I am in disbelief of this..

[danastas]

I'm a professor. I have to say, I have no idea where these ideas come from. I don't recognize any of what you're describing. Note: the names went up when local students from the Harlem Black and Hispanic communities fought to have the student center named as such. Had nothing to do with faculty. Heck, the only person who realized the name belonged to a criminal was a Russian kid by the name of Sergey.

I'm well aware that conservatives have an itch in their jock over academics. It's largely because we're not co-opted like the media is. but if you think politics or ideology ever come up for discussion when we hire people, you're just absolutely dead wrong. It's absurd to even think about it. Not only that, but you have a lot of conservative professors out there too. Admittedly, the Humanities--literature, sociology, psychology, etc.--are dominated by liberals. But the sciences, business school, and even Humanities subjects like political science and economics and history, have a lot of conservatives. In fact, a much greater number than liberals. This is how it is. The rest is all propaganda run by Mr. Horowitz and those who pay him. I know this issue like the back of my hand. I know a colleague who wrote a pretty funny book recently http://www.amazon.com/History-Africa...ion/1888451572

The anti-academic crowd went after him when he wrote a book about how our culture sexualizes children. He focused on MTV, on Jon Benet Ramsay, etc. So they labeled the guy a pedophile pinko. It's just ridiculous. And I bet they went after him because he wrote that pretty funny book in the first place.

[Shawn Lutz]

well the first year or two of "higher education" these days consist of bindge drinking, girls gone wild, and finding ways to stick it to the man in any way, shape or form including defaulting on student loans

[atomic charvel guy]

Don't worry, I'm gaining everyday, and I am gonna straighten some shit out here in this country once I reach office. It's gonna be cool, 5 years from the day is all i ask and I will have changed the good'ol US of Fukkin A for the better.
1st move- take all the sand from the middle east and make the U.S. one big black crowes beach, and then take the oil, and make sure everybody in the united states of Amorica has money, food , and jobs, this all after I'm done building a huge giant impenetrable dome that does not hurt your tanning action around this great place to live. 5, maybe 6 years. I'm fukkin' on it.

[rjohnstone]

Tommy must have some REALLY GOOD "stuff" today.
I dig the beach. Time to make the sand castles!!!

[atomic charvel guy]

it's pretty fukkin' dynamite RJ if you want to stop over. It's fukkin' beautiful out as well, i am not working anymore, i decided it just is a waste of time, why bother? Until I find a reason, I will continue on my mission.

[fett]

It's just that I have heard too many stories where students are getting a "dose". That would be they feel they are being "taught" with a bias that shows. I grew up in the '60's and '70's and I did not detect the kind of "soapboxing" that seems to be more in evidence today then when I went to school. But then, I grew up in the 'burbs and went to school there. Maybe that wasn't such a bad thing.

[atomic charvel guy]

Hey Stukes,
i don't mean to hijack this thread, but it is beyond fukked up, and I was just spouting there for a minute, it's what I do. See you soon right?

[Argos]

It's just that I have heard too many stories where students are getting a "dose". That would be they feel they are being "taught" with a bias that shows. I grew up in the '60's and '70's and I did not detect the kind of "soapboxing" that seems to be more in evidence today then when I went to school. But then, I grew up in the 'burbs and went to school there. Maybe that wasn't such a bad thing.

I hear the stories too, but I think they're VERY sensationalized. For example, a professor at my school was listed as one of the most "Dangerous Professors in America" (such a list is completely absurd, anyway), and the guy is great. I've never seen him preach or lead students in accordance with his own political agenda.

Granted, there are some professors with a political edge to their teaching, but if students are taken by that and fail to do their own research, they're poor scholars anyway.

[fett]

These kids are right out of highschool (incubator) and their little brains are like Play-Doh!!!!!. They aren't sophisticated enough to know what is "Fact" and what is "Opinion". (Nevermind, I know I'm in for it now). It's not an even playing field. The kids look up to the teachies and the teachies can be as active as a little old lady with a wad of clay and a wheel.:ROTF: :ROTF: :ROTF: :ROTF:

[danastas]

The problem for me is I can't even imagine how politics enters into the question at all when most professors teach. In political science, yes, I could see there being implied biases, because you're discussing politics. But that's the field that has a high number of conservatives. PoliSci departments are usually very well balanced precisely because of the subject matter.

I gave an example about the English professor from USC who writes about sexuality in the media. You would think that's not necessarily a political subject. But some people think it is. So when he researches the effects media in terms of sexualizing children, he gets labeled a crazy and a pedophile. Of course it's sensationalized.

Let's say a sociologist is studying gay culture in America. Maybe he's gay, who knows? It's irrelevant, because a Sociology department's whole reason for being is to study groups of people and behaviors. So what's bugging people? The fact that an academic has dedicated his research to gay people? Is that political?

A couple years ago an important study sponsored by the NIH had its funding stripped because they were tracking how sexual diseases get spread. What they found out was that trucking and truckers had a lot to do with it (apparently, truckers are the horniest fuckers around). People were all up in arms because the researchers were literally hanging out at truck stops and talking to truckers and 'hos confidentially about life at the truck stop. The researchers were slammed as being sickos and perverts.

[danastas]

You see this kid here...

http://brain-terminal.com/posts/2004/09/09/brainwashing-101

My brother knows him. He's a nice guy. Sure enough his whole project is bankrolled by some heavy-hitters in the political world. That's the way it goes these days. It gets hard to believe what you see or read in the media.

[StukaJU87]

Hey Stukes,
i don't mean to hijack this thread, but it is beyond fukked up, and I was just spouting there for a minute, it's what I do. See you soon right?

No problem, Tommy. I always enjoy your banter.

YES! I will see you soon. I will be in Vegas from Sunday to Wednesday January 14-17 and then we are driving to Anaslime from there. Maybe a stop off in BCB, but I got no contact info on you, ya putz.

[fett]

I am not objecting to a professor bringing up topics that can be contended. That is what makes an education. I object to any teacher that comes off with a "view" that bleeds into the flow of what should be clean of bias.

[danastas]

Right, i realize that, and we're definitely off topic here from what Stuka posted, we can all agree on the thread, but I'm just saying I can't even imagine how bias plays in a t all. I mean, if a professor is talking about 19th century Brits and he suddenly says, Richard Nixon was an asswipe, then I can see your point. I've been teaching at a university for many years now and never once has the subject of politics come up. I've literally had thousands of students come through.

It just depends on how you define politics. if you're talking political parties, etc. That's one thing. But if you're talking about culture, values, etc. Well, that's our job. That's what we get paid to do.

[Argos]

I'm not so sure about that. I think there are a lot of topics in different subjects that professors have to be careful around.

I see most of my professors dance around things like the choice for an abortion, the war in Iraq, the current domination of the American political system by white evangelical Christians, etc. These things come up in a lot of different classes. It's unfortunate that professors can have a difficult time teaching material because they're walking on eggshells in fear of being branded a preaching radical, but that's how it is.

I'd take a shot and say that many students would be happier with professors who had the balls to pull out the stops in their course material and lectures. I know that I would.