Study Casts Doubt on Claims that Conservative Students Face Discrimination in Classes

The Chronicle of Higher Education | March 30, 2006 | Jennifer Jacobson

[Attillathehon]

Also, the study notes, conservative students might be "more comfortable" with such subjects "because making money is more likely to be a personal goal for them than for liberal students."

I find this statement an indication of bias in the article.

[Patrick1]

It should say conservative students do better in spite of the discrimination because conservatives are so much smarter than their moonbat counterparts.

[rhombus]

I find this statement an indication of bias in the article.

Absolutely. The Clintons never had any problem at all with making as much money as they could. Wasn't that what Whitewater was all about?

[Gay State Conservative]

I wonder who runs,and writes for,The Chronicles of Higher Education?

[dinoparty]

Ever notice how liberal academics always find a way to create a "study" that says what they want it to say?

[The Old Hoosier]

I had lots of leftist professors, but I never got a bad grade because of my views. I was harangued once by a prof in class (he apologized and I got the A in that one, though).

[gun_supporter]

Conservative students definately face discrimination in class, but whether it affects their grades or not is another matter. The discrimination is usually verbal in nature. I know firsthand as a freshman in college, even at a very conservative school, we still have our liberal idiots.

[Andy from Beaverton]

The study found no difference in the grades conservative and liberal students receive in sociology, cultural anthropology, and women's-studies courses.

Could it be that conservative students, who are naturally smarter, would have received higher grades than the liberal students? Time to independently test the abilities of conservatives versus liberals.

[curtisgardner]

I failed a class last semester because i wrote that W should not be tried as a war criminal. Silly me, the assingment was why he should be, not if he should be. damn liberals!

[wbill]

The one stat that was left out was the number of conservative students in 'liberal' disciplines.

I could be wrong, but I imagine that number is pretty low.

[thoughtomator]

Where are they going to find a control group of conservative students in a lefty-discipline class to judge their results against?

[LS]

I'm a college prof. This tells me conservative kids are smarter because they get equally high grades in classes where they ARE discriminated against, and higher grades in classes where they aren't.

Honestly, though, of my liberal colleagues, I see very little GRADE discrimination, and never have. That's not the problem: it's the indoctrination.

[P-40]

I had lots of leftist professors, but I never got a bad grade because of my views.

I had lots of moonbat professors but never got a bad grade from it, and it was lots of fun and was good training for later life. Come to think of it though...the NRA sticker on my backpack might have been part of the grade thing...

[IronJack]

Don't be misled by the red herring here. Even if we accept the statistics from this study, that there is no apparent difference in grades does not indicate an absence of bias in academia. A conservative student could very well earn a high grade in a class where only liberal claptrap is being taught, and where dissension is either discouraged or ignored. That doesn't mean the student is punished for his conservatism, but it DOES mean that conservatism is given short shrift in the classroom. The offense may not be against the individual, but against the ideology.

And the very fact that there are such courses as "Women's Studies" and "African American Topics" demonstrates a bias.

[bkepley]

I never considered grades to be a big point. I just hate the environment and indoctrination.

[poobear]

INW's EVIL conservative students just care about making money and compassionate liberal students do better in social liberal arts classes because they care.

Blek!

[Vicomte13]

At Columbia Law School, I was identifiably and vocally conservative in classes where it warranted it (Constitutional law, criminal law, for example, but not Securities law, which is apolitical). The professors were uniformly liberal, uniformly argued with me, and uniformly gave me good grades in the courses.

At the Sorbonne, I was identifiably conservative and pro-American in courses where there was interaction with the professors, and in oral examinations. And I generally received good grades there too, for knowledge of the material. Where I didn't receive good grades, it was due to lack of subject matter knowledge.

My experience in the law, anyway, is that law school professors in France and America, at the schools I have attended, are very intelligent people, generally to the left (or far left) in their opinions, not shy about their opinions, but that when they grade students, it is on knowledge of the course material and on the logic and style of their arguments.

This was also my experience in undergraduate courses in Paris and in America, with the exception of an English teacher in university who was horrified by an intentionally immoral position I took in a daring paper defending an evil character in Shakespeare. The professor announced himself "unconvinced" by my argument and gave me a "D" on the paper (and a C in the course as a result).
The argument WAS immoral and offensive, although it was quite well written, if I recall, so it was a clear case of censorship-by-grade. But that was the only time it ever happened, in years and years of education, on two continents.

I don't think the bias is as strong when it comes to grading as it is when it comes to professors stating their opinions.

[RightWingAtheist]

From Kammelmeier's website:

Research interests:

My current research interests include the study of culture in its various facets. This includes patterns of individualism-collectivism across various societies, as well as influences of cultural values on the framing of public policy issues, e.g., assisted death or affirmative action policies.
Further, I am studying the subtle (and sometimes not so subtle) influence of cultural symbols on self-related thoughts and behavior (e.g., the American flag).

I have always been involved in intergroup research in one form or another. My focus has been how stereotypes and intergroup attitudes tend to be influenced by, but also recreate social hierarchy between different groups on society. Occasionally, I find somewhat paradoxical effects such that individuals with an egalitarian orientation are more likely to show biases than those who do not share such value commitments. And don't underestimate the influence the impact of apparently unifying political and cultural icons, which turn out to facilitate the rejection, rather than inclusion of those on the fringe of society! Other current interest include attitudes between the hearing and the deaf, Americans' responses to the Abu Ghraib abuses (and the framing thereof).


And the titles of some of his papers:

The effects of race and social dominance orientation in simulated juror decision making. Journal of Applied Social Psychology

Authoritarianism and candidate support in the U.S. presidential elections of 1996 and 2000.

Racial-ethnic self-schemas

Individualism, collectivism and authoritarianism in seven societies

Individualism and attitudes toward affirmative action: Evidence from priming studies.

Individualism, authoritarianism and attitudes toward assisted death: Cross-cultural, cross-regional and experimental evidence.

[gusopol3]

hostile environment for people not as outspoken as you are, however.

[Jonah Johansen]

So it is ok if a teacher uses the classroom to push their own political/social/religious ideology as long as
1. that ideology is not Christian
2. that ideology is "tolerant" as defined by activist women's, gay and ethnic groups
3. Your grading is not obviously biased against those who disagree with you.