The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and American Values

Johnny, your professor here is a great fan of Washington Irving, the early American writer. I lived in the Hudson River Valley a few blocks from his home, literally. I love the Hudson River Valley and its folklore, on which Irving drew. His Legend of Sleepy Hollow applies to your observation about how Americans view educators. In the story, Irving portrays the teacher, Ichabod Crane, as an effete, useless, odd-ball. He does not fit into the rough-and-tumble world of the local her Brom Bones, who leads the local lads in raising hell. You know the rest of the story. From the start of this country, Americans overall have viewed educators as people who have no practical use, hence the saying, those who can do, and those cannot do teach. Nothing has changed - even with the emergence of the Knowledge Economy.