people of that country and other observing countries are not always pleased with intervention by the “big guy”.