Unfortunately, like many who lack an understanding of the scholarly process, Professor Mirabello has not demonstrated that “ancient lore, myths and legends” are knowledge. If the Professor had done some research he might know that the claims of psychics, ghost hunters, telekinetics, and countless others, have all been examined numerous times for over one hundred and fifty years with no winners. Apparently, ghosts are afraid of laboratories, and close scrutiny disturbs the music of the spheres.
More to the point, my argument was concern for the education of youth, who look up to teachers for guidance in the world. When someone who has acquired a doctorate, been given a position of authority over the young, and sniff at science as “dogmatic”, I cringe for the future of this country, for such an individual knows nothing of their profession. The scientific and scholarly methods are the very bedrock of education, we cast them aside at our peril, opening our doors to any superstition that may haunt the mind.
It is due to the likes of those like “Professor” Mirabello that I deferred my college career, excepting the conclusion that academia was a haven of relativism, and why America still retains an attitude of anti-intellectualism that stands to turn us into an illiterate backwater among nations.
It is apt that the Professor takes Shakespeare as an authority in the same breath as he mentions dogmatism, for in the Bard's day they still burned people at the stake for a dissenting belief. I merely would request that the Professor attempt to prove before asking those he guides to believe. The people of Germany in 1933 believed much too much without proof, and the world is still hurting for a belief.
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