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[fse]

Just tell your teacher that you don't approve of her making fun of the mentally disabled.

:lol

 

[brooklyngooner]

I have followed Horowitz's movement for awhile and the goal is not to get rid of liberal professors or have an "affirmative action for conservative professors" on colleges either. The idea is that professors need to spend class time teaching the subject, not brainwashing the students into believing what they think(liberal or conservative). A student should not be forced to write an essay defending an opinion that he/she thinks is crap. Professors should not be trying to get students to join a politcal movement whatever it may be. At least not during class time. And students should not be failed because they disagree with the professor. That's the goal of the Academic Bill of Rights.

Are you for real? Have you actually read any of Horowitz's shrieking diatribes against the treacherous fifth column left that has insidiously wormed its way into tenured positions among our nation's university faculty to push their America-hating agendas?

 

[radioheadrule83]

Any variation of this kind of law would be the equivelent of teh Freedom of Speech being abducted and gang raped by politicians. They should stay the hell out of the college system, and let individual universities decide their own policies, with input from the student body.

Actually I agree with that. There should be no laws on what you can and can't say.... I do think that's overkill and I should have said so in my post. Such a law could obviously be abused. By dumbed down variation, I meant something less etched into the fabric of society, something less black and white, and handled instead directly by the Universities/Collegiate-schools etc.

I think that it should be a common practice for a University to have a policy whereby staff are accountable for things they say in class. We might be adults, but that's not to say we won't be affected, or perhaps even insulted. Preaching personal politics in a class where it has no place is an abuse of position. Unless it has total relevance (some seminars/discussions obviously invite personal views), nobody should have to listen to it.

I know if I was having to listen to it again and again, I'd very much want to complain and see something done about it.

 

[MrAngryFace]

Yeah, then we need a law to stop rain, cause I may be able to make attempts to ignore it, but it doesnt keep it from affecting me. Cause you know, things affecting me is bad, maybe we can just shut all that stuff off. So I can either become a god, or a vegetable.

 

[Mandark]

I have followed Horowitz's movement for awhile and the goal is not to get rid of liberal professors or have an "affirmative action for conservative professors" on colleges either. The idea is that professors need to spend class time teaching the subject, not brainwashing the students into believing what they think(liberal or conservative). A student should not be forced to write an essay defending an opinion that he/she thinks is crap. Professors should not be trying to get students to join a politcal movement whatever it may be. At least not during class time. And students should not be failed because they disagree with the professor. That's the goal of the Academic Bill of Rights.

You're wrong.

First of all, it's just not plausible that someone who would create a site like this would build a movement about nonpartisan academic freedom.

Secondly, Horowitz has said openly that he's organizing conservative students, that it's liberal/leftist/Marxist (yes, Marxist!) professors who create the problem. He's said that biology teachers should make their students aware of creationism.

Thirdly, Horowitz likes to hammer the word "diversity." In a Salon article, he talked about having students track down the party affiliation of professors, and griped that the universities seemed to be more liberal than the states they were in.

He never introduced any evidence that these professors were unqualified, that other candidates had been turned down because of their politics, or that these professors graded students by non-academic standards. He was talking about the ratio of Democrats to Republicans in the faculty as a problem unto itself.

Fourthly, "A student should not be forced to write an essay defending an opinion that he/she thinks is crap." Yes they should. Teacher teaches. Student studies. Student writes paper to show they understand what they're meant to be studying.

The whole point of college is to learn, not to cherry-pick whatever social/scientific/literary theories fit your preconceptions and refuse to study everything else. If a student is qualified to write their own curriculum, then there's really no point in them going to college at all.

radioheadrule83: I've had professors who have talked about the Yankees, their kids, their home countries, how they lost part of their finger in shop class, etc. All while they were meant to be teaching me. Amazingly, I have not introduced any legislation to remedy this.

 

[brooklyngooner]

On point as always Mandark.

 

[radioheadrule83]

You seem to think I hold a wholly different opinion to you. After clarifying I don't think new laws are required I've had two replies saying we don't need new legislation.

Profs can talk about whatever the hell they want... but if they're getting bent out of shape and preaching personal politics in class when they should be teaching me something worlds apart I reserve the right to complain to those they answer to. A lot of people don't care and let a lot of things slide -- but the way I see it, we pay them far too much to entertain their pleasantries and political leanings. Fuck that. Teach me what I'm here to learn.

I've paid £1,100 twice for two years to hear people (for whom the lines of objectivity and subjectivity have clearly been blurred,) lecture others. And I'm not just talking politics there. They've eschewed one theory/perspective in favor of other(s), favoured certain styles of creativity and actually knocked people down a peg in front of a class for saying things they disagree with. Some, but certainly not all of my lecturers, I found to be rude, patronising and incompetent. All for a media degree programme that clearly has no vocational benefit, glazing over theories and promoting a good old thoughtful chin stroking as opposed to giving you any actual talent or creativity. Fucking hacks.

I really wish I'd done a politics degree actually. It would have been a lot more engaging, and I would have welcomed their views.

 

[Azih]

Fine then complain to the dean or the administrative staff of your university/college. There is no place for freaking politicans and demagouges in the environment.

 

[peedi]

I have followed Horowitz's movement for awhile and the goal is not to get rid of liberal professors or have an "affirmative action for conservative professors" on colleges either. The idea is that professors need to spend class time teaching the subject, not brainwashing the students into believing what they think(liberal or conservative). A student should not be forced to write an essay defending an opinion that he/she thinks is crap. Professors should not be trying to get students to join a politcal movement whatever it may be. At least not during class time. And students should not be failed because they disagree with the professor. That's the goal of the Academic Bill of Rights.

Let's be honest. Horowitz isn't a conservative. He's a racist, Muslim-hating Jew. And I don't reference his Jewish lineage disparagingly. But, to expose to you the invidious core of the hypocritical contingent he hails from, let's say a muslim espoused the same virtriol Horowitz regularly shits out on frontpagemag.com, but it was directed towards Jews. That Muslim would be roundly reviled by the media and supposed "intellectuals" as an anti-semite not to be taken seriously.

If higher learning were simply a reservoir of information from which to soak your brain, why would anyone enroll? You're there for critical analysis -- particularly in the humanities, the very department undersiege by this neo-fascist scrutiny. The humanities begs perspective, a frame of reference if you will.

The automaton above who said he simply wants to be taught history and nothing else should immediately drop out of college, hole up inside a library and read up on his-story. What good is the relation of the various historically relevant junctures in civilization, if it comes unaccompanied by a frame of reference?

Some of you are deft illustrators of why shit like '24' is popular.

 

[etiolate]

The bill sets a statewide standard that students cannot be punished for professing beliefs with which their professors disagree. Professors would also be advised to teach alternative “serious academic theories” that may disagree with their personal views.

This is the only good idea this bill has, but this should be able to be done through counselers and school admin staff. There's always the prof who just wants to hear his opinion spewed back to him, but this bill is really so the NeoCon group can pass their beliefs and opinions on to the younger generation. If they want to fight his, then get into teaching. It may be a little tougher since you'd be in the minority, but if you can teach then you can teach. There was a US News(I think) article by a conversative who examined the fact that his political party is not moving into that field and its setting up a disparity in viewpoints. This is an extreme answer to that problem.

The funny part is, that political group doesn't have to worry about being pushed out of power by the next generation. As long as NeoCons offer the easiest and most sugercoated solutions then the older age group of power will always move towards them. It wasn't like today's fathers and mothers were never liberal college kids.