Posted on 10/28/2018 10:10:57 AM PDT by billorites
Many U.S. college professors now regularly share their own social and political beliefs in class, and their students feel increasingly afraid to disagree. That’s according to a new national survey of undergraduates due out next week.
When students were asked if they’ve had “any professors or course instructors that have used class time to express their own social or political beliefs that are completely unrelated to the subject of the course,” 52% of respondents said that this occurs “often,” while 47% responded, “not often.”
A majority—53%—also reported that they often “felt intimidated” in sharing their ideas, opinions or beliefs in class because they were different from those of the professors. A slightly larger majority feared expressing themselves because of differences with classmates. On this question 54% said they often felt intimidated in expressing themselves when their views conflicted with those of their peers, compared to 44% who said they didn’t often feel this way.
The national online survey of 800 full-time undergraduates was conducted from October 8th to 18th and includes students at both public and private four-year universities in the U.S. Polling was done by McLaughlin & Associates on behalf of Yale’s William F. Buckley, Jr. Program, which counts your humble correspondent among its directors.
American academicians unfortunately appear to be just as political and overbearing as one would expect. This column isn’t old enough to remember when university faculty were thought to be conscientious adults in loco parentis. But perhaps the actual parents who write checks can someday find some way to encourage more responsible behavior.
As for the students, there’s at least a mixed message in the latest survey results. On the downside, the fact that so many students are afraid of disagreeing with their peers does not suggest a healthy intellectual atmosphere even outside the classroom.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
As in, the amount of freedom of thought welcomed and tolerated is inversely proportional to a university's boasting of its diversity, tolerance, and inclusion.
This type of educational abuse-of-power bullying used to be limited to universities, but now woe to the kindergartner who insists that his classmate “Cindy” is really just Sammy in a pink dress.
Exactly! Thanks.
Take engineering kids
They’ll invite argument and questions
And gee. You’ll learn something. Not just love Marx and hate America
You know the “colleges and universities” have become real cesspools when Marxist college “perfessers” threaten their snowflake “students” if they don’t answer a question with the answer the Marxist expects to hear.
Do not miss the fact that there is not one discipline in academia that has more registered Republicans than Democrats among the faculty.
In disciplines such as Communication and Sociology, the ratios are 50 to 100 to ZERO.
Many major disciplines such as political science and history can easily run 10 to 30 to 1.
So these “political opinions” are NOT uniformly distributed and they do not contribute to critical thinking as they hear different viewpoints.
The fact that we do not have state legislatures trying to stop this absurd behavior is incomprehensible to me.
State legislatures need to revoke the tax exempt status of universities unless this is brought to heel.
“Those professors will ruin them.”
Indeed! The pissants disagree with their instructor at their own peril! Let us see what grade you’ve ‘earned’.
bookmark
I went to an Ivy back in the early 80s & political correctness was just gearing up....can’t imagine how bad it is these days.
Had a hard-core leftist professor who lived in one of the most exclusive suburban enclaves in the entire nation. His 2 boys went to Ivy League schools....no mixing with the lower classes for him or his.
If I had any kids that were college age these days I would tell them to become plumbers or electricians.
Universities are businesses and their customers are children.
The kiddies don’t know how to complain about the service they are paying for, usually because it’s their parents who are paying.
And they aren’t there.
State universities with tenured professors are nothing more then Bolshevik re-education camps. You can complain, but the “service providers” don’t care because they just go wail to the state legislature for more money.
When the customers - parents and students - start demanding value for their cash, and voting in people who will demand accountability from the administrators, the BS will stop.
Of course. Because they’re a captive audience. The subversive left likes to whine about bullying and intimidation, but engage in the practice all the time.
When I was a college student in the late 70’s I could not have told you what my professors’ political views were (and I didn’t care what they were, either).
For some reason, which may seem downright odd now, they all seemed to be more concerned with teaching their subject matter than with regaling us with their own opinions about issues unrelated to their subjects.
I rarely was graded down for my views in the 80’s but enough to almost lose magna cum laude. However, professors were cowards who often said, “Would somebody else like to answer that question?” and it was my peers, always female, btw, who slammed me hard with intimidation and veiled rage.
My better half persuaded me to just look at it as a concentration camp where my purpose was to get out with a degree that allowed me to practice my profession. Thereafter, kept my mouth shut and did view it that way in order to keep a low profile.
It’s the rare Professor who can deal with an opposing viewpoint with any manner of maturity.
Never go to a supposed non-profit school. First off, there is no such thing. ALL non-profits are the schools with the most money.
Go to a for-profit where they care about every customer’s opinion. You don’t always get your way, but they do listen to complaints about bad instructors.
The 60’s hippies get cleaned up get jobs as professors results in full fail mode stupidity ensues.
Democrats grin
William Ayers.
I do so love reading of your memories...and thoroughly enjoy your colorful verbiage.
;-)
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