Boston University professor: White Males a "problem population"

[DemPGH]

Okay. This is why I never took sociology or women's studies, etc. I took psychology for "social sciences." Essentially, I wanted to avoid people like this, that's the truth. Liberal straight white guy wearing aviator sunglasses and a Yankees cap and interested in Medieval History, I did not want to deal with people like this, and certain fields of study had this reputation back then. Maybe worse then. There were these angry, bitter people around, but also a lot of '60s era burnouts who were still hanging on (and I guess that went for other fields as well).

Basically, there are ways to have these discussions that don't alienate people. She sounds like she's just grinding an ax. I understand that there are people who do that, though, but it's not my cup of tea.

African American woman in the top 5% of income earners

Assistant profs are in the top 5%? LOL.

Fewer and fewer men are pursuing liberal arts degrees, or college generally. Things like this make me wonder if there isn't a concerted effort among some in academia to make sure this trend continues.

The arts can be very unwelcoming, yeah - certain people seem to delight in making it that way, but I'm also sure that there is probably a level of pragmatism at play here too. These men can go become welders and make more money.

[DemPGH]

The thing is, I'm not sure what kind of knowledge is being produced here. White [religious] culture dominated Black culture? We do that in History, a lot of it. Read Achebe.

Now, regardless of what one thinks of the humanities, knowledge is still produced. The best example I can think of are the archaeologists who go out into the field and find things that directly contribute to what we know about the past and present. Or the person who finds some long lost document. But it just sounds to me like this woman is using the line inquiry she has chosen to do little more than expound on her own bitterness.

Now, what direction the humanities should take in the future in order to remain "relevant" might be a different topic of conversation, but incorporating business skills, technological proficiency, and so on would be a very good idea so that whatever primary skills a person develops would more readily fit into the corporate world. Again, this professor's line of inquiry just seems out of place.