Posted on 12/01/2004 2:21:07 AM PST by JohnHuang2
Wednesday, December 1, 2004
A new poll finds that nearly half of students at 50 leading American colleges say professors frequently inject political comments into classroom discussions, even if those comments have nothing to do with the subject being taught.
Commissioned by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, the survey also found 29 percent of students feel they have to agree with a professor's politics to get a good grade.
According to the survey:
The survey, which was conducted before and after last month's presidential election, found a partisan streak among college professors.
Sixty-eight percent of the students reported negative remarks in class about President Bush, while 62 percent said professors praised Sen. John Kerry.
"Students pay hefty tuition to get an education, not to hear some professors' pet political views," said Anne Neal, president of ACTA, in a statement. "When politics is relevant, multiple perspectives should be presented. The classroom should be a place where students are free to explore different points of view. They should not feel they will be penalized if they think for themselves."
The ACTA survey was conducted by the Center for Survey Research & Analysis at the University of Connecticut at the 50 colleges and universities top-ranked by U.S. News & World Report.
The organization pointed out that last week, the Princeton, N.J.-based National Association of Scholars released a study showing that the ratio of Democrats to Republicans among professors at some top-50 schools is as high as 9 to 1.
"The lack of intellectual diversity on our college campuses is clearly a problem," said Neal. "We believe boards of trustees have the responsibility to ensure that students are exposed to a free and open exchange of ideas and are encouraged to think for themselves."
According to ACTA, most of the students who participated in the survey majored in subjects like biology, engineering and psychology – not normally politically oriented courses.
the problem is that most conservatives get out of the classroom and become historians and work on the street and whatnot, not like the stinking hippie professors that make up that 9 to 1 ratio....
they get to sit around all day, tell kids what to think, get paid very well to do so, and never leave the world of academia.....
And just to drive the point home one more time - because they couldn't make it outside of that world!
yep yep yep
Bingo, my friend.
...where they sit around and reinforce each other's liberal belief system and how they must, must influence these minds full of mush they have at their disposal to remove all traces of parentally indoctrinated conservative Judeo/Christian nonsense. And then they snort with derision, "Well, nobody I know voted for Bush, so the election had to have been rigged."
I will say the Math PHD on our programming team is an excellent problem solver. From C++ down to assembly, the guy is first rate.
It's those English, Psychology, Linguistics, Social Studies, Ethnic Studies professors that need firing. Their disciples are costly.
Better yet, double the tuition for fluff majors, and cut it in half for hard science and math majors.
Gee, no sh . . . . er, kidding!
We have known this for years about American university professors - it takes a survey to verify what we already knew!?
I had a wonderful time going back to school for the sheer joy of learning albeit the classes were nowhere near as taxing as the ones I took as a youngster. Probably had to do with my age and experience....
It is great fun challenging the teachers. It is just a hoot to throw out those facts and figures one has readily available.
And they have to take it because 1) I'm old. 2) I've had a lifetime dealing with difficult people in management and advisory positions. 3) I'm imposing as heck.
Wouldn't it be nice if all the retirees could find the time to experience the joy of these classes? Might shed a whole new light on things for the youngsters.
Just call it a form of Quality Control, or Total Preventive Maintenance and you feel right at home.
But let them mention "Jesus"........
I'm not retired but I thought the same thing. Shove it right back at the 'Profs' with facts. Kind of like what Rodney Dangefield did in 'Back to School' in his Business Administration class.
And like that movie "I'd" be like Sam Kinison in the History class. "We 'lost' Vietnam because of the *&^$% PINKO-COMMIES!" It would be an absolute hoot.
Btw, my youngest daughter is a Jr at IL State Univ and shortly after she came home for the first time in Sept. she said, "Dad I think one of my teachers is a communist".
Good tag line...........and fitting.
Some could, some couldn't. I could have worked for a chemical company for twice my salary (but less security). The guy in the office beside me ran a division of a pharmaceutical company before the company was taken over and downsized. My Russian prof. worked for years as a translator at a defense agency. Don't generalize. There are profs who could do nothing else useful, and there are profs who could do a dozen other things with their lives.
(The Russian prof. has never given me a hint of what her politics are, and the guy who works next to me is as reactionary as I am; so maybe it only holds for conservative academics)
The best way to fight educational propaganda is to remind all students that they are buying a product. The prof's are on the student's dime when they are spouting their dribble.
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