Pedagogy and the UCLA Tragedy

Published by

Clarissa

June 2, 2016

Of course, there is no excuse for the murder Mainak Sarkar committed on the UCLA campus. This was a horrible crime.

I wish, though, that all college professors got at least the most basic training in pedagogy. We are laboring under the erroneous belief that a good specialist in a discipline will make a good teacher. That’s completely wrong, however. There are crowds of brilliant scholars who drive their students to mental breakdowns because they are ignorant about pedagogy and clumsy in human relations.

Obviously, you can only drive to a mental breakdown somebody who is already a very traumatized person. Still, when we are talking about graduate students especially, the combination of their age with the power a professor has to ruin their lives, makes it likely that a professor who has no understanding of pedagogy and has shitty people skills (i.e. 90% of scholar professors) might push an unstable person over the edge.

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13 responses to “Pedagogy and the UCLA Tragedy”

Stringer Bell

June 2, 2016

This is getting sadder and creeper.

http://gawker.com/police-say-ucla-shooter-mainak-sarkar-also-killed-woman-1780100516

BREAKING: LA police chief: Woman on `kill list' in UCLA shooter's home found dead in Minnesota.

— The Associated Press (@AP) June 2, 2016

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1. Clarissa
  
  June 2, 2016
  
  Just when I thought, “Thank God, he didn’t kill the girlfriend, too!” Now it turns out he did kill her after all. :-((((((((((((((((((((((
  
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Annie

June 2, 2016

It’s Ashley Hasty, right? The female victim?

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1. Clarissa
  
  June 2, 2016
  
  Most likely. :-((((
  
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Evelina Anville

June 2, 2016

I completely agree that university faculty need pedagogical training. But I’m not sure that we can assume the murder indicates that the victim was a bad teacher. He might have been a fantastic teacher for all we know. And it seems clear that the murderer had issues with people beyond his institution………….A very sad story. I’m so sick of shootings happening on school and university campuses. Makes me sick.

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1. Clarissa
  
  June 2, 2016
  
  I’m equally tired of people who immediately started the idiotic chant of, “If only everybody on campus were armed, this could have been prevented.” Idiots.
  
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  1. Evelina Anville
    
    June 2, 2016
    
    I agree. It’s so insane. In what world should university faculty, students, and staff walk around armed? A university isn’t and shouldn’t be Fallujah. I really don’t understand this mentality.
    
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David Gendron

June 2, 2016

Professors are not selected for their pedagogy skills.

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1. Clarissa
  
  June 2, 2016
  
  I know. That’s a huge problem, I believe. We often end up with professors who literally bully students and turn their lives into hell.
  
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Shakti

June 2, 2016

Still, when we are talking about graduate students especially, the combination of their age with the power a professor has to ruin their lives, makes it likely that a professor who has no understanding of pedagogy and has shitty people skills (i.e. 90% of scholar professors) might push an unstable person over the edge.

What does this have to do with age? This guy was about the same age as the professor and it’s not clear he was still a graduate student.

Generally though, I know a lot of people who just rack up degrees because it’s either that or get an H1-B visa to stay in the country. (Like the guy I mentioned yesterday.) If it comes out that confrontation was in any way linked to that, he must have been displaying severe mental problems because the guy’s academic pedigree was stellar and employers have a huge selection bias towards pedigree.

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1. Clarissa
  
  June 2, 2016
  
  Untreated psychological problems get more difficult to carry with age. A student in his 30ies who is bullied by a professor might react a lot worse than the same person would react when he was 25.
  
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  1. Evelina Anville
    
    June 2, 2016
    
    Is there any reason that you are assuming this murdered professor was a bully? Isn’t it possible that this was just an unhinged student?
    
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    1. Clarissa
      
      June 2, 2016
      
      Oh, of course, I have no idea what happened. This is my own sensitive issue that I’m projecting onto others.
      
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