Politics in the Classroom
June 10th, 2008 by Kim
Would you skew a paper’s thesis to match your professor’s political views if you thought it would earn you a good grade? Would you stick to your own beliefs if you thought it would negatively affect your grade?
An entry by Stanley Fish on his NYT blog, “Think Again,” is what got me thinking (again) about politics and the classroom.
Fish is talking about whether there is a correlation between a professor’s political affiliation and his or her teaching ability (he argues there is none). I’m been thinking about a more simple, but related, topic — how a professor who makes his or her political views very apparent in the classroom can create a detrimental learning environment for students.
I haven’t taken a poll, but I would guess that the majority of the faculty at the University of Hawai‘i lean in the liberal direction. In the few classes I have taken at UH, including a Hawaiian history class and a political science class, it was not difficult to figure out the instructors’ political viewpoints, and they made little effort to conceal their personal opinions about the subject matter. But I don’t know whether a couple of professors are indicative of the entire university.
I don’t mean to say this is only a problem at the University of Hawai‘i. I majored in Political Science at a tiny, liberal arts college in Massachusetts where there were of course concerns about some classroom lectures. Politically biased professors have also been the subject of many articles about higher education. A site called “Politics in the Classroom” has even been set up for students to “out” teachers whom they believe have a political agenda in the classroom.
Certainly, there is no problem with a professor holding strong political opinions. That kind of passion for your subject compels one to delve into the issues and often leads to better instruction. The problem starts when an instructor begins to use lessons as a platform for his or her political views. Then, the class ceases to be about academic learning and starts to be about political advocacy.
The worst is when this turns the classroom into an uncomfortable environment for any person who does not agree with the instructor’s personal politics.
True story: A friend once described a class with some of the most interesting reading material he had encountered in college. But the person teaching the class was so opinionated about the texts, he said, that he felt the only way to get an A was to skew his papers toward the instructor’s viewpoint.
In my opinion, that’s a dangerous situation. College should be about learning to think independently and creatively, because high school so often is not. And a college classroom is the last place in the world where a person should be made to feel uncomfortable about his or her views on any issue.
June 10th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
We like to think that people can set aside their personal beliefs when the job (doctor, lawyer, professor, police officer, etc.) requires it, but we are all human. As you can probably tell, I lean more on the conservative side (I think of conservatives as the iceberg and liberals as the Titanic =D), and out of the 2 Bs I received during my English major career in college, both of them were from bleeding heart liberals. On the other hand, one of my favorite professors (who also wrote letters of rec for me) of all time was an outspoken German lesbian who taught African American literature.
In the end, however, I didn’t mind having politically charged atmospheres in the classroom. It made things fun and interesting and the real professors respect your writing for what it is, and not who it came from.
June 10th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
I think at the heart of this matter is no so much about political viewpoints, but viewpoints in general–specifically how and educator’s viewpoint factors into their class. At the end of the day it shouldn’t factor into the class as far as the work that students produce, but you say when it does happen it is a dangerous situation.
I’ll be the first to say that yes I have catered projects/papers towards how some of my professors thought/felt because I knew I was going to do better by this. If I were to ask my friend, she would definitely say that from the professors she’s had at UH that there definitely is majority for educator bias in the classroom for the particular way they think. I’m not saying that all of UH is like this, cause I know it’s not, but it is something that I and my friends have experienced on a regular basis.
June 10th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
When I taught, I did everything I could to create an environment in the classroom conducive to free expression of ideas. I reiterated that people could disagree with me. However, I always felt about 5% of the students did not believe me.
June 10th, 2008 at 3:51 pm
Somewhat related to this topic, are the professors who require students to purchase the books they’ve authored, thus extending their particular point-of-view, in addition to providing a source of income.
June 11th, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Professors need to avoid talking about things that have nothing to do with the subject they’re teaching!
Too many professors think their job is to preach their worldview. They should just get a blog and keep it there!
June 16th, 2008 at 8:56 am
When I was at UH, I took a political science course with quite an opinionated prof. One of the guys in my class was Republican and every time he tried to make his views known, our prof would promptly shoot him down and argue with him. One day he stopped showing up to class. He said that he was tired of being manipulated.
Sad, but true.
Personally, I have skewed my paper topic to appease my profs before. It’s a pretty crappy situation that you would ever have to do that, but luckily it was only for a couple of my filler courses, and had nothing to do with my major.