Professors Who Don't Read The Books

Three university professors I have taken classes with (thankfully none of them in my current degree program) informed the class that Sigmund Freud had only one patient and based all of his work on just that one patient.

I really wish the professors would read the books before they try to tell us what is in them. Freud had more than one patient. Here is a quote from one of Freud's books I have read: "On my return from my holidays my thoughts immediately turned to the patients who were to claim my attention in the year's work that was just beginning." p. 256 of Psychopathology of Everyday Life. Wait! Is this a misprint? "Patients"? Plural? No, I am afraid it is not a misprint.

I don't think I want to know why three professors from three different universities have made that same mistake. What I do have to question is why I continue to patronize these people with my time when so many of them speak so ignorantly. Here are my reasons:

1. When I have a PhD nobody will tell me I have to go back to school (except that my degree is in Education, so they will tell me to go to school)

2. When I have a PhD then I can say that liberal arts professorships are obsolete without anyone being able to argue that I am only saying it because I was not capable of earning a PhD

3. When I have a PhD in Education, then I can unschool my children with far less interference from the people on the local schoolboard, and I can help others unschool or homeschool their children

4. When I have a PhD then I can read whatever I want and call it work and maybe even get paid for discussing it with people

5. When I have a PhD then people who have no internal way of discriminating smart from stupid will automatically assume I am smart

6. I have lots of school loans and right now the only thing surer than death and taxes is inflation--might as well pay them back later when the $s are easier to come by because they are worthless... er... a... worth less... than they are now

So, hey, if they don't want to read the books, then that's their problem. Besides, I haven't had to deal with any of that this year in my classes, so let's keep our fingers crossed.