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Okay, I can't bottle this up any more. Just because someone is a professor does not necessarily mean that they know anything about how higher education works, what the implications of COVID-19 are, whether/how higher ed should move to more online education, etc.
Now, if a professor has actually done work learn about one or more of those topics, great - weigh in. I have lots of colleagues who are a "Professor of Something-Besides-Higher-Ed" who have learned about/researched higher ed - their views are most welcome.
But let's remember: there are numerous professors of higher education who are indeed experts. They've, you know, actually studied higher ed history, trends, theory, etc. They've developed expertise in that field that is difficult to acquire otherwise.
We should be giving much more weight to professors of higher education and/or online education than we do to the average professor who hasn't really studied those issues. Just being a professor doesn't make one an expert in higher education.
And I include myself in this. For example, I have little to contribute to a discussion on the economics of higher education during COVID-19. I don't know much about that. I wouldn't write an OpEd piece about that topic.
And I don't think we should give much weight to OpEds by professors who weigh in on things they haven't rigorously studied. Being a professor doesn't necessarily mean you know much about how higher ed does or should work.
And, as always: my kingdom for a Twitter edit button.
