I regularly walk through the hallways of faculty offices and can’t help but stop to read all of the comics, notes, flyers and assorted materials taped to the doors. There’s an obvious political and partisan trend to these materials, save the offices of the Physics department, which have silly and hilarious comics and bumper stickers like Beware Quantum Ducks “Quark! Quark! Quark!”
The political speech does not end at the door of the professor, but often extends into comments, notice of events and citations from the classroom.
This is my last semester at Eastern, and I’ve become accustomed to this sort of political speech as something accepted and normal. I’ve accepted it as normal, because, as I’ve heard, “The classroom is a lab for ideas.” Recently, I’m beginning to question this established behavior.
Now, in this instance, I am not questioning those classrooms where politics is the main thrust of the class. No, I am talking about classrooms where political ideology is nowhere to be found on the syllabus or course description. In these cases, I wonder whether the classroom becomes a “lab for ideas” or a pulpit for influencing, and perhaps coercing, due to the pressure to please professors, a captive audience. I think it is most often the latter.
The sad fact of the matter is that political discussion, even at establishments of higher education, is marred by bitterness, hate, emotional investment and ignorance.
Those who defend their big-government, militant statist, Bush, (Patriot Act, Medicare Part D, Bailouts, Surges, Undeclared Wars) have been taught to loathe the opposing big-government, militant statist, Obama (Indefinite detention, Obamacare, Bailouts, Surges, Undeclared Wars), and vice versa.
Of course, you see the irony of the hatred. People seem to defend actions so long as it was their side’s idea. Party has trumped politics, and that is the sort of discussion that is going on today.
The only other subject that evokes this sort of reaction is religion. Now, I am a person of faith, but I do not think teachers ought to be able to use their position and class time to proselytize their students.
Imagine if some Baptist professor had a tract teaching the one way to salvation taped to their door. That would be unethical, and I’d imagine that the student body would agree with me.
I am not against discussions about religion at Eastern; in fact, I think that the school should do as much as they can to facilitate discussion on religion between students, to gain an understanding and a respect for each other. I think the same goes for politics.
I’m all for discussion. I’m for free speech. I’m for gaining an understanding of opposing thought, but at this point, and based on my experience in college, I do not believe that professors pushing their partisan beliefs in their offices or in their classrooms creates an effective laboratory for ideas. I think, if anything, it shuts down those students who disagree but are afraid to speak up and create a negative impression on the professor.
Perhaps most importantly, this sort of bully pulpiting distracts from the stated topic of the course.
