Henry Adams

4 Pages 1026 Words

Henry Adams believed that the mass majority of his students were “sluggish-minded boys” (301) that would take any information as fact solely because it came from a professor’s lecture. He describes that students are difficult to engage in discussion which coerced him to “devise schemes to find what they were thinking about” (302). He also portrays students as too “agreeable” to professors’ suggestions. Adams’ perceived his students as sheep-like individuals or people who would just go with the flow. They never really made any effort to question or engage their professors in conversation about claims. In Adams’ opinion “the only privilege a student had that was worth his claiming, was that of talking to the professor”. He believes that students should take advantage of opportunities to actually talk to the professor to further benefit their understandings of material.
I agree with Adams’ assessment of his students mainly because students have not changed much since then. The majority of students are still going to school not for the sake of learning, but for that “A” on an exam. Most students still go to class just for the information so they can do well on the test or paper, get their college degree, and make lots of money. Very few go to class to exchange ideas with their professor or feel inclined to investigate certain material. From personal experience, I believe students are still sluggish or sheep-like, too dependent on their professors, and are pursuing a higher education for the wrong reasons.
Adams stated that “nine minds in ten take polish passively, like a hard surface; only the tenth sensibly reacts” (302). Most students are pretty much “mindless”, just looking toward the professor for the answers. The nine minds that take polish passively, like a hard surface, are just going with the flow to get by. In their minds, whatever the professor acknowledges is true, and there is...