It is easy to see why we in Canada and the USA are in such a predicament after one visit to a Macro class.
My statist prof whose claim to fame is working for the government, ranted an entire class about the causes of the financial “crisis” but neglected once to mention WHY interest were too low and who did it.
Instead lack of regulation caused all these companies to make bad loans which were then sold onto unsuspecting/ignorant investors, and all of this could have been prevented by a few bureacrats.
Not only that, but the reason Canada did not see this mess is because we have “better” regulations (no mention that interest rates here were substantially higher than the USA and lack of Fannie Mae, etc).
Well I have to go study about “liquidity traps” and aggregate supply now [^o)]
Want to hear something that may suprise you? Your teacher is far more knowledgable than you are.
Learn your place as student or don’t bother studying it, even if you disagree with what the professor is saying, it doesn’t mean you won’t learn from it.
I feel your pain and unfortunately the USA is doing so as well. But look on the bright side. You will probably have future employment trying to solve this mess.
Giles is right. Use the situation to your advantage. Either that, or drop out. Because if you resist understanding the position of your teachers as well as possible, you’re cheating yourself and wasting time/money.
I know where you are coming from and what you are trying to say. But, you come off as way too harsh and don’t make the impression you should be making. The best advice is to say “It’s very important to learn, even when you disagree, the best strategy is to ‘know your enemy’” (which is simmilar to the position Walter Block takes on studying Keynes).
I, myself, am a student majoring in economics. I have taken semester after semester of courses, some good and some bad, and, yes, there were plenty of teachers I was far more knowledgeable than. I go to classes in the respect of a student, but treat my professors as intelectual equals. This means I can learn and study their ideas and the course material, but in the end I am the diciding force on what to believe… acting on that knowledge is the only way to learn.
I fear that I will be facing the same problem when the next semester begins for me. I’m taking a marco course and a money/banking course and I’m wondering how I’m going to prevent my blood from boiling especially if I have some clowns like the on you describe.
Don’t listen to these people saying to drop out if you disagree… I say this primarily because education is extensively used as a barrier to entry in the jobs you may most perfer. You might have to deal with the BS, but the piece of paper saying you graduated is extremely important, even if you didn’t learn a damn thing.
Nothing in his comments suggested he is resisting understanding the position of his professor. It sounds like he understands it just fine and disagrees with it. As he should, since his professor is wrong.
You know, there’s a good reason these people are professors. Chances are they’ve done a great deal of studying on economics, even if it’s fallacious. That doesn’t mean you can’t learn from them.
That too is an unreasonable leap. What you see as arrogance is actually frustration over the shilling for slavery and economic destruction. Please stop confusing the two.