I’m not a fisherman but I know when something smells fishy.

Position has never made anyone an expert, just like an abundance of experience has never been a prerequisite for knowing everything.

In the time I have spent in school I have always believed that the job of a teacher was one of the most underpaid and underappreciated ones in the world.

I have always had the utmost respect for any and every instructor I have ever had.

Whether they be a teacher, parent or even a coach, my respect for those that have the ability, and even more importantly, the heart to teach anyone has never wavered.

Yet, in what is nearly the end of my undergraduate experience I have gained a new outlook on those I have had so much respect for.

In maturity we learn different things: what love is all about (although some never learn), what life is all about and where we really want to be in the next five years.

However, it also seems that in maturity some of us have also learned impatience, chastisement, disrespect and how to be cheapshot artists.

It hurts me when I think there might be a few people who I am supposed to respect that have no idea what the word means.

With a heavy heart, many students, like myself, have realized at times sincerity with oneself is not rewarded as it should be. Many students have realized holding strong in their opinions will not be met with simple respect but instead it will be hit with the axe of intolerance.

College is a world of change, a world of ideas and sure as hell a world of different opinions. It is the place where ideas, inventions and positions have and always will be formed.

Life in college IS life on the edge; IT IS life to the extreme, as extreme as each and every student can make it. Life as an entity is the extreme. My life is not yours and my extreme is not your extreme.

My experiences are not yours, and they are not my professors either.

Sure, we will always encounter and experience something someone else can relate to, and in those cases their expertise is wanted, expected and appreciated.

However, in any student’s quest to become his or her own person they must be allowed to form their own opinions and their own stances to certain issues. These opinions and stances must be those of the student — not those of their parents, friends, lovers or professors.

Life in college IS life on the edge; IT IS life to the extreme, as extreme as each and every student can make it.

I hurt whenever I hear of or see those who have been lambasted for their opinion by some whacked out, egomaniacal instructor who, despite having a status as an adviser, seems to feel threatened by an outspoken student.

It makes we wonder how some people might treat their children. It makes me wonder how they really feel about being a teacher.

There is nothing wrong with having an opinion of your own, formulated on your own and even explained by you and no one else.

We are students, not children, as we tend to be treated.

We are students, not the kids we are at times made out to be at times.

We, after all, are members of the “Me Generation,” the generation that listens to no one and hears everybody.

We are the generation that formulates its own ideas, not because we are rebels but because we live our lives as we see fit — not as our parents or teachers want us to.

Does the fact that you have more than 30 years chronological seniority on me make you my superior?

No, it makes you my elder, and I respect my elders. But my mamma always told me that respect is (forgive the clich‚) a two-way street.

If you happen to be in a position that gives you some control, does that make you an authority?

No, it makes you a leader and even the best leaders make mistakes and learn from their followers.

So when an instructor decides he or she has a problem with a student’s opinion and, instead of trying to understand the difference of opinion, the instructor only smashes, breaks down and challenges that student, it only makes the teacher look stupid.

When any person uses his or her exceptional level of education to educate another, it is commendable.

When a person uses that level of experience to aid in the experiences of another, it is remarkable.

But when professors take personal issues with students on their opinions, it isn’t commendable and it isn’t remarkable. It is despicable, and it should never happen.

I have been there and I have seen it happen. It brings about a loss of respect from student to teacher.

And this is not what education is about.

In my experience, a teacher’s job is to inform, instruct and even at times constructively criticize and correct.

That job is not to chastise, punish, degrade and baste.

I hate to see so-called educators who still need an education.

I hate to see the instructors of our future who still need instruction. Sooner or later it has to stop.

Later y’all!

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Rhaason Mitchell is a senior in journalism and mass communication from Chicago. He is managing editor of the Daily.