> The mission of encouraging social activism conflicts with that.
It does not. The entire essay depends on this assertion but it is never defended.
> The social activist implicitly says, “I know enough already. Let me fix society.”
A less hostile way of presenting this impulse is to frame it as "my understanding has grown, let me apply it."
A sense of and desire for justice emerges from learning about the world, and attempting to make changes with that is also a form of learning. Compromise and failure are teachers as well. The author does nothing to demonstrate that this separation of domains of "learning (concrete, real, valuable)" and "activism (social, self-righteous, frivolous)" is real or useful, he merely assumes we will agree with him on this.
Teachers are not simply a delivery mechanism for information and technique. They are mentors, critics, colleagues, and role models as well. I don't know anything about this author, but I don't have a lot of respect for such a rigidly conservative (in the non-political sense) view of learning that would diminish their role so much.
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[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 16.8 ms ] threadIt does not. The entire essay depends on this assertion but it is never defended.
> The social activist implicitly says, “I know enough already. Let me fix society.”
A less hostile way of presenting this impulse is to frame it as "my understanding has grown, let me apply it."
A sense of and desire for justice emerges from learning about the world, and attempting to make changes with that is also a form of learning. Compromise and failure are teachers as well. The author does nothing to demonstrate that this separation of domains of "learning (concrete, real, valuable)" and "activism (social, self-righteous, frivolous)" is real or useful, he merely assumes we will agree with him on this.
Teachers are not simply a delivery mechanism for information and technique. They are mentors, critics, colleagues, and role models as well. I don't know anything about this author, but I don't have a lot of respect for such a rigidly conservative (in the non-political sense) view of learning that would diminish their role so much.