When I seen the post and especially with professor Wade at the helm.. first thought was this.
300 level social psych class we were posed this question.. and had to pick the question apart, decide upon a stance and defend it.
"If someone with multiple personalities threatens to kill himself, is it considered intimidation or criminal threatening?"
The question itself in reality to me, is not answerable with any definite conclusion.. but it was interesting to see the avenues of interpretation, justification and broad ranges of collective thoughts on the subject.
So to tie to the last couple of posts in the thread.. my opinion is that being a "teacher" probably could be one of the most rewarding jobs on the planet in theory.. or may have been at one time.
But the overwhelming majority of the teachers today aren't what I would define as a teacher.. they are a laborer putting in their time, ticking off the required check marks of the curriculum and waiting for the summer months to roll around.
It is that stigma that has found its way to attach itself to the dying breed of quality teachers left within the systems.. and slowly some of those are being turned into the time clock punchers.
That to me is why teachers don't hold the respect they once did.. like much of society it is being overrun by those just in it for a paycheck with as little effort as possible.
I was rarely challenged mentally in college.. instead it was a never ending string of remedial tasks that required effort and time, but rarely inspired learning, creative thought and anything more than a masked requirement for the professor to collect a paycheck without actually engaging the students.
Sad when one can look back at 4 plus years, thousands of dollars and only vividly remember a simple assignment or question as listed above. At least the psych classes dove into that world of thought and make you really think about the questions.. not just walking through the class like a mental zombie with just one urge to complete meaningless and thoughtless busy work.
Flip the script and place yourself in the professors shoes once the truly want to "teach".. how boring and uninspiring must it be to be held in charge of students that have become these mental zombies through learned behavior and try an get them to engage.. no wonder they turn into the clock punchers.
"The oranges are dry; the apples are mealy; and the papayas... I don't know what's going on with the papayas!"