Comments about "Profs. ponder classroom politics"
<< Back to Profs. ponder classroom politics
6 Comments on this article:
Kids always rebel against the "Establishment". That idea seems to have escaped the ones spewing the dogmatic left wing doctrine in academia.
Keep touting the Democrat Party line, you're creating future conservatives.
I went to college in the late '60's and I've seen it first hand.
I disagree that this is fundamentally a question of whether student's minds are changed. To me, its a question of what is an appropriate use of the classroom podium. If I were taking a class called "Listen to Jack Rakove Ponfificate," then it seems appropriate for him to use the podium to preach his opinions. But, I tend to think the purpose of the classroom is to critically examine from all angles. To have a class be a one-sided pundit-fest robs students of the critical experience of hearing different perspectives and contrarian thought.
This Daily article conveniently misses the key points made by conservatives. Their criticisms are NOT simply about "left-leaning college professors trying to influence student political opinion." Rather, conservatives make a number of more fundamental criticisms of academia today. For example:
1. The virtual lack of intellectual diversity on campuses (various polls indicate that university faculties are over 90% left-wing) is a result of closed faculty minds that refuse to hire and/or promote those with different views (see the recent brouhaha over the appointment of Donald Rumsfeld). Thus, instead of being institutions where free inquiry is encouraged, universities today represent and reward monolithic left-wing orthodoxy supported by lifetime tenure (which was originally instituted to protect those with unpopular views rather than those who merely submit to the prevailing orthodoxy).
2. Students who hold conservative views are humiliated and harassed in class, and their academic performance (e.g. grades, fellowships, grad school recommendations) is unfairly penalized. One extreme example is the Duke professor who flunked a member of the Duke lacrosse team because, according to the orthodox liberal narrative, members of the lacrosse team represent white privilege and engage in exploitation of the black underclass, never mind that the black prostitute who claimed rape by Duke lacrosse players was shown to be a liar. Other documented horror stories include episodes of classroom humiliation and harassment of those who believe in God, oppose Islamic terrorists, or question abortion and same-sex marriages, or otherwise deviate from the left-wing party line. For a running commentary on left-wing atrocities on campuses across the country, see http://phibetacons.nationalreview.com/.
3. The result of the faculty's monolithic left-wing orthodoxy, and its repression of both academics and students with differing views, is a debasement of the contributions of academia to American society. For example, see the recent critique of Anthony Kronman (Sterling Professor of Law at Yale) of the humanities in his book, "Education's End: Why Our Colleges and Universities Have Given Up on the Meaning of Life." Kronman describes how the humanities faculties since the 1960's have been debased onto the laughingstock of academia due to their embrace of political correctness, multiculturalism and deconstructionism. Or, look to the widespread attempt to silence academic doubters of global warming because a "consensus of scientists" thinks otherwise. This attempt carries forth the tradition of the Inquisition's silencing Galileo's claim of heliocentrism. Galileo was silenced by the "consensus" of the Inquisition, but his skepticism of the established orthodoxy was based on science, which proved him right.
Bottom line, this Daily article tries to defend the status quo by attacking a straw man. The problem is NOT that students may be indoctrinated by their professors. Rather, it is that professors may attempt to do so in the classroom while abusing their positions of authority. The real issue is the intolerance demonstrated by left-wing professors in the classroom of those with differing views.
For the most part, I agree with Skeptical and think that his/her response should be submitted as a letter / opinion piece. For all the left's emphasis on free speech and tolerance, it sure doesn't seem to extend to students or professors with more conservative views. The overarching idea of the university / academy is the exchange of thoughts, ideas, and ideologies so that differing viewpoints may be rethought and / or refined. Nothing gets accomplished when conservatives are immediately branded as incompetent, intolerant, stupid, or narrow-minded except further division and divisiveness between the political wings. Respect of others' beliefs is just as valuable in the ideological / educational context, as it is in other social contexts.
And I think you're all full of shit.
I'm a republican and I feel fine on campus. You're just whiners, which is embarrassing. I have never once been punished in my grades because of my views. In fact, i think my professors like it when I challenge.
So in all, I don't buy your bullshit.
The guy is abusing his position as Chair of the Department of Spanish and Portuguese languages to bring on campus politicians who are pushing for the destruction of Spain,
http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2008/1/25/basqueLeadersVisitStirsProtest
What does the Provost have to say about it?,
http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2008/2/15/basquePresidentSpeaksToStudents
“I think the lecture was wonderful,” he said. “Very persuasive.”
Then when the protesters asked Iberia to bring a critic with Mr Ibarretxe (whose party BTW lost miserably the March 9th election due in part to the fanatical view on Basque independence praised by the Provost) the view of the students was
http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2008/4/4/profCountersBasquePresident
“I thought President Ibarretxe’s speech was not substantial, and I thought today’s speech was logical, effective and backed up by historical examples,”
So, are Joan Ramon Resina an Mr Etchemendy abusing their position to proselytize for the so called "regional nationalisms" in Spain? Those ideologies by the way represent some of the most sectarian and crappy products of today's Western Europe.

SMS
RSS feeds