Posted on 01/30/2003 12:49:03 PM PST by NorCoGOP
BATON ROUGE, La. -- Thousands of dollars, late nights spent buried in textbooks, early classes and sleepless finals weeks: all these sacrifices made for what end? Common sense would tell you these things would help you gain a college education and allow you to make a better life for yourself. But frequently students endure classroom atmospheres that are slanted toward a professor's world view and then face a myriad of consequences for offering a differing opinion.
The long-standing pillars of higher education always have been academic freedom, intellectual honesty and the freedom of expression. Recently diversity has become a key goal of higher education, too. These things are meant to foster an educational experience that encourages freedom of thought and an education formed by critical thinking.
Modern college courses often lose those educational principles when professors fail to balance their political agendas with opposing views and ignore facts in favor of opinion. Universities search high and low for faculty members of different races, genders and sexual preferences, but diversity of thought is never given much consideration. Only diversity in the professors' sociopolitical philosophies would give you differing views on issues such as abortion, capitalism and religion.
Studies continue to show that while universities seek diversity as a priority, the dominance of liberal professors continues to grow. Last year UCLA's Higher Education Research institute polled 32,000 full-time undergraduate professors. It found that 48 percent identified as "liberal" or "far left" while only 18 percent described themselves as "conservative" or "far right."
Typically professors who prescribe to a conservative philosophy end up teaching classes in the hard sciences. Paul Kengor detailed a recent study he conducted in an issue of Policy Review in which he examined the political makeup of 190 social science and humanities professors at many of the nation's top universities, such as Cornell, Stanford and the University of Colorado. Only six Republicans were found while 184 were registered Democrats. These are the classes where professors can indoctrinate students with their views on politics, religion, morality and other subjects.
Some say a professor's political ideology does not impact how they approach the classroom. While some professors are capable of putting aside their agendas, examples of bias can be found at nearly every university.
By all accounts, conservatives make up the vast amount of LSU's student body. But even here, there are few conservative professors in the social sciences and humanities. I have heard numerous complaints from Christians who took classes to learn more about their faith but instead were treated to daily attacks on their beliefs. We also have professors that have taken to political activism, such as a political science professor who spoke at many rallies opposing war in Iraq.
At the University of California- San Diego, one parent was so alarmed that her son's professor was attempting to indoctrinate the classroom that she formed an organization. She founded a Web site called www.noindoctrination.org. The site is dedicated to reporting and confronting professors who attempt this kind of indoctrination. Students are allowed to report professors anonymously and must describe in detail the teacher's behavior. Since the site's birth four months ago, complaints have been filed against teachers from more than 30 universities, including the University of Kentucky and University of Georgia.
Students detail how, time after time, professors introduce topics not included on the course description, squelch opposing opinions in discussion, misrepresent facts and encourage students to adopt the professor's point of view. A senior at UCSD detailed how he wrote a paper espousing a pro-life view that was picked apart. He rewrote it with a pro-choice stance and received an A.
Cases of obvious bias are troubling enough, but when a teacher's opinion is taught as fact, students become indoctrinated without ever realizing they were taught lies. This often is the case in history classes when teachers present an unhistorical account of people or events.
With the lack of accountability in the classroom and balance in teachers' views, how are students to trust the education they receive? Are they merely becoming indoctrinated members of the liberal left?
Accountability is needed. Web sites such as noindoctrination.org offer students a venue to air their grievances, which will hopefully usher in change. Administrators should encourage balanced views to be presented in the classroom and punish those who use it as a political soapbox. With a university culture that is so in love with diversity and promoting it through affirmative action programs, maybe we should consider adding conservatives to the list of those who receive special minority consideration.
Last semester I helped a friend write an English paper about an essay she had to read. The subject was Barbie Dolls and how they empower women. I'm not kidding. It was very difficult to write without wanting to throw-up. It also made me wonder what ever happened to traditional English literature.
SEEPING? It's been POURING in for 35 years!
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