Old People are out of date!

My co-worker was complaining about his professor being old. He argued that in no way can business students learn from old professors, especially because old professors sometimes do not use the 'new technology.'

As soon as they die, he stated, we are going to forget everything the old people wanted us to do. So they (the old people) should just forget about teaching us?

Although I agree (and most professors, I'm sure would too) that our technology is taking over businesses and it is important to learn it. I also think that old(er) professors can teach us a lot about interpersonal communication that we may miss out on when we are too busy on our iPads and smartphones.

Not only can these professors teach us about communication, but they can teach us about life.

America has long been about being the bigger country, having the best products and being overall the brightest. Which is not a bad thing! But by doing so, we forget individuality, erase languages, and create a tasteless white world for extraordinary beings to live in.

Ironically, that same day I was reading an article("Who is your mother? Red Roots of White Feminism") for my "women of color in the United States" class and I found this quote:

"The American idea that the best and the brightest should willingly reject and repudiate their origins leads to an allied idea-that history, like everything in the past, is of little value and should be forgotten as quickly as possible. This all too often cause us to reinvent the wheel continually. We find ourselves discovering our collective past over and over, having to retake ground already covered by women in the preceding decades and centuries."

Also ironically we talked about 'picking our battles' in that same class today. I have worked with this individual for over a year. Pointing out his argument flaws would have been a waste of time, he refuses to see it another way, he is set in his own ways and usually misunderstands the idea of a discussion. (Letting other people actually share their side of the story and hearing it.) I could have fought with him for hours stating the pros of working with a professor that is older, and that may or may not use online resources. I could have pointed out the papers this professor had written, the quality of the class and etc. etc. etc. But it would have gone no where.

Some people do not understand that just because they believe their process is the better way, and it very well could be, why it is important to learn all the other ways of doing it. Because even though you may never do it that way, or may do it that way until that person dies, it's not the process that is important, it is the skills you develop upon learning that process. For example, it shows that you are flexible especially with working with people who may be different from you. It also shows that you can learn other processes, because maybe, just maybe your process 10 years from now might be out of date.

Frankly, my professors, both old and young, deserve respect. They are teaching here because they have something for the students to learn. Just because you do not think you are going to use their lessons in the business world or the real world, does not mean you should not learn it. Life can surprise anyone of us and change drastically and suddenly, you have to use that process because your little sidekick phone decided to die on you.

I'm not saying do not challenge the professor, but do not go all out and say the professor is all and all an inadequate one because they will not do it your way, or they are not in your generation. That shows your ignorance and the fact that you really do have a lot to learn.