The kids in college don't make the big decisions on how the economy works, so these types of liberal guilt speeches always seemed hollow to me. Sure, maybe someday, but at that point market forces will be calling the shots, not personal preference or pet political activism. If it wasn't for automation, modernity, etc would Mr Professor even have a job? Before various cost savings techniques of the past 40 years, the amount of people who went to college were a much smaller percentage than the amount today. You can't have these enrollment numbers with tiny classrooms and each professor having his own secretary. It just doesn't scale.
Its amusing to think that some people think of themselves as above the economic fray. Sorry, but we're all in this together.
To me, they aren't "liberal guilt speeches", first off, just a recognition of cause and effect.
But the real problem, I think, lies somewhere in your interpretation of of the the goals of pointing such things out. I'm sure "Mr. Professor" is more than capable of recognizing that kids in schools aren't political leaders. "Mr. Professor" is pointing this out, not because they fancy themselves above the economic fray, but precisely because we're all in this together.
That, in fact, is the actual message being conveyed by what you perceive as "liberal guilting".
If you're looking for people who act above the economic fray, a far better source of those sorts of airy pronouncements would be, for instance, David Brooks or Tom Friedman, for whom massive economic dislocation tends to be a "to be sure" or "perhaps" tacked on to the end of a column about how great disruptive innovation is.
Its amusing to think that some people think of themselves as above the economic fray. Sorry, but we're all in this together.