The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why it Matters

by Thomas M. Nichols

For many years, Father James Schall at Georgetown University would shock his political philosophy students at the very first class meeting by handing out an essay he’d written called “What a Student Owes His Teacher.” Here’s a sample: Students have obligations to teachers. I know this sounds like strange doctrine, but let it stand. The first obligation, particularly operative during the first weeks of a new semester, is a moderately good will toward the teacher, a trust, a confidence that is willing to admit to oneself that the teacher has probably been through the matter, and, unlike the student, knows where it all leads. I do not want here to neglect the dangers of the ideological professor, of course, the one who imposes his mind on what is. But to be a student requires a certain modicum of humility. Thus, the student owes the teacher trust, docility, effort, thinking.12 Schall made that essay required reading for many years before retiring. One can only imagine the howls of outrage it would provoke now on most campuses to tell students they need to work harder, have more perspective about their own talents, and trust their teachers. Many faculty members today might agree with Schall, but they cannot risk aggravating the students, because, as everyone in any service industry knows, the customer is always right.