2011-02-08

Liberal Bias In Academia

More talk on "liberal" bias in academia.

I've seen a few of these over the last few years. Martin Kramer spends some time on this issue as well.

My personal experience in University? I think on a whole, most professors may have swung "left" (one in particular flat out admitted it) but I never really sensed any intolerance towards any particular beliefs held by students. They may have been a tad over-zealous from time to time but nothing that left me annoyed.

In other words, I doubt a professor failed someone for holding a different view. As long as they supported their claims, professors were open. That's my recollection. Maybe it's different for others.

I was hardly "liberal" and still did very well. In fact, I challenged the very professor who admitted his liberal stance (which I respected) and he graded me fairly with my "on the other hand" approach and opinion. Again, the trick was to present a well-reasoned and researched idea supported by facts and creative writing.

These days, I have a couple of buddies who have taught and currently teach in Universities. One was of the belief not only was liberalism rampant but a sorry version of socialism infested its halls. All they wanted to do was go on strike; en greve as it were in French. The other is not in politics but in architecture and takes a more measured stance. Nonetheless, he feels, if push came to shove, a leftist mentality is more prevalent than any other. In his discipline, for example, unions have a negative impact on his trade and, well, unions are...? Anyone? Bueller?

2 comments:

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