I am in disbelief of this..

[fett]

That makes you someone I admire. You have your mortarboard on straight. Why not go out and ask a few kids if they think their profs have a bias? I know this is off topic, but it would be real interesting what you find out. It could be a very cool thread. I know it really depends on which school we are talking about. God knows, my school was dead as a door nail while SF State was rioting and UC had the National Guard all over the place.

[danastas]

Well, my school caters to northeastern liberals. My colleagues are my friends, I know where they stand and how they teach. If anything, I'm the radical who thinks a doctor who deosn't believe in evolution may be a bad doctor. Most of my colleagues seem to think it's just fine.

Argos, the war in iraq is usually a discussion that won't be handled in many humanities subjects other than history and polisci. But the topic of abortion does come up in my classes because of the subject matter I teach. Again, it's easy as pie not to moralize on it because I have to deal with the subject in context (whatever case is discussed in the text).

[fett]

So does that mean that you teach liberal arts or "liberal" arts? Are you saying that highshool kids choose their schools by witch (bad spelling but WTF ) way they lean? Probably. Now, I can understand how a Lit Prof doesn't have a lot of room, put a Econ or a Poli-Sci Prof can really spout off. Is that a balanced education? It's raining and this is about as hot a topic as it's going to get around here.:ROTF: :ROTF: :ROTF: :ROTF:

[Argos]

Argos, the war in iraq is usually a discussion that won't be handled in many humanities subjects other than history and polisci. But the topic of abortion does come up in my classes because of the subject matter I teach. Again, it's easy as pie not to moralize on it because I have to deal with the subject in context (whatever case is discussed in the text).

What about Philosophy? Economics? Religious Studies? International Studies?

[fett]

Ahh, Philosophy. When I was in college, I got into it with the teach. He shut me down by saying: "Are you arguing for argument's sake?" I will never, ever, forget that.:ROTF: :ROTF: :ROTF: :ROTF: :ROTF: :ROTF:

[Tashtego]

I have a couple good friends that are professors at local universities. The history and english departments at the university are totally dominated by communist/feminist crazy people. I believe you Danastas that political persuation isn't openly discussed in hiring but it doesn't have to be. The published work of the candidate & private conversation with former advisors reveal if the candidate has the right political persuation. In fact, it is next to impossible to be published in any journals if the work does not conform to what I will simply call leftist orthodoxy. Wrong thinking researchers are never published. Heretics hardly ever make it to the interview process. Political orthodoxy is very strictly maintained in the humanities and it has impoverished the field greatly. The result is a lack of intellectual diversity and vigor. I think this is acknowledged by society at large by the low value placed on a humanities degree.

[fett]

That's it!!!! I don't want to be college educated anymore. I'll just let my 30+year old degree fade away. Then I can think straight.:ROTF: :ROTF: :ROTF: :ROTF: :ROTF:

[Tashtego]

why do I feel like I've just pulled at some cheese on a funny looking little platform?

[fett]

You did good, kid. I just don't understand why campusi (is that the plural?:ROTF: :ROTF: ) or is it campussy, have to "educate" with a little "PERSONAL OPINION":ROTF: :ROTF: :ROTF: :ROTF: :ROTF:

[danastas]

Low value placed on humanities degrees? Huh? Where'd you get that?

The point I was making earlier is that some far right nuts are painting with a broad brush and they have no idea who teaches where and what we believe. They've done a good job of perverting things in the media and tarring people. I teach in an English department. The people that teach with me are pretty boring. I wish they were crazy radicals, because it would liven things up. The old cliche about profs was much more on target, they 're nerds. The new cliche is a political smear job and it's ludicrous.

I've been on hiring committees, I've read dossiers. The story that published work tells us anything about political persuasion is ludicrous. I'd like someone here to give me even a hypothetical paper topic in English that can pin your political persuasion. I haven't seen one yet, and I've read through thousands of dossiers.

[danastas]

What about Philosophy? Economics? Religious Studies? International Studies?

Are you thinking of the war in Iraq? I can't think of a philosophy discussion that would take that up. Religious studies would take up the Koran. Economics? again, I'm stumped as to how that figures. International Studies is an interdisciplinary field between PoliSci and History, so yes.

[danastas]

So does that mean that you teach liberal arts or "liberal" arts? Are you saying that highshool kids choose their schools by witch (bad spelling but WTF ) way they lean? Probably. Now, I can understand how a Lit Prof doesn't have a lot of room, put a Econ or a Poli-Sci Prof can really spout off. Is that a balanced education? It's raining and this is about as hot a topic as it's going to get around here.:ROTF: :ROTF: :ROTF: :ROTF:

Well, if they do show bias there, those are the two fields that have a lot of conservatives in the Humanities.

I'll explain it this way. A lot of this bothers me because I have to actually put up with parents that call my office and yell at me for teaching a book with the word "cunt" in it. They demand that I remove it. I tell them that their son or daughter is 18 years old and that they should be making decisions for themselves. Furthermore, I tell them I chose a certain book because I thought it was a worthy text for a college course and college students. These are the same people, in my opinion, that want to outlaw Harry Potter books. If I taught Harry Potter (which I can't imagine doing) I'd get a call from someone saying, "What if my child converts to Satanism after reading that book?" And I'd say, that's up to them. And then the media would put out this story: "Professor tries to convert students to Satanism."

That's literally how it works and that's why I really have little patience with all of this.

[lerxstcat]

I can see why that would piss you off, but then again it also shows that you have a bias in this based on your bad experience.

My experience has been that history and political science professors do have leftist leanings. When the prof spins how evil Teddy Roosevelt was for orchestrating the Panama revolution, he acts as though great powers haven't always done that. When he tells you about the accomplishments of Communism in the USSR but doesn't tell you about Stalin starving 20 million Soviets to death to buy weaponry, he's spinning for Communism.

Granted my college experiences were many years ago, but to me if my profs were that leftist in a conservative state like Mississippi, I can only imagine what it's like in liberal strongholds.

[Tashtego]

Low value placed on humanities degrees? Huh? Where'd you get that?

The point I was making earlier is that some far right nuts are painting with a broad brush and they have no idea who teaches where and what we believe. They've done a good job of perverting things in the media and tarring people. I teach in an English department. The people that teach with me are pretty boring. I wish they were crazy radicals, because it would liven things up. The old cliche about profs was much more on target, they 're nerds. The new cliche is a political smear job and it's ludicrous.

I've been on hiring committees, I've read dossiers. The story that published work tells us anything about political persuasion is ludicrous. I'd like someone here to give me even a hypothetical paper topic in English that can pin your political persuasion. I haven't seen one yet, and I've read through thousands of dossiers.

I guess you haven't noticed that a bachelors of arts in history or english doesn't get you too far in the world anymore. It is a commonplace joke outside the ivory towers.
I will counter that it is ludicrous to assert that the published work doesn't tell you about political persuation in the field of history and yes, often even english. A quick glance at the table of contents of current issue of the Oxford Journal of American Literary History reveals a number of articles that obviously have political context and content.

http://alh.oxfordjournals.org/current.dtl#ARTICLES

I marvel that you have never come across the like in your career.

[Tashtego]

I can see why that would piss you off, but then again it also shows that you have a bias in this based on your bad experience.

My experience has been that history and political science professors do have leftist leanings. When the prof spins how evil Teddy Roosevelt was for orchestrating the Panama revolution, he acts as though great powers haven't always done that. When he tells you about the accomplishments of Communism in the USSR but doesn't tell you about Stalin starving 20 million Soviets to death to buy weaponry, he's spinning for Communism.

Granted my college experiences were many years ago, but to me if my profs were that leftist in a conservative state like Mississippi, I can only imagine what it's like in liberal strongholds.

Many of the ones up here are actual Stalinists, I shit you not.