Bias-free education

[vraiblonde]

Background:

My guess is that you didn't go to college if you think of it as an indoctrination mill. Sure, you send a Redneck to Berkeley and he is going to get an earful of stuff he didn't hear growing up, but the same could be said for sending a Valley Girl going to Texas A&M.

Pick a school that aligns with your values, and you won't have a problem. Or just avoid the overtly political schools.

That said, I went to a "liberal" college in California, and I can think of only one course that had any cultural/political bias whatsoever. And that was a general ed. course called "perspectives on gender" (basically men are the devil). I chose that course because it was the only one that fit my schedule and met the capstone requirement, and I knew going in what to expect. I got an A and I can honestly say I don't remember a thing I "learned" in that class and it has had zero impact on my perspective or my life.

The thing is, unlike gradeschool you get to choose your own path in college. You can be studious and spend your time in class/library, or you can ditch class and go to rally's and parties all day. And if you're afraid your child will choose the later, then maybe the issue isn't the school but how you raised 'em.

My first English Comp prof was a raging hardcore narrow minded leftist who used a lot of our class time spewing his nonsense, which is why I dropped his class.

My Sociology prof was the same. After that experience I decided I didn't really need a degree after all, since all I was doing was paying to listen to some leftwing nut blather for two hours.

So Hodr can say students choose their own path, but you typically don't realize an instructor is a political zealot until you're actually in the class. And you have to take the class to get the required credits. The English guy went so far as to give you a crappy grade if you didn't toe the leftist line in your papers. And don't get me started on the textbooks; they are blatantly biased left.

My algebra and statistics classes were ideology free.

Well as you mentioned, your math courses were ideology free. As I was a STEM major, the majority of my classes were likely similar to your algebra and statistics classes. Only so many ways you can teach 1 + 1.

Perhaps if I was a sociology major I would have had a different experience. That said, the fact that you both recognized the bias and chose a different path I think reinforces my argument that the school didn't indoctrinate you. Unless you think that eventually they would have worn you down if you stuck with it. I suspect if you decided you still wanted the degree you would have put up with / ignored the BS or would have switched to a different school.

I was not indoctrinated, however I was also in my late 40s, early 50s. I was pretty solid on where I stood with things and not inclined to hero worship my professors . The youngsters in my classes, not so much.

Now:

Why should students have to pay to take a class, only to find out that the professor is an ideologue who, PS, grades based on how well you subscribe to his political agenda? And why should you have to change schools until you finally find instructors who aren't zealots? That's ridiculous. Most young people can't afford to just change schools every semester.

Teachers and professors should teach their subject, not use their class like a bully pulpit to spout their nonsense. That goes for right AND left. Unless the school specifies that it takes an ideologically biased approach, they should be neutral. It's completely unfair and unAmerican that they have a hammer hold on our young people who are just trying to get some higher education.

 

[tommyjo]

Hate to tell you this, but no student has to. In case you hadn't heard, there is this thing called the internet. It has sites devoted to specifically to rating professors, courses and colleges. Too difficult for you to believe? Then just try word of mouth. The students know, or can very easily find out, what a class and professor are like.

You seem to be of the opinion that only one professor teaches a particular subject every semester of every school year until they either die or retire. You also seem to be of the opinion, even though you said your personal experience was different, that every professor at every school is a raging progressive.

Your positions are nonsense.

You don't want your kid "indoctrinated"? Then do some damn research on the school before he/she signs an application, do some damn research before they sign up for classed. Your kid doesn't want to take a particular professor, then take the class at a different time...take it at a different school and transfer the credits.

Oh and since you also seem to miss this point...by the time they go to college, the student is an adult who has the full right to choose to believe what they want. You and your tribe seem to think that wonderful aspect of American only applies to those who think just like you do.

Grow up.

 

[GregV814]

uh ohhh I see trouble brewin'........TJ, you are out of your league as well as your head.

 

[vraiblonde]

Your positions are nonsense.

Your face is nonsense.

Grow up.

You first.

 

[PeoplesElbow]

Hate to tell you this, but no student has to. In case you hadn't heard, there is this thing called the internet. It has sites devoted to specifically to rating professors, courses and colleges. Too difficult for you to believe? Then just try word of mouth. The students know, or can very easily find out, what a class and professor are like.

You seem to be of the opinion that only one professor teaches a particular subject every semester of every school year until they either die or retire. You also seem to be of the opinion, even though you said your personal experience was different, that every professor at every school is a raging progressive.

Your positions are nonsense.

You don't want your kid "indoctrinated"? Then do some damn research on the school before he/she signs an application, do some damn research before they sign up for classed. Your kid doesn't want to take a particular professor, then take the class at a different time...take it at a different school and transfer the credits.

Oh and since you also seem to miss this point...by the time they go to college, the student is an adult who has the full right to choose to believe what they want. You and your tribe seem to think that wonderful aspect of American only applies to those who think just like you do.

Grow up.

A lot of the early freshman/sophomore classes are simply listed as "staff" those are given to the newbies etc in the department. Back when I had English 1 in college there were about 30 sections of it, 3 or 4 of them at the exact same time and you rolled the dice.

 

[Larry Gude]

Your face is nonsense.



You first.

 

[BernieP]

Your face is nonsense.



You first.

I am so happy my mouth was empty when I read that


I just hate having to wipe the spray from the screen.


TO answer the nut jobs question, you really don't know until you are in the class that the professor is off on their own tangent.
Trust me, it doesn't have to be political in nature. Rule #1 in when to drop a class, as soon as you find out it's being taught by "Professor Emeritus".
That's a polite way of saying crazy old coot.

 

[Larry Gude]

Name ONE thing bias free.

 

[musiclady]

As a college student, you don't have to agree with the professor to pass the class. You can spin your essays in a way that the professor thinks you agree with him/her. You don't have to believe what you write. I went to St. Mary's college and there we 3 professors there that I truly didn't agree with any of their points. I just wrote based on what they spoke heavily on. Doesn't mean I believed any of it. Some teachers there loved it when students disagreed with them. I had trouble speaking my mind in those classes because I was sure I'd get attacked. The philosophy professor loved it when I came to class having worked the night before. With no sleep, my filter was off and I told people exactly what I thought. I did appreciate the classes where the teacher kept to teaching the subject, those were the best.

 

[BigBlue]

Name ONE thing bias free.

pizza!

 

[Bann]

As a college student, you don't have to agree with the professor to pass the class. You can spin your essays in a way that the professor thinks you agree with him/her. You don't have to believe what you write. I went to St. Mary's college and there we 3 professors there that I truly didn't agree with any of their points. I just wrote based on what they spoke heavily on. Doesn't mean I believed any of it. Some teachers there loved it when students disagreed with them. I had trouble speaking my mind in those classes because I was sure I'd get attacked. The philosophy professor loved it when I came to class having worked the night before. With no sleep, my filter was off and I told people exactly what I thought. I did appreciate the classes where the teacher kept to teaching the subject, those were the best.

So you compromised your values and beliefs (lied) in order to get a good grade?

 

[GURPS]

As a college student, you don't have to agree with the professor to pass the class.

so instead of writing a paper on extolling how you really felt, you censored yourself to get a passing grade


and this benefited you how ?

 

[terbear1225]

Because you have never tailored your speech to match your audience? Personally I think its an important skill that many people are lacking.

 

[Bann]

Because you have never tailored your speech to match your audience? Personally I think its an important skill that many people are lacking.

That's not really the same thing.

 

[glhs837]

pizza!

Hell, you get get some pizza with a couple of guys, say one from, I dunno, maybe Chicago, and one from some other random place, maybe.......ah, hell they are all the same, lets just pick New York........

 

[Hessian]

Name ONE thing bias free.

Larry, I was in a graduate course with a mix of undergrads (Anthropology) from UMd years ago...it was hillarious when (during a treatise reading) it dawned on a number of them that NOTHING is objective. EVERYTHING has some sort of bias. Their post-modern epiphany was sort of sad.....but then again they probably went on to vote for obama and then get hit with another dose of reality: There is NO such thing as "Hope & Change!"

 

[glhs837]

Because you have never tailored your speech to match your audience? Personally I think its an important skill that many people are lacking.

Tailoring your speech is not the same as espousing things you don't believe in. Would you like the C I got on a paper in Soc, where I talked about how the judicial system reduces a fathers rights to almost nil? Or should I have lied and praised a system that gives kids back to drug addicted mothers rather than fathers who care?

 

[Monello]

Decades ago my class had to write an English class paper on a controversial subject. We had to take a side and explain why we felt the way we did. I did mine on hunting. I took a pro stance. Many classmates chose abortion. I did not get a grade that I felt the paper deserved. Most of the comments the teacher wrote on the paper were things that she disagreed with in my argument. She never commented on my sentences nor paragraphs. I didn't realize that we were going to be graded on how she felt about the subject. I figured that she was looking to see if we used techniques we learned in her class. As I sit here typing this today it really doesn't matter what grade on got on that paper. I did an assignment to the best of my abilities as I understood the task at hand.

 

[Larry Gude]

Decades ago my class had to write an English class paper on a controversial subject. We had to take a side and explain why we felt the way we did. I did mine on hunting. I took a pro stance. Many classmates chose abortion. I did not get a grade that I felt the paper deserved. Most of the comments the teacher wrote on the paper were things that she disagreed with in my argument. She never commented on my sentences nor paragraphs. I didn't realize that we were going to be graded on how she felt about the subject. I figured that she was looking to see if we used techniques we learned in her class. As I sit here typing this today it really doesn't matter what grade on got on that paper. I did an assignment to the best of my abilities as I understood the task at hand.

You still have it? It might be interesting to re-read it and see if it stands the test of time or really wasn't as good an argument as you remember. I'd bet you could make a much better argument today?

 

[Larry Gude]

Larry, I was in a graduate course with a mix of undergrads (Anthropology) from UMd years ago...it was hillarious when (during a treatise reading) it dawned on a number of them that NOTHING is objective. EVERYTHING has some sort of bias. Their post-modern epiphany was sort of sad.....but then again they probably went on to vote for obama and then get hit with another dose of reality: There is NO such thing as "Hope & Change!"

And then, there are engineers. So, to answer my own question, there is that. Other than that everything is subjective.