'White trash' Texas town written off by a professor

Daily Telegraph ^ | February 22, 2004 | Julian Coman in Washington

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

I am prepared to defend to the death the proposition that this area of Texas generally is the proud home of some of the dumbest clods on the planet."

I hate to agree with the Perfesser, but I could name one or them.

File under, "Never argue with a fool, people wouldn't be able to tell the difference."

[jaime1959]

>I bet this guy is a liberal democrat.<

Yeah, liberal Dems often write in small Libertarian publications.

[jaime1959]

>I bet this guy is a liberal democrat.<

Yeah, liberal Dems often write in small Libertarian publications.

[cajungirl]

How I just love it when an arrogant pretender to intellectuality gets exposed on the Internet and the s@hit hits the fan. It just makes one's Sunday Morning so enjoyable!

[vaudine]

The grapes are sour in Alpine! This guy is plainly miffed that his superior intellect has not been recognized by the big name Ivies.
How awful to be stuck in a beautiful, mostly crime free environment with a 96,000 yr. income.

vaudine

[MountainYankee]

This guy is about as elite as a bowl of pork rind & hot sauce, God this attitude fires up my Irish...grrrr...

[freebilly]

"Here, one has poor white trash and poor Mexican trash socialising with each other," he wrote. "Here, the lowest common denominators get together to pro-create."

And he wonders why people have threatened him....

[VadeRetro]

Sechrest should just hire Triumph the Insult Dog and get out of the way.

[LibWhacker]

Outsource teaching!

[.cnI redruM]

I like and admire many things Libertarians stand for, but the level of condescension and acerbic contempt that they show for those with whom they disagree disgusts me.

>>>> "The secret problem is that the students at Sul Ross, and more generally the lounged residents of the entire area, are appallingly ignorant, irrational, anti-intellectual, and, well . . . just plain stupid,"

I've lived in both rural and urban area during my life. You will meet people from every background and from every walk of life who did not win the finest of mental material in God's genetic lottery.

If Sechrest thinks this is localized to West Texas, he needs to live in a lower class neighborhood of LA. He'd meet people who GAINED IQ points by smoking crack.

His letter is appalling and tasteless. If he had any class at all, he would apologize. I hope very much he does not suffer harm for his indiscretions. I have yet to meet a pompous ass yet, who deserved to be considered a victim or a martyr.

[Rockpile]

Below is presented the beginning of a Sechrest essay {follow link for remainder} from 1998 more fully expounding his viewpoints. Most people on this board will probably agree with them. With regards to the recent article though, well he's a fool to "shit where he sleeps". I suspect that imbibement of spirits sometimes accompanies his keyboard pounding as exemplified by the more recent screed.

============================================================

Trafficking with the Brain-Dead

http://www.freeradical.co.nz/content/33/33sechrest.html

Larry Sechrest

What follows is a depressing tale written by an angry man. If you are not in the mood, then read no further. First of all, I must tell you a little about myself. I promise to be brief. I am a tenured Associate-Professor of Economics at a small public "university" in the western part of Texas. In the name of common decency, it shall remain anonymous. I have been here for eight years, and previously I taught for five years at the University of Texas at Arlington, a much larger public university in the Dallas-Fort Worth area (it had 22,000 students when I was there). I have had one book on free banking published as well as more than twenty scholarly articles in various journals around the world. I am associated as a research scholar with two different private institutes and on the editorial board of a professional economics journal. Moreover, I have given about a dozen invited lectures or presentations around the United States as well as in England. Finally, I have received several commendations for my classroom teaching, including being included twice in Who's Who Among America's Teachers. I tell you all that, not to "dazzle you with my brilliance," but to add poignancy to the fact that, despite the modest successes I have had, I am so disgusted with academia that I am thinking of leaving this professorial life altogether. Based on conversations with a number of my fellow professors around the United States, I am certain that quite a few academics endure conditions of the same kind as I shall speak of; although some are fortunate enough to face problems of a smaller magnitude. Therefore, please do not think of this essay as merely one man's lament about his grievously disappointed expectations. Think of it, rather, as an insight into some of the ways in which colleges have failed to be true educational institutions, and, thus, why 1) many people with college degrees are no more than quasi-literate, and 2) some scholars who are also gifted teachers are looking for employment elsewhere. What is the single biggest problem I have encountered? The students. Not faculty members, administrators, bureaucrats, or politicians, but the students. The majority are stupid, ignorant, lazy, apathetic, and ill-mannered. Many skip classes on a regular basis, refuse to read the assigned materials, and fail to take notes in class. And even when they do read the textbook, their ability to comprehend even quite simple concepts is appallingly poor. There are a few who are bright and eager to learn Ã

[Rockpile]

BTW, for general info to y'all, in the past Alpine has made a list of "best places to live in America"--by whoever compiles such--they have a balloon festival and an annual street art show. If any of you baseball nuts happen to be in the region, you may wish to stop and look at the rock-walled Kokernot Field.

[armymarinemom]

Ohhhh Noooooo!!! Santa is a Commie!!

[rock58seg]

I thought he looked more like michael moore.

Truth to tell, my patients is whereing thin, from all these liberal teacher's and there ilk.

To pairafraze Mark Twain, "Its a poor man who knows only one way to spell a word."

[dr_who_2]

Planet Academia's ecosystem needs culling.

[Cold Heat]

"The article was a Mark Twain sort of thing. I can't believe there's such anger."

LOL! Sign my name to a brick!

[dr_who_2]

Anyone who has taken engineering or science courses at a university know that's already been tried.

[dr_who_2]

Sounds like this guy is having a personal crisis of some sort and his solution is to commit professional suicide. If he's as disgusted with his situtation and as talented as he thinks he is, he should quit his job and move on instead of imploding.

[rock58seg]

"Faster horses, younger women, older whiskey, more money."

[Servant of the 9]

This guy thinks Texans are dumb? I'll spin relativity and M-theory around this guy's oversized head while I run laps around his portly belly. If the intellectual-ellite is going to be arrogant about themselves, they might as well back it up with somthing.

I agree with you, but spending your time dealing with so called 'High School Graduates' who are functionally illiterate and innumerate could drive anyone crazy.
Most high school graduates today could not have gotten out of the 8th grade 40 years ago with their skills.
This is not a Texas thing, but a nation wide one. The Prof. is guilty of thinking things are greener in other pastures. They aren't.

So9