students on the list

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recently subscribed to this list. In the short period that I have read
discussions and arguements some things have become quite clear. These
aspects are also characteristics that I noticed at the last national meeting.
First of all, many of you disgrace the discipline of
anthropology by engaging in childish and pedant disccussions
which hold no value for anthropology, such as personal preference
regarding Windows 95 or someone's underwear.
Further, it seems that many of you have nothing relevant to say,
but none the less seek to have your egos stroked. This is clear on the
list and was also clear in Washington.
As a student of anthropology I am not only enthusiastic about my
studies, but work very hard to provide for myself an educational
foundation that will ensure that I give as much to anthropology as it has
given to me. After the meeting in Washington, I realized that
professionals in anthropology seem largely jaded and completely
unconcerned about the educations of those who would seek to become
anthropologists. I would think that as anthropologists, you would also
be enthusiastic about your profession and have a vested interest in
those who will eventually represent it. It is quite clear that I have
been both naive and foolish in these assumptions.
The complaints that have been made recently on the list that
bemoan the intellectual state of students as well as requests for
information are also disturbing. I have had to eduacte myself in many
respects, because a university education is handled as little more than a
continuation of high school by professors who are either inept or apathetic.
Very few of my professors have shown either integrity or ability in their
teaching. As far as requests for information are concerned, I agree that
you are not here to do someone else's work. However, requests for
guidance and information by those of us who are seeking to learn more
about anthropology or who seek to study difficult and obscure topics are
only limited and angered by your elitist and arrogant attitudes. These
attitudes would be much more acceptable if your discussions and
arguements gave them any legitimacy. They don't.
Finally, it is the aforementioned elitism and ego pandering that
threaten this discipline far more than fragmentation or ideological
disagreements.

Respectfully,
TD Rogers

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