i'm torn.
i've been reading an industry-specific forum recently, and noticed a professor that taught for a semester of my 2nd year at college is a regular poster. this guy was brought in to fill-in, as our usual professor was off to complete his dissertation, and wasn't necessarily a long-standing member of the staff.
in one thread [which was originally about the stewart centre fire here in kelowna. huh.] the members start a dialogue about rookie graduates working in industry, and good ol' prof chimes in... appallingly.
in a series of long posts, he summarizes his experience working at BCIT and a couple of schools out east through the 70s/80s to recently, with heavy emphasis on things "nowadays". i was a second-year student in 2008, so i surmise the majority of his reference was directed towards his time in vancouver, given the inferences in his little diatribe.
it was insulting, to say the least. apparently his experience was that the students were all uncooperative & egotistical- expecting a middays gig in vancouver upon completion of the program, approaching each project with little to no effort, and injecting the typical youth apathy & over-inflated self-awareness into all aspects of the learning process.
not exactly the impression i got when i ACTUALLY WENT TO SCHOOL WITH THESE PEOPLE.
unfortunately [fortunately?] i didn't get the opportunity to learn under the tutelage of this charmer, as i co-oped out of the program in 4th term [for a job in north alberta. HORRORS! it's not vancouver!!], and dealt with him mainly through handing in a documentary for assignment, which i recall getting an abysmal mark on. no worries. given that i was one of the only two people who were able to co-op out, and i produced it all remotely, with no assistance, while doing my other schoolwork through correspondence on top of my industry job & a second, supplementary-income job, i'll take it. i've somehow ended up with a nice position at one of the big companies in kelowna so apparently it all turned out ok :)
i'm insulted though that rather than concentrating effort into doing his job as an instructor & ensuring a positive learning outcome for each and every student, he instead took a position of superiority and saw my classmates and subsequent classes as basically a group of lazy no-goods. i'm also disgusted by the fact that he felt it fit to post negative generalizations about the students he was put in a position to mentor on a message board that's frequented by people with great insight into the industry.
this is where i'm torn. i want to reply to this. it's unfair that someone in his position is allowed to post this kind of rubbish without being held to task. i have a membership to the board and a carefully worded letter, but i'm worried that posting it would be the patented Career Limited Move. It's not like I'm calling him a raging butthole or anything, but I want to ensure that my position on the experience is noted as well as his. I feel he should be held in check given the fact he was hired as an instructor, not an internet critic. But would showing up my teacher on the forum be a good move?
I just don't want the industry elders to think the new generation of graduates are a bunch of entitled lazybones -who feel a major-market job better be waiting for them as soon as they receive the diploma- based on this man's lengthy and poorly punctuated "observations". however, they are already nodding in agreement, and thanking him for his insight. ARGH!!
i've included my letter below the jump, which i haven't sent off to forum-land just yet...
