Dear Forum,

I wrote the letter below to Camy, but just before sending, I checked 
into the Forum yet again.
And there was Barry Crimmins' resignation from the Forum. Please, this 
all is getting out of
hand. Crucial to the value of discourse, examination, self-reflection, 
and any other aspect of
learning is to have all the ideas and points of view possible. If 
academics are rude in their
assertion of being an academic, then tell them. They need therapy just 
as much as the rest of
us. Don't leave the room; speak to them. If people leave out of 
academic insecurity, there may
be very few people left, especially among the "academics".

Kit

--------------------------

Academics, flawed like the rest of the world -

Dear Camy,

The academic world is often brain heavy and humane light.

I grew up in an academic community. Father on faculty, etc. As a single 
example of how off-base
the academic world can be, of the 100 member faculty, 10% that I have 
been able to track, was
clinically alcoholic. There likely were more of whom I was not aware. 
This is roughly 4% above
the national average. This is not an uncommon statistic of boys schools 
in the pre-1970 years.
And the point being that putting children in the care of alcoholics is 
contradictory to the word "care".
Teachers of all people should be 100% there in behavior and 
role-modeling. That is their job. At
this school, the job was failed.

Another take on academics - when I was 22 and realized it was the 
educated ones that started and
maintained wars, I took a new position on the academic world. My 
classmates were executing Viet
Nam, and my alumni were running Viet Nam.

Please do not violate the principles of freedom yourself by acceding to 
one person's unkindness.
Leaving something has less chance of changing the world than staying in 
something and maintaining
one's position. I know there are exceptions to this. Some places are 
better to leave, but I do not think the
Forum is one of those places. Acknowledgment that your feelings were 
unjustly and crudely hurt would
hopefully be enough to encourage you to stay within the fight and not 
exit. In working against Ignorance
of the Academics, your presence could do more than your absence. If you 
leave, and others leave for
the same reason, whose voice will there be against Ignorance of the 
Academics?

Sincerely,

Kit

Kit Barry
The Ephemera Archive for American Studies
Brattleboro, Vermont
802: 254-3634