This is mainly for Starving Artist’s benefit, who firmly believes educators try to turn their students into liberals.
Yes, some instructors did try to influence my political views and those of other classmates. To be fair, some of this was in history classes and constitutional law where it was virtually impossible for there not to be some political slant in instruction one way or another.
Well, one definitely said she was a tree-hugger and advocated being on the bone marrow registry (she was talking about misfolded proteins and diseases - biology class). Another (Ethics class) offered extra credit for anyone who write a pro-life paper.
We had a similar thread not too long ago, I believe with the side-thesis by some poster(s) that students would be foolish to not go along with whatever their profs were throwing down.
My response was one of puzzlement because that sort of thing certainly never happened to me as an undergrad or graduate student. I was aware of a minority of my prof’s political leanings for one reason or another. Don’t recall it ever being an issue.
Furthermore, I gained the respect of several of my professors by disagreeing with them in class. I had the impression they disliked it when students went along with them just for appearances.
The problem with the wording on this poll is that it still sort of assumes that they were trying to influence me to become a liberal. How about “No, because it was a math class and the subject never came up”? Or “No, the subject never came up”? Or “I went to a Baptist university and some of my professors thought Regan was too middle of the road.”?
I openly try to influence my students’ political views. The smarter and more critical they are, the more likely they are to vote (D).
It also assumes that the teachers were being blatant enough to really be noticeable. I don’t recall any of my teachers trying to push an agenda, but kids are pretty malleable, and generally speaking that’s what’s expected of them. They’re expected to be quiet, listen, and absorb what they’re being told, especially from teachers. That being said, I’m pretty sure the vast majority of mine were too busy trying to teach to the tests to have any spare time for their own brand of brainwashing.
I really only had a few teachers ever push the idea that we shouldn’t just accept what we were told or what we read.
I encountered this attitude from some of my professors as well.
Regards,
Shodan
There is also a difference between expressing their own views and opinions in a class and trying to actively influence or force them on students (or not tolerate and respect different views).
When I’m teaching about vaccination in my microbiology course, hell yes I’m addressing the anti-vax movement and discussing the damage it’s done. But I’m also discussing how these future doctors and nurses can talk about it with their patients in a productive and respectful manner. I’m not an iPad app delivering robotic content. I’m allowed to have a point of view, as it is relevant to the course and material, and respectful to the students.
and is this part of your job description? you sound like the people here (and elsewhere) who post threads like “how can I force my kids to like the same music I like?”
news flash- you can’t. your kids are not clones of you. your students are not brainless automatons for you to program. They will take the information you give them and form their own points of view.
stop acting like children are a fucking product. Start acting like they’re people.
In high school I do remember the political leanings or beliefs of some of my teachers. But it was almost always mentioned in “down time” or in a joking manner (one of my French exams had a translation of ‘Francois Mitterand is smarter than George Bush’). Once I saw a stridently enviornmental video in biology class and we had to write a paper on it. But I (and a lot of others) didn’t do it, and our teacher didn’t press it. That’s the only time I remember political beliefs affecting what we were taught.
I went to a Jesuit college, and if you know anything about that order they tend to be liberal and very socially concsious. But I remember a lot of conservative classmates; for the most part they ignored the comments and just did their work. I don’t remember students ever openly challenging a professor, and when students jousted in their written material they were fine as long as clear effort at rational thought was shown.
Think you kinda got wooshed there
if so, then I think it’s fair for me to claim Poe’s Law is in play here.
Just as long as we’re not invoking rule 34. :eek:
I took it as saying by working hard to educate his students (just normal instruction), they will be critical thinkers and smart because of their education, which lends itself to voting democrat. Tongue in cheek.
This is what I remember from school. I had a history teacher who pronounced Buddhism “booty-ism” and I had another history teacher so busy coaching basketball we were assigned chapters to read and mimeographed multiple choice quizzes. I loved it of course. No essays. That’s all I can tell you about 10 years of education.
Oh and that the slaves were happier in this country instead of in the jungle.
All I remember is pretty hardcore progressive pushing in one college English class. I guess it didn’t really strike me as such at the time, but now I think it was a inappropriate. In political science, fine, but this was English composition. I don’t mind a little bit, but it was basically the whole course.
Just that class was the only blatant one I remember. I’m sure someone on t_D would take issue with every aspect of my education (“they mentioned Japanese internment? Those Marxists!”) but I think most would object to that one English class.
First grade. 8:01 am, September 1… Today, boys and girls, we are going to memorize the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag.
One that comes to mind immediately. I was a student in high school when I took his Introduction to Political Science class, in the late 1970s.
To him, the British Empire was devoted to enslaving and colonizing freedom-loving peoples, especially if they weren’t white. Americans were warmongers, who should never have been in Vietnam. The Soviet Union, Cuba, and China were peace-loving people who just wanted to be left alone, but who were forced to arm themselves because of the constant threat posed by the US. The police were pigs who too often violently interrupted the working class’s right to protest. Capitalism sucks. And so on and so on, yada, yada, yada.
In fairness, I will note that nothing he said went over the line–he never denied Stalinist show trials or the Chinese Cultural Revolution, for example. (Actually, he endorsed them, stating that such things were for the good of the USSR and China, respectively.) But still, if you wanted to pass the class, you had to follow his line on tests, essays, and exams. Critical thinking and questioning his assertions earned you a failing grade. So we rolled our eyes, and wrote what he wanted to hear. We were smart enough to think for ourselves outside of that class.
But if he’s the only one that stands out after all the teachers I had at elementary, middle, and high schools, and all the professors I had doing two university degrees, then I’d suggest the problem of “liberal teachers influencing students to be liberal” is pretty much non-existent. All of the teachers I had (except for the guy I discussed above) encouraged critical thinking and free thought. And especially in disciplines that required defending your position, they did not mark you down just because your well-defended personal position conflicted with their personal position.
Yes some do; I’ve seen it happen. Too many times I heard a teacher say to their pupils, “As a good socialist I…” 1990s UK. I wasn’t a pupil then, just working in schools.
And most do not. And some are conservatives who do it (I had a colleague who strutted around in a MAGA hat after the election crowing about it class). The idea that academia, as an institution, is generally characterized by faculty trying to turn their students into liberals is not true, individual faculty member’s behaviors not withstanding.