Posted on 08/08/2005 5:44:46 AM PDT by linkinpunk
Provision tells schools to grade students on subjects, not ideology
Measure aims to shield campus conservatives
By Kaitlin Bell, Globe Correspondent | August 8, 2005
WASHINGTON -- Congress is taking the first steps toward pressuring colleges to maintain ideological balance in the classroom, a move that supporters insist is needed to protect conservative students from being graded down by liberal professors.
Alerts A resolution attached to the reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, which has passed the House Education and the Workforce Committee and is expected to be taken up by the full House in September, tells colleges to grade students on the basis of their mastery of subject matter rather than on their political views.
The provision makes no mention of specific political leanings, but represents a victory for conservative student groups who have been arguing for years that American universities are bastions of liberalism seeking to impose their liberal orthodoxy on dissenters.
The measure is not binding, but some higher education analysts caution that it is not to be taken lightly. Colleges and universities, they say, should consider this a warning shot from a Republican-controlled Congress fed up with the liberal academy.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Good move by Congress.
But regarding Churchill, is this true? Did I miss something?
There's been some confusion regarding what has happened to Churchill.
Here's one take:
Ward Churchill resigned Monday from his post as chairman of the University of Colorado's Department of Ethnic Studies, but he plans to keep his job as a tenured professor.
The step down will cost Churchill about $20,000 a year. He earned $94,242 as a professor, and received a 21 percent increase for his chairmanship, CU spokeswoman Pauline Hale said.
http://www.kersplebedeb.com/mystuff/s11/backlash.html
When my son took Am Gov't at the local CC, we were lucky enough to find a Republican professor. Very balance teacher, not prone to rants and ravings and one side or the other, but presented the material in a straightforward way.
Anybody wanting to try to find "balanced" professors can always check:
http://www.ratemyprofessors.com
It doesn't always give insight into their views, but sometimes a student will comment on the prof's political philosophy.
By the way, here's a link to Churchill's rating page.
http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/ShowRatings.jsp?tid=429383
Dumb idea for Congress to micro-manage the classroom. Better would be to stop all Federal funding for public education. Maybe stop state funding too. Stop feeding the liberal bastards. Starve them out.
All schools should be private.
Agreed. But until that happens, this is a good step forward.
I agree, and they should also be completely free from federal government money.
Private schools are not a panacea and every modern society has made public education a goal. Our society is as productive and powerful as it is because public education made it possible for every child to get an education. Once that was pretty much preserved for the rich.
Wearing ideological blinders does not help in perceiving reality.
He was forced to step down as department head but kept his job and just got a raise.
Nor does wearing state education blinders. Reality is we were a vastly better educated populace in 1850 than we are today.
Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
You could say the same about socialized medicine but that doesn't make it right. Public health service is not healthy and government run schools aren't smart.
America is productive and powerful because we are a free country not because we have had public education. Private schools educate people who want to get an education whether they are rich or poor. The average income of families who send their kids to private school is pretty average.
It is just damn Orwellian to government officials to determine how classrooms are run.
The measure is not binding
the Golden Rule. he who furnishes the Gold makes the Rules.
I think it is another cash cow for the lawyers. Every kid who gets a bad grade will now have grounds to file suit or retaliate against the teacher because he is suspected of being ideologically opinionated. I guarantee you this rule will end up being used against conservatives and it will be used against good teachers.
That's why I would like to see schools privatized. When you have direct control of the purse strings, they tend to listen to you.
In government, however, voters have a say in rule-making whether they furnish the money or not.
As Milton Friedman has said, there may be some justification for government funding of education. There is no justification for government production of education. The government has no competitive advantage in that field, and as we see in practice, most government schools are poorly run and turn out ill-educated students.
If we have to tax people to pay for education, at least let the money follow the child, to whatever school the parents choose.
Apparently you know little of the history of education in this nation to make absurd comments like that. There were vast stretches of this nation were illiteracy was rampant during 1850. This remained the case, particularly in the South, for the next 50 or 60 years until public education was introduced there.
Nothing is more worthless than nostalgic views of a past that NEVER existed.
Maybe if you went back and reread what I stated you will realize that the word "only" was NOT used.
Public education has been the backbone of American education for over a century. It has integrated millions of immigrants into the mainstream of society and often provides a means of bringing a town to a common interest and common understanding. Few but the ideologically addicted propose getting rid of it. And they have little grasp on reality.
If one is prone to complain about the quality of teachers perhaps he can explain how, contrary to ALL economic principles, a drastic cut in wages (typical in private schools) will attract better teachers.
Very few private schools have an endowment which allows any fiscal safety. Most are surviving only if everything goes well. Should any serious problems occur many will go under. Even the most powerful and well funded, those of the Roman Catholic Church, are not secure and new ones are closed every year because of the financial pressure.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.