Hacker News Reader

Students shouldn’t have any say in shaping institutions they attend to gain knowledge. They are not smarter than their professors. Or if they disagree, they should attend another university and vite with their wallet/loan/whatever.

View on HN

Taken to that extreme, the only way to resolve issues with an university that "the university" (which seldom is a blob with one opinion) doesn't recognize itself would be by economic destruction of said university. That's horrendously inefficient when you have tools of diplomacy available. (Similar to how we do not resolve issues with governments by revolution, unless absolutely necessary)

Also, there are clear legal limits to that approach.

This post is poisonous to knowledge. I've politely corrected professors who I respect on multiple occasions. Just because you are informed about a particular subject does not mean that you are never wrong about that subject. I've noticed that STEM professors tend to be more willing to accept that they are wrong about something than in the humanities which I suspect is because it is much easier to prove that someone is incorrect about something in STEM.

I think students should definitely be able to offer polite feedback to their professors, like you describe. However, students definitely shouldn't be in a position to dictate the curriculum, which I think is more what the grandparent was talking about.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com