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What's your definition of an activist if you don't like mine?
I don't like your definition?
Where'd you pull that from?
A working definition is often useful particularly in these type threads.
Do I need to explain why?
Open-mindedness is a wonderful application as well. Particularly when you're searching for answers and in the process of learning, that'd be good advice for your daughter.
A working definition is often useful particularly in these type threads.
Do I need to explain why?
Open-mindedness is a wonderful application as well. Particularly when you're searching for answers and in the process of learning, that'd be good advice for your daughter.
Perhaps for you too...*s*
I gave my definition of "activist professor'. Now you have the floor. What is yours?
But really, the bias can be benign and inconspicuous. The teacher may even be unwitting. Sample questions on an exam.
Q: List the programs FDR used which got America out of the Depression.
A conservative student might say:
A. What the hell are you talking about? FDR's massive social spending spree PROLONGED and WORSENED the Great Depression, and set into motion the entitlement mentality which pulls down our nation today.
or
Q: List the measures taken by George W. Bush to protect our country from terrorism.
A liberal student might say:
A. What the hell are you talking about? Bush's war against Iraq created terrorists where there were none before. We are in greater danger now than we were before 9-11.
I had a college history teacher who taught the stuff I'd learned from grade school through high school. FDR was great, Hoover was a failure, JFK was magical, and Nixon was a crook. Since I was apolitical then, it never occurred to me history class had had been a decidedly liberal take all the way through. It may not have occurred to the professor that his was a one-sided analysis. On the tests, I regurgitated this bias without batting an eye.
I don't know if this teacher was an activist or not. I didn't think about it then. He may have been teaching the default liberal worldview without thinking it through, a prospect which is even more alarming. Institutional activism is much harder to get around than is one activist teacher.
I absolutely agree that those are bad questions, and though I have never experienced such a question, I wouldn't be surprised to see them out there. With that said, they are all very poor questions for a college class. For a high school class, questions like 'What did this president do with regards to that problem?' are reasonable questions. For a college class, students should be expected to be able to analyze data and answer how and why questions by providing evidence to support a logical conclusion. I would certainly be interested to see any data on the prevalence of questions of the form that you described in American college education.
btw, do you realize that those 20 Va Tech faculty members represent less than 1 percent of the faculty? Practically running rampant.
Those are just the ones who wrote a letter to a regional paper not even in their hometown within the space of one year. Most of them were from English or History departments. No telling the other types of activism the others engage in. I'd say 20 is a pretty phenomenal figure. Probably a third of those departments writing letters. Wow! And VT is certainly not considered a hotbed of radicalism.
I absolutely agree that those are bad questions, and though I have never experienced such a question, I wouldn't be surprised to see them out there. With that said, they are all very poor questions for a college class. For a high school class, questions like 'What did this president do with regards to that problem?' are reasonable questions. For a college class, students should be expected to be able to analyze data and answer how and why questions by providing evidence to support a logical conclusion. I would certainly be interested to see any data on the prevalence of questions of the form that you described in American college education.
These were general simplistic examples which, as you say, might be seen on a high school test. But it's not hard to imagine a form of these questions asking for analysis as you might see on a college exam.
I can only give you my perspective. I attended Gonzaga University, a private, 4-year liberal arts university that is Jesuit. Having never stepped inside of a Catholic church before and being raised in a very strict Protestant house (church twice on Sunday, once on Wedesday, church camp, no dancing, no secular music, etc, etc) it was quite a shock. Suddenly, I had professors who were called "Father (blank)". It wasn't heavy on the religous aspect, but I did have to take one semester of religion. The first day, the priest told all of us that the Bible was merely a way of telling a story. There were good parts and bad, but it shouldn't be taken literally. Having been raised on "the bible is as good as coming from God's own mouth", I waited for the sky to open and for the priest to be struck by lightning.
4 years later, I graduated with a totally different perspective about life, religion, my place in the world, etc. The university did it's job. I am not Catholic but I don't attend my parent's church anymore either. I have found myself open to far more beliefs and thoughts than I would have been had I attended my family's church college. I had professors I disagreed with but as I was not one of the confident few who had the guts to stand up and tell them so, I went along with their ideas but in the end, it only enforced many of my own.
Just because your child is attending a university where he/she may have professors who they don't agree with doesn't mean they are going to graduate as some crazy, dread-locked pot smoking protestor who will spend their life fighting against "the man" and won't become a Capitalist. My ideas and thoughts have changed dramatically from the time I held my college diploma in my hand to the person I am today. What hasn't changed is my desire for knowledge, and that is the entire point of a college degree. Your child is only going to find their beliefs reinforced at college and possibly even question some they had that they now find they disagree with. College is supposed to open your mind to the world around you and turn you into a person who will contribute to society. If you're going to school to merely get a job afterwards, you can attend a trade school.
Here is the question. She has been warned by friends who have taken the same path that she will encounter professors with a very different ideology from hers. History is a subject that is especially open to interpretation. They tell her she will face this dilemma in taking tests: Either she will have to regurgitate the professor's political opinions in order to get a good grade; or she will stick to her guns, give answers which may be counter to the teacher's, and likely suffer grade consequences. One of her friends said it's best just to play the game, get along, then get out and fight battles that really matter. Had I had this dilemma as a student, I don't think I would have played ball. I would have probably taken my lumps.
In some cases, you don't have options as to the teacher. How do you navigate this potential minefield? Anyone?
Hmmm...my GF is a history major. She did 1/2 her undergrad at one school and now is doing the other 1/2 at another. She talks, a lot, about every little detail of her day. My point with that is that I never heard her once mention that she had to regurgitate the professors words or stick to her guns, because if she did, I would definitely remember (because I would probably still be hearing about it).
I am sure that it happens......somewhere....or maybe with a professor or two, but to expect that an entire department at a school is like this is utterly ridiculous.
There are conservative schools out there, you know. Tell her to apply to one of those.
Hmmm...my GF is a history major. She did 1/2 her undergrad at one school and now is doing the other 1/2 at another. She talks, a lot, about every little detail of her day. My point with that is that I never heard her once mention that she had to regurgitate the professors words or stick to her guns, because if she did, I would definitely remember (because I would probably still be hearing about it).
I am sure that it happens......somewhere....or maybe with a professor or two, but to expect that an entire department at a school is like this is utterly ridiculous.
There are conservative schools out there, you know. Tell her to apply to one of those.
I don't believe I mentioned a specific ideology, did I?
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