OPINION & EDITORIAL
Bias necessary to promote diverse college learning experience
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Also by Danny Tenenbaum:
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- SSFC squanders student funding (October 17, 2006)
- Bias necessary to promote diverse college learning experience (November 1, 2006)
- New hope for Israel as Hamas falters (November 15, 2006)
- Legality of hijab vital to security (November 28, 2006)
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by Danny Tenenbaum
Wednesday, November 1, 2006
Life isn't fair. But don't tell College Republicans who perennially complain about feeling uncomfortable being conservative in Madison. And don't tell the Office of the Dean of Students either — their new "Think. Respect." campaign seeks to protect us fragile students from any potentially offensive political arguments on campus. The push to eliminate all forms of bias on campus targets professors who are incapable of maintaining constant sanitized political neutrality.
Academia, specifically in the humanities and social sciences, is dominated by internal politics. Every history has a variety of interpretations and every political theory has its supporters and detractors. Just look into your run-of-the-mill academic journal to see your professors duke it out. It's through this constant scrutiny that weak theories are disproved and outdated assumptions are put to rest. Is there any good reason to shield students from this marketplace of ideas?
Kevin Barrett's semester-long contract seems to have renewed irrational fears of academic faculty infiltrating universities and brainwashing their students into half-baked urban legends spawned in Internet chat rooms. Much to the chagrin of shrill conservative media pundits, neither professors nor students are that stupid. It's amazing how one irresponsible instructor can spark so much noise about a non-existent problem.
Some choose to see a pervasive liberal bias as indicative of a leftist conspiracy that plagues higher education. Others see bias as a liability that could potentially damage the "inclusive learning environment" the Office of the Dean of Students harps on about. In their quest to create a classroom void of any thought or speech that could potentially make a student somewhat uncomfortable, perhaps the university forgot that the world outside of Madison isn't quite so sanitized.
Unbiased teaching is impossible. Every one of your professors has read thousands of books and journal articles and has developed complex opinions on every topic under the sun. Whether in lecture, discussion or office hours, a professor inevitably expresses bias, however subtly, and to actively conceal one's political views would be academic dishonesty. To expect academic faculty to teach without bias is to set an unrealistic expectation that leaves students with hours of bland and inconclusive discussions. Instead of succumbing to pressure to hide the biases and opinions every human has, professors should disclose and explain their stance on the material they are required to teach.
A well-qualified professor is adept at covering politically sensitive topics. A well-qualified college student reads and listens critically. Wisconsin is teeming with both and yet our university assumes itself to be dominated by preachy professors and gullible students. The atmosphere that currently pervades Madison is thick with fear of politicized arguments, whether they be liberal, conservative or conspiracy theorist. University administrators have also been keen on fanning the flames of fear with their new "Think. Respect." campaign, which threatens to prosecute any incidents of political bias in the classroom.
If a professor of World War II history believes that Hiroshima and Nagasaki were necessary, or if a constitutional law professor supports the ban on gay marriage and civil unions, their students can only benefit from hearing their justifications. Conversely, a professor of international relations shouldn't shy away from explaining his disagreement with the war in Iraq and a professor of Southeast Asian politics need not avoid discussing Thailand's recent coup in a subjective manner. In each case, students would benefit to hear their professor take his years of research and use it to form a logical argument on a relevant topic. Whether or not the student agrees, the end result is inevitably a stimulating discussion in place of bland equivocating.
The push for unbiased teaching aims to turn Wisconsin into the USA Today of higher education, replacing stimulating discourse with offensively inoffensive rhetoric. As college students, we aren't paying thousands of dollars to the university so professors can regurgitate Wikipedia articles. By creating an environment ripe with political discussion where professors can openly share their opinions, students graduate not simply with more knowledge but as critical consumers of information. In a world where politicized speech is everywhere all of the time, the university can do nothing better.
Danny Tenenbaum (drtenenbaum@wisc.edu) is a senior majoring in political science, international studies and history.
Anonymous (November 1, 2006 @ 6:19am):
Seriously, Danny, I don't think profs should inject their opinions at all. Not that they aren't entitled to their opinions, but they'll wind up setting themselves up for accusations of bias in their grading. Every so often, we hear of students accusing profs of giving them bad grades because they have a conflicting viewpoint. Students are supposed to learn to think objectively and it won't help the situation if the profs plant the seeds of discord in the classroom. Save that for later.
Anonymous (November 1, 2006 @ 10:12am):
University of Wisconsin is a secular university that promotes social progress, science, higher thinking, and liberal ideas. If you do not appreciate any of these things, you should have attended seminary or a conservative private college.
Actually, if you're trying to get rich through education, you're hell-bound anyway. Remember that when anyone asks you if a camel can fit through the eye of a needle.
Anonymous (November 1, 2006 @ 11:31am):
I don't understand all this whining about bias, whether in academia or the media or whatever.
Yes, most liberal arts profs are liberal. That's not bias, that's just the way things play out. Do liberals cry because a disproportionate number of Fortune 500 CEOs are conservative? Is that reason to dismiss everything that comes out of corporate America out of hand based on "bias"?
To borrow a familiar conservative saw:
That's just the market working.
That little cliche cuts both ways. It isn't just for rationalizing racism, righties.
Anonymous (November 1, 2006 @ 11:52am):
Danny, I don't want to hear what you have to say; I'd like to know what Kevin has, respectfully, a
Anonymous (November 1, 2006 @ 12:28pm):
Actually, if liberals knew that most CEOs were conservative they probably would cry about it.
Obviously nobody expects that completely unbiased teaching can be achieved, but biased grading merits discussion and it certainly exists at Madison in Poli Sci and Humanities.
As far as that jackass 9/11 denier, the issue there has nothing to do with bias, rather incompetance. David Duke knows a little about religion and Michael Moore a very little about film, but that doesn't mean they should be allowed to teach at a top 50 university.
Anonymous (November 1, 2006 @ 5:17pm):
I don't think students should inject their opinions into classes, either. Most of their opinions are just too stupid to mention.
Anonymous (November 1, 2006 @ 5:29pm):
Bias obviously works both ways... look at the econ department. Most profs teach a certain competing theory without much (or any) attention to criticisms of its ideas.
But more importantly, shouldn't bias on the part of students come into question? Universities should be institutions of education, not indoctrination, and its inexcusable for a prof to downgrade a student for not believing the same things as the prof. To some extent the way the prof teaches is grounded in their experiences and ideas, but the way students interpret teaching is grounded the same. A supposedly "neutral" prof will seem liberal, if not socialist, to libertarians, just as that same prof may seem conservative to liberals. So really, bias is completely relative.
Is it not just as bad to force profs to toe a certain line?
