Professor's Political Views in Class--Who's Listening--Who Cares?

According to a recent article written by InsiderHigherEd.com entitled, Bias Seen in Bias Studies, “Professors are all Democrats, except those who are communist. Professors all hate Bush. Professors favor like-minded students and love converting those who love God, country and the president.”

In the article education researcher and consultant, John B. Lee says, “Among the most serious claims the authors make is that this liberal dominance results in systematic exclusion of conservative ideas…that damage student learning.”

His study was conducted in elite institutions where the faculty members are more likely to be Democrats than Republicans. He writes, “Passing off personal opinions as facts is not science; it is the antithesis of what serious researchers try to do, regardless of whether they are conservative or liberal.”

This controversial topic is not limited just to the “elite institutions” but all areas of higher education from high school classrooms to college and university campuses all over the country.

In a story written by the Sun Chronicle, Paula Sollitto, a history teacher for 35 years at Attleboro High School says, “I think there are two schools of thought…there are those people who let issues be worn on their sleeve. My style was to try to get out of the students what their views were and get them, working together, to form their own views.”

She says she directed students to research all sides of an issue—lead them to make informed opinions—and get students to learn how to respect others’ opinions.

A recent poll published in the campus newspapers of Columbia, Harvard, Princeton, University of Arizona, University of Chicago, Tufts, UCLA, UC-Berkley, Bucknell, and Dartmouth, by Campus Corner, entitled, Top Ten Things Professors Do to Skew You, showed;

• 70% of students say their professors express their political views in class.
• More than one-third of students describe their professors as either somewhat or extremely liberal.
• 42% of students report political discussion in the classroom lean to a leftist point of view, with only 18% saying they hear the conservative side of an issue.
• Only 13% of students can describe their professors as conservative.
• 31% of students report having to do an assignment which forced them to take a philosophical position they were uncomfortable with. Professors are using their influence as “teacher” to teach you what to think, not how to think.
• Nearly one-third of students say they are uncomfortable expressing their opinions in class if they differ from their professor’s point of view.
• 16% of students say they fear their grade could suffer for disagreeing with a professor’s political point of view.
• One-quarter of students say they are afraid to speak up in class if they don’t agree with a professor. Professors should welcome debate, not stifle it.
• Only 24% of students report their professors have the same viewpoints on issues the do.
• 32% of students identify themselves as Democrat and 29% identify as Republican. But overall ratio of Democrat to Republican registered faculty at 32 elite schools was more than 10 to 1.

Assistant professor of English at Johnson C. Smith University, Matthew M. DeForrest, says, “If an instructor cannot maintain a separation of our personal politics and our professional obligations, that instructors needs to, learn to do so quickly.”

While in Arizona, Senate Bill 1542, written by, Senate Majority Leader Thayer Verschoor, R-Gilbert, was approved 4-3 in the Senate. This law if passed by Congress would forbid public K-12 and college instructors from giving their partisan political opinions while teaching. Currently this law reads,

• Apply only when instructor is acting in an official capacity.
• Forbid specific endorsement or opposition of candidates, legislation or court action as well as any social, political or cultural issues of a partisan nature.
• Mandate three hours of instruction annually to tell teachers what is expected under the law.
• Forbid instructors from impeding military recruiters on campus.
• Punish those who break the law with possible suspension, firing, certification revocation or $500 penalty.

According to an article published in USA Today, by David Horowitz, similar laws are before legislatures in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, Tennessee, Missouri, Georgia and a dozen other states this spring.

Horowitz view on solving the problem would be to have a “Academic Bill of Rights” for universities, which says, “shall provide its students with a learning environment in which the students have access to a broad range of serious scholarly opinion pertaining to the subjects they study.” He says, “It’s not so revolutionary.”

It may not be revolutionary but it seems it definitely debatable. And as with all things political and social in our society—it will be up to the politicians and the courts to decide.