Posted on 02/12/2005 3:29:50 PM PST by nypokerface
WESTERVILLE, Ohio - College sophomore Charis Bridgman tends to keep quiet in class if she thinks her professor might disagree with her Christian-influenced ideas. The 19-year-old says schools such as her Otterbein College in suburban Columbus should be a place for open discussion, but she feels some professors make students afraid to speak up.
"They might chastise me, or not even listen to my opinion or give me a chance to explain," she said.
Professors would have to include diverse opinions in classrooms under legislation being pushed in Ohio and several other states by conservatives who fear too many professors indoctrinate young minds with liberal propaganda. Such measures have had little success getting approval in the other states.
"I see students coming out having gone in without any ideological leanings one way or another, coming out with an indoctrination of a lot of left-wing issues," said bill sponsor Sen. Larry Mumper, a former high school teacher whose Republican party controls the Legislature.
The proposal in Ohio to create an academic "bill of rights" would prohibit public and private college professors from presenting opinions as fact or penalizing students for expressing their views. Professors would not be allowed to introduce controversial material unrelated to the course.
Professors dismissed the bill as unnecessary and questioned whether its supporters had ulterior motives, such as wanting more conservative professors.
Similar legislation failed in California and Colorado last year, while the Georgia Senate passed a resolution, which is less binding than a bill, that suggests adoption. The California bill, which would affect only public schools, has been reintroduced and faces opposition from professors and student groups. An Indiana bill is nearly identical to Ohio's.
The Ohio legislation is based on principles advocated by Students for Academic Freedom, a Washington, D.C.-based student network founded by conservative activist David Horowitz.
"It doesn't matter a professor's viewpoint," Horowitz said in an interview. "They can be a good professor, liberal or conservative, provided they pursue an educational mission and not a political agenda."
Mumper said he is concerned universities are not teaching the values held by taxpaying parents and students.
He questioned why lawmakers should approve funding for universities with "professors who would send some students out in the world to vote against the very public policy that their parents have elected us for."
A faculty group or school committee could oversee complaints from students who believe their grades were affected by a professor's bias, Mumper said.
Joe White, a political science professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, said students could use perceived discrimination as an excuse to refuse to learn.
"We're not supposed to teach for their comfort," he said.
Other opponents, including the American Association of University Professors, say such bills could stifle debate.
"We see nothing but mischief if we invite people from outside of the university to somehow start monitoring what goes on inside the classroom," said David Patton, an AAUP member and professor emeritus of Ohio State University.
Sen. Teresa Fedor, a Democrat from Toledo, agrees: "Can we say 21st century witch hunt and book burning?"
The liberal educrats will balk at any constraints on their precious academic freedom and tenure schemes. And to think, some of them even want to be organized for purposes of CB. That would make them untouchable - rather like SCOTUS justices.
Intellectual Terrorism at work.
Can we say 'overly dramatic and over the top?"
I knew ya could.
L
What the ought to do is pass a law forcing people to teach without relying only on opinions. One can certainly offer up various theories of human interaction in say a sociology class and not omit any particular theories. But sociology classes should not be about either professors or students swapping opinions.
I am an academic economist. I certainly don't want a bunch of know nothing students claiming that have some right to babble about their opinion about how the world is flat or if price rises quantity demand also rises or some nonsense. We talk about economics in my class, not my opinions or their opinions.
I'm a professor (life sciences) and teach at a university near Otterbein. It had never occurred to me to teach anything (or make pronnouncements upon) in the classroom other than the subject matter of my course, and I know that my colleagues in mine and related dsicliplines feel the same. I almost never (no...I avoid) have dialogue with sociologists and, after seeing their posters on their office doors and the "anonymously" placed placards on faculty bulletin boards, and will continue do to so. Regrettably, it's time for the Academic Bill of Rights.
Yet this same professor probably uses his subjectivity to refuse to teach objectively.
"We're not supposed to teach for their comfort," he said.
But if the relatively rare conservative professor teaches something that makes a liberal "uncomfortable" then reprimands etc. will follow.
Other opponents, including the American Association of University Professors, say such bills could stifle debate.
Isn't that what the conservative students are claiming? That they cannot engage in debate without paying a penalty in grades?
"We see nothing but mischief if we invite people from outside of the university to somehow start monitoring what goes on inside the classroom," said David Patton, an AAUP member and professor emeritus of Ohio State University.
In other words, we don't dare let any of the rabble, particularly that rabble over which we have no leverage, i.e. grades, witness our subversion of the American system and America itself.
Sen. Teresa Fedor, a Democrat from Toledo, agrees: "Can we say 21st century witch hunt and book burning?"
Isn't that an accurate description of political "correctness?"
Having taught the subject myself, I know exactly what you mean. I always encouraged my students to turn off the TV news and go directly to the underlying data. If they will do that, they can see just how counterintuitive so much of economics really is....assuming they "intuit" only from listening to talking heads. You know the ones I mean - they love min. wage hikes, foreign aid, and government ponzi schemes, and other subsidies.
Yes, that's it! Everybody knows that most college students don't want to learn anything! That's why they pay so much money to go to college, to learn nothing! This guy is a complete dunce with an agenda.
Joe White, a political science professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, said students could use perceived discrimination as an excuse to refuse to learn.
"We're not supposed to teach for their comfort," he said.
when the baby boomers were protesting and taking over universities, professor white was on the opposite side of the fence.
(/s)
INTREP
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