Bias in the classroom

lakeman · 09-12-2007, 06:26 PM

These professors have just lost it; no sense of proportion or reality. Here is a quote from the whole article:

RealClearPolitics - Articles - Indoctrination in the Classroom

Quote:

"Reclaim Your Rights as a Liberal Educator." That's the title of a short essay in this month's Academe, organ of the American Association of University Professors. The phrase has all the imagination of a slogan unfurled at countless marches, but what it lacks in wit it makes up for in fortitude of the uniquely academic kind. Author Julie Kilmer, women's studies and religion professor at Olivet College, sounds the standard "they're-out-to-get-us" call and rallies her brethren to take back the classroom. We have, too, a vicious aggressor: conservative student groups that confront professors of perceived liberal bias, and they form a national network out to undermine the faculty, who come off as vulnerable and innocent professionals. While the professors uphold "freedom of inquiry to examine the worth of controversial ideas" and "teach college students to use analytical thinking in the development of new ideas," groups such as Students for Academic Freedom do their best to subvert the process. Worst of all, they "encourage students to bring complaints against faculty to administrators." To Kilmer, they are no better than spies, and they prompt her to wonder, "Each time a student is resistant to feminist theories and ideas, should I ask if he or she has been placed in my class to question my teaching? How is my teaching affected if I enter the classroom each day asking, 'Is today the day I will be called to the president's office?"

Ben · 09-12-2007, 07:31 PM

That's a crazy article, but from personal experience academia tends to be left wing. I've heard it's pretty bad in some colleges (like with speech codes and such) but I'm a massachusetts high school there and they churn out liberalism on a daily basis.

namvet69 · 09-12-2007, 07:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ben

That's a crazy article, but from personal experience academia tends to be left wing. I've heard it's pretty bad in some colleges (like with speech codes and such) but I'm a massachusetts high school there and they churn out liberalism on a daily basis.

You're a high school? Do you have bathrooms and everything?

Ben · 09-12-2007, 07:43 PM

I come fully equipped with classrooms, a cafetaria, and several bathrooms.

namvet69 · 09-12-2007, 07:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ben

I come fully equipped with classrooms, a cafetaria, and several bathrooms.

Cool! A building that can take a joke. Welcome aboard Big Ben. Hey, wait a minute, that would make you a clock. Scratch that! Welcome aboard Ben.

Dr.Knuckles · 09-12-2007, 08:39 PM

How could you possibly teach a Woman's Studies class without a Liberal bias?

How could you teach any Liberal Arts class without a liberal bias?

If I sign up for English Lit. I can't complain that the prof is persecuting non-English authors by only including English material.

"My Economics class does nothing but talk about money?"

"Why is there nothing modern in my History class?"

Ever since I started this Comparative Religion class, my sensabilities as an atheist have been under constant attack as one religion after another is discussed right in front of me."

Unless of course, like at my university, the goddamn Women's Studies classes are MANDATORY! FOUR OF THEM!!!!! In which case I think students have every right to complain, and should do so loudly.

Dr.Knuckles · 09-12-2007, 08:40 PM

How the hell can 51% of people be a minority anyway?

Morrigan · 10-04-2007, 03:07 PM

I work in academia, and I never really found, during my entire career, an overwhelming liberal bias. I had profs who held what I would consider conservative views as well as some who did not. Granted, I am in the sciences, so that may have made a difference.

I've thought about why colleges do seem to attract more liberal minded faculty. Well, to be honest, it makes perfect sense. What is the purpose of a university? To teach and to conduct research. What makes a good researcher? Well, someone who is able to come up with new ideas and theories, someone who is not afraid to try new things.

What is the definition of conservative?

con�ser�va�tive (kn-s�rv-tv) adj.
1. Favoring traditional views and values; tending to oppose change.
2. Traditional or restrained in style: a conservative dark suit.
3. Moderate; cautious: a conservative estimate.
4. a. Of or relating to the political philosophy of conservatism. b. Belonging to a conservative party, group, or movement.
5. Conservative Of or belonging to the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom or the Progressive Conservative Party in Canada.
6. Conservative Of or adhering to Conservative Judaism.
7. Tending to conserve; preservative: the conservative use of natural resources.
n. 1. One favoring traditional views and values.
2. A supporter of political conservatism.
3. Conservative A member or supporter of the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom or the Progressive Conservative Party in Canada.
4. Archaic A preservative agent or principle.

Someone with a conservative mindset is simply not going to be as attracted to research.

Not to mention, many scientists and researchers make very little money. You have to put in years before the big bucks start rolling in. What type of person is more likely to be passionate about the teaching and the work then the salary? Who is more likely to be idealistic?

Jet · 10-10-2007, 06:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Morrigan

I work in academia, and I never really found, during my entire career, an overwhelming liberal bias. I had profs who held what I would consider conservative views as well as some who did not. Granted, I am in the sciences, so that may have made a difference.

I've thought about why colleges do seem to attract more liberal minded faculty. Well, to be honest, it makes perfect sense. What is the purpose of a university? To teach and to conduct research. What makes a good researcher? Well, someone who is able to come up with new ideas and theories, someone who is not afraid to try new things.

What is the definition of conservative?

con�ser�va�tive (kn-s�rv-tv) adj.
1. Favoring traditional views and values; tending to oppose change.
2. Traditional or restrained in style: a conservative dark suit.
3. Moderate; cautious: a conservative estimate.
4. a. Of or relating to the political philosophy of conservatism. b. Belonging to a conservative party, group, or movement.
5. Conservative Of or belonging to the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom or the Progressive Conservative Party in Canada.
6. Conservative Of or adhering to Conservative Judaism.
7. Tending to conserve; preservative: the conservative use of natural resources.
n. 1. One favoring traditional views and values.
2. A supporter of political conservatism.
3. Conservative A member or supporter of the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom or the Progressive Conservative Party in Canada.
4. Archaic A preservative agent or principle.

Someone with a conservative mindset is simply not going to be as attracted to research.

Not to mention, many scientists and researchers make very little money. You have to put in years before the big bucks start rolling in. What type of person is more likely to be passionate about the teaching and the work then the salary? Who is more likely to be idealistic?

I think that is generalizing a fair bit.

chu chu rocket · 10-10-2007, 08:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jet

I think that is generalizing a fair bit.

No, that would be the definition of the word "conservative," but politically, conservative is a broader term, encompassing a mix-up of social conservatives and economically capitalist leaning individuals.