ACTA's Must-Reads
« Reading bias | Main | The Shakespeare buzz, contd. »
Northern exposure
Where is the line between education and indoctrination? Can professors reliably tell when they have crossed that line? And what should be done when students sense that their classrooms are becoming politicized? These are some of the questions that were raised last November in an astute editorial published by the University of Alaska at Anchorage's student paper:
Last week, our Seawolf Snapshot question was, "Do you vote?" Shortly after one of the interviews, one of the students came into the office and asked that we not publish her comment. Her reasoning: She knows that her professor has a differing opinion and thinks her grade would suffer because of it.
A November 2004 report, "Politics in the Classroom," reveals that nearly a third of students at 50 top U.S. universities thought their grades were affected by political bias on the part of professors, according to the American Council of Trustees and Alumni.
The report found that 29 percent of respondents agreed with the statement, "On my campus, there are courses in which students feel they have to agree with the professor's political or social views in order to get a good grade."
While research of this sort has not been conducted at UAA, the situation has the potential to become a problem.
In politically focused classes, it is understandable for students to have varying views and opinions. In fact, good debate is a necessary component for learning in these classes. But what about English, history or even math classes where politics get brought into the picture?
Some of The Northern Light's staff members have seen what could be considered political discrimination on campus, such as a liberal arts professor who made his political views perfectly clear, explicitly saying that conservative students don't really belong in his class. Or a history professor who continually went off on tangents ridiculing a political party, and if a student who identified with that party tried to make a reply, that student would get a sarcastic rebuttal, a criticizing speech and a quick return to the actual lecture. Or an A student who suddenly got a C after writing something against the professor's political view.
The editorial goes on to note that "Even if professors' personal views don't influence their grading of students, it is easy to see how students could get the impression that their political views may affect their grades." In other words, professors aren't always the best judge of their own classroom conduct, and may at times, in the moment of trying to encourage debate, shut it down. "Even though most professors will say they don't let personal views interfere with students' grades," the editorial continues, "continually bringing up one's political views in class will certainly give the appearance of political bias, which can only have a stifling effect on students' self-expression."
To its great credit, UAA followed up on the concerns raised by this editorial, convening a panel of students and faculty to discuss the problems that arise when politics enters the classroom. While all agreed that it is wrong for professors to impose their politics on students, the students on the panel found themselves in the interesting position of educating professors about how they come across when they either introduce irrelevant political material or mishandle controversial issues germane to the class.
Ben Cheeseman, a justice major at UAA, said he thinks many students regurgitate their professors' political views in order to get good grades.
"Half the people that are taking the 300-level class are taking it because they have to, not because they want to," said Cheeseman.
Steven Amundsen, also a justice major, said that while many professors acknowledge they are in a position of power, they don't seem to realize how easy it is to coerce their students into withdrawing from discussion or even to drive students away from a classroom when their biases become apparent.
John Whitlocke, a UAA graduate, said he witnessed many students during his time as an economics major writing papers consistent to what they thought the professor's views were, and they were uncomfortable because of that.
Amundsen said he feels best when his professors' political views are not known to him because it is less of a cause for concern.
"If they are willing to set (political views) aside from class and not make the jokes and not make the comments, then it's easier to trust what they are going to say," Amundsen said.
Professors on the panel responded by encouraging students to stick their necks out. "If you want to just get the A, fine, we've all done that. But to say that faculty shouldn't do something because you know it's going to be biased, I disagree with that," an English professor said. "The only way to test that is to take the risk of potentially screwing up, offending somebody, saying what you think and taking responsibility for a different perspective."
Kudos to UAA for sponsoring such an open discussion about such an important issue. And kudos, too, to UAA's dean of students, Bruce Schultz, who upholds the original AAUP standard for academic freedom: "there are two parts to academic freedom," he says; "the right to teach and the right to learn." The better communication is between faculty and students, the more clear everyone will be about what their educational mission is and about how best to foster an intellectual environment that is friendly to free inquiry, debate, and diversity of opinion.
Posted by acta online on May 17, 2007 at May 17, 2007 11:46 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.goactablog.org/blog/mt-tb.cgi/359
Comments
There's a huge difference between these two claims:
a) "nearly a third of students at 50 top U.S. universities thought their grades were affected by political bias on the part of professors"
b) "The report found that 29 percent of respondents agreed with the statement, 'On my campus, there are courses in which students feel they have to agree with the professor's political or social views in order to get a good grade.'"
Clearly, 29% of the students are saying that somewhere on the campus, someone's grades have been affected by a professor's political bias. They are *not* saying that THEIR OWN grades have been affected. So you cannot conclude that 29% of the students' grades have been thus affected. You can only conclude that 29% of the students *suspect* that someone's grades have been affected. Why they suspect this might be from having heard about such cases at other universities.
It's like American's index of fears. More Americans are probably afraid of terrorists than driving for groceries, even though they stand a far better chance of injury from the latter than from the former. American students are being told all across the media that professors are biased, so it's not surprising that 29% of the students at this university think there might be bias at their own institution -- even if they've never experienced it themselves.
Posted by: Linval Thompson at May 18, 2007 09:32 AM
For a first-hand account confirming the ACTA article's (and countering the pooh-poohing remarks of Linval Thompson AKA Luther Bissett), one can read the forthcoming short book by a recent honours English grad, Emily E Bajorek on the coercive practises of leftist profs (especially in the English department) at a major university to intimidate students and propagandise for radical antinomian causes.
Posted by: Jacques Albert at May 18, 2007 11:11 AM
correction (omitted word): "article's justice"
Posted by: Jacques Albert at May 18, 2007 02:00 PM