Urban myths about liberals that conservatives would like to think are true
Randy Barnett at The Volokh Conspiracy talks about an urban myth about a liberal college professor who assigns a liberal assignment, and flunks a stutent for a conservative response.
I find myself wondering where this got started, and how many pundits and media outlets were snookered into claiming it was real. Sounds like something Fox News would get a hard-on for.
I find myself wondering where this got started, and how many pundits and media outlets were snookered into claiming it was real. Sounds like something Fox News would get a hard-on for.
posted by Josh Jasper at 9:24 AM
2 Comments:
I never felt like I was flunked (or downgarded) for assuming a conservative position, but I think that many professors most certainly cast judgement on my own belief systems and unfairly used their positions as leaders in the classroom to foster a hostile environment. Their rage was provoked if I dared speak back. The professor thought he was the voice of an overwhelming majority when in reality, a significant number of the minority DID exist...they just knew to keep their mouths shut so they do not piss-off the professor. And for good reason (usually). If the instructor invited healthy discussion, he generally got it, but when he started treating the opposition as if he/she were a moron, we all knew where things would go, so we shut the hell up. It was pointless to deal with a professor who had no objectivity.
It really comes down to abusing one's position as leader of a learning environment. It's not your job to convince me that you are right. It's your job to foster critical thinking skills and let the kids decide for themselves. It is not the job of the professor to browbeat the students who are conservative.
Unfortuantely, university culture is often such that only professors with a distinct liberal "slant" are even allowed to be anywhere near a classroom. Conservative professors are considered sub-academic and substandard and are not generally allowed in institutions of higher learning as full professors. perhaps as part time instructors, but once their belief systems become known, they are shunned from being offered full status as professors, and usually shown the door (eventually).
glengarryleads.blogspot.com
And I don't need Sean Hannity or Fox News) to help me believe this...I experienced it first-hand, and not even at a school with a reputation for being particularly "liberal".
Perhaps academia tends to attract candidates who are more liberal to begin with, but for certain, many institutions give an immense amount of power to the department leadership in making hiring decisions. They hire who they feel will best "tow the party line" rather than those who will provide the most educational diversity. Each department wants to be known for a certain way of thinking, and you need to be in-line with that way of thinking. In certain subjects, those ways of thinking are inevitably tied to political belief systems.
For example, do you think a scientist who does not believe in the "global warming" theory would be offered a position at Harvard? No fucking way. Never EVER. No matter how good he/she was, and no matter how well respected in the community, academia or the rest of the world. It simply would not happen.
Post a Comment
<< Home