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• Wednesday, February 20, 2008 01:05 AM

  @SkylarDexter

  When I (that Ph.D. gal) referred to the amazing people we know we are, I was talking about all Americans. What is sad is that because of the entrenched mentality of accepting politics as usual--because to do otherwise is to lose the game--the amazing quality is not seen or even celebrated. The GAME is messed up.

  I don't post here on Salon, not on the political section, because Salon is so biased towards Clinton, it is ridiculous. And the enmity between the Clinton and Obama factions is pathetic.

  I do object to me and my hard working and genuinely devoted generation of students being denigrated and caricaturized into fawning and empty-headed idealists. It is extremely disrespectful. And depressing as hell.

  I teach all day and grade into the night and work with students 40-60 hours a week for a dismal pay. I do it not because of any other reason than the fact that I have FAITH and HOPE that these young kids will make this a better world. A five paragraph essay is just a five paragraph essay. What needs to be IN IT is what makes them think. We work hard to make something elusive, such as education, into something tangible.

  Sen. Obama comes from that tradition of thought.

  So I am disgusted when someone from Salon or NYT or the Clinton camp tells me or my students that we are peddling false hope. That is the most insulting thing I have ever heard. Any teacher knows that that hope is the only thing we ever really peddle when it comes to shaping our future (Business majors, you are excused from this conversation ^_^ ).

  Don't talk down to me if you don't want me to talk down to you. And DO NOT undermine the intelligence of those young voters. They can smell the pile of garbage we are leaving them to wade around in, and they are acting to clean it up.

  —Anonymous
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