Tuesday, December 28, 2004
Conservatives Flip Academic Freedom Debate
The times they are a-changing. It is a wonder that we ever get anything done in this country. When I attended high school and college, the very thought that I could tell the teacher that I was not interested in learning what they were teaching, would have seen me thrown out of class. So, conservatives and christians are entering into state run colleges and private colleges with the idea that they control the curriculum. They say that the profs are just trying to indoctrinate them with left wing ideology. I am overwhelmed with absolute disgust at this idea. I watch these "little folks" who are battling for the "truth" in academia, and I wonder how the hell they ever graduated from their respective institions. They are not interested in the pursuit of truth or knowledge, well at least the truth and knowledge as we know it, but in rewriting well documented history to present some fictional idea of a perfect republic.
President Clinton in his appearance at the opening of the documentary, "The Hunting of The President," said that we are still in the process of perfecting the Union. Yet, conservatives believe that we are a perfect union, and that union is one in which slavery is legal, women have no rights, and the church is one with the government. These conservatives realize that religion is the opiate of the masses, as Karl Marx stated in the 1800's. So this opiate can be used to manipulate the most base emotions, within the religious body, to vote against their own interests, further empowering and enriching the corporate elite. We must not let the truth be shrouded by the incompetent, greedy, malicious, and lying far right hatemongers. We must fight, because it is the very democracy which the right says they are protecting, that is being choked into extinction.
Published on Sunday, December 26, 2004 by the Associated Press
Conservatives Flip Academic Freedom Debate
Liberal professors are accused of attempting to indoctrinate students. But some teachers say pupils are trying to avoid new ideas.
by Justin Pope
At the University of North Carolina, three incoming freshmen sue over a reading assignment they say offends their Christian beliefs.
In Colorado and Indiana, a national conservative group publicizes student allegations of left-wing bias by professors. Faculty get hate mail and are pictured in mock "wanted" posters; at least one college says a teacher received a death threat.
And at New York's Columbia University, a documentary alleging that teachers intimidate students who support Israel draws the attention of administrators.
The three episodes differ in important ways, but all touch on an issue of growing prominence on college campuses.
Traditionally, clashes over academic freedom pitted politicians or administrators against instructors who wanted to express their opinions and teach as they saw fit. But increasingly, students are invoking academic freedom, contending that biased professors violate their right to classes free from indoctrination.
In many ways, the trend echoes past campus conflicts — but turns them around. Once, it was liberal activists citing the importance of "diversity" in pressing their agendas for curriculum change. Now, conservatives have adopted much of the same language in calling for greater openness to their viewpoints.
Similarly, academic freedom guidelines have traditionally been cited to protect left-leaning students from punishment for disagreeing with teachers about such issues as U.S. neutrality before World War II and involvement in Vietnam. Now, those same guidelines are being invoked by conservative students who support the war in Iraq.
To many professors, there's a new and deeply troubling aspect to this latest chapter in the debate over academic freedom: students trying to dictate what they don't want to be taught. Full Story Here
President Clinton in his appearance at the opening of the documentary, "The Hunting of The President," said that we are still in the process of perfecting the Union. Yet, conservatives believe that we are a perfect union, and that union is one in which slavery is legal, women have no rights, and the church is one with the government. These conservatives realize that religion is the opiate of the masses, as Karl Marx stated in the 1800's. So this opiate can be used to manipulate the most base emotions, within the religious body, to vote against their own interests, further empowering and enriching the corporate elite. We must not let the truth be shrouded by the incompetent, greedy, malicious, and lying far right hatemongers. We must fight, because it is the very democracy which the right says they are protecting, that is being choked into extinction.
Published on Sunday, December 26, 2004 by the Associated Press
Conservatives Flip Academic Freedom Debate
Liberal professors are accused of attempting to indoctrinate students. But some teachers say pupils are trying to avoid new ideas.
by Justin Pope
At the University of North Carolina, three incoming freshmen sue over a reading assignment they say offends their Christian beliefs.
In Colorado and Indiana, a national conservative group publicizes student allegations of left-wing bias by professors. Faculty get hate mail and are pictured in mock "wanted" posters; at least one college says a teacher received a death threat.
And at New York's Columbia University, a documentary alleging that teachers intimidate students who support Israel draws the attention of administrators.
The three episodes differ in important ways, but all touch on an issue of growing prominence on college campuses.
Traditionally, clashes over academic freedom pitted politicians or administrators against instructors who wanted to express their opinions and teach as they saw fit. But increasingly, students are invoking academic freedom, contending that biased professors violate their right to classes free from indoctrination.
In many ways, the trend echoes past campus conflicts — but turns them around. Once, it was liberal activists citing the importance of "diversity" in pressing their agendas for curriculum change. Now, conservatives have adopted much of the same language in calling for greater openness to their viewpoints.
Similarly, academic freedom guidelines have traditionally been cited to protect left-leaning students from punishment for disagreeing with teachers about such issues as U.S. neutrality before World War II and involvement in Vietnam. Now, those same guidelines are being invoked by conservative students who support the war in Iraq.
To many professors, there's a new and deeply troubling aspect to this latest chapter in the debate over academic freedom: students trying to dictate what they don't want to be taught. Full Story Here
