I'm writing in response to Greg Gilbertson's May 25 letter to The Chronicle indicting the quality of education and professionalism of faculty at Centralia College.
As a professor of English at Centralia College, an instructor of courses that focus on critical thinking and empowering student voices, I want to apologize to Gilbertson’s students. Especially those marginalized and underserved students who felt silenced, unheard and unseen in his courses at our small, liberal arts college where we work to foster dialogue and knowledge and understanding through myriad modes and mediums.
The fallacies in Gilbertson’s writing — as most of my composition students could tell you — are clear: anecdotal evidence as well as contextual blank spaces. Context is important. Take, for instance, a course outline for one of Gilbertson's former classes. It covers topics like pedophilia and sex abuse — imagine the possibilities for course content! But wait. With context, those topics might make more sense, seem different. Gilbertson seems unconcerned with context. The bodies of straw men litter his letter to the editor.
I think most people see through that veneer if they really want to. Or, if you’re saying to yourself right now, "How am I supposed to know that? Guess I'll take your word for it," you could always learn how to see through and understand weak (or strong) arguments by taking a class from any of the talented professors in the English department. We specialize in analyzing rhetoric and crafting effective and affective arguments.
The more concerning issue to me is that Gilbertson was inflicting what seems like such a myopic worldview on a population of students who are often already marginalized and underserved — queer students, trans students, first generation students, students of color, disabled students and veterans (a group near and dear to me as a first-generation Marine Corps infantry combat veteran).
As professors, we all tend to bring our baggage to the classroom. The best professors realize and recognize it. They talk about it. The worst use it as a divining rod to point to everything different than them and treat those differences as threats, work to create clones of themselves and their way of thinking.
Further, based on my own anecdotal evidence and his casual casting aside of various viewpoints in his letter, I could draw conclusions about his abilities and effectiveness as a professor of criminal justice. However, to make those kinds of conclusions I would need — more context.
I do agree with Gilbertson on one point: if you know a student at the college, talk to them about what they’re learning. In fact, I urge you to come and take some classes. The college is yours. We want you there. We want to open a dialogue. We want you to explore your interests. We want you to flex your voice. We want to engage ideas other than our own and encourage others to do the same. We don't want to tell you how to think. We aren’t threatened or scared of difference. Come and find out for yourself indeed.
Matt Young
Tumwater
