<p>Curious data point. The CC section entitled College Search gives a list of criteria which is of importance to the student. One of the items asks how important a LIBERAL environment is to the selection criteria. Funny thing, it does not allow you to select an option for Conservative environment. Hmmmmmm</p>
<p>I think you have to understand that everyone is biased to a certain point. We all have personal beliefs and teachers are no different. For the most part a teacher will give students the info that they think that they need. Maybe what they think the world needs. That seems to me to be human nature.</p>
<p>I for one don’t like dealing with people blatantly pushing an agenda but i do appreciate information. With teaching there is a way to give students info without pushing. They just have to get all of the info, not just one side of it.</p>
<p>As a student i did not notice much right bashing. Maybe it was because i didn’t care, but i didn’t see it. You could tell that some teachers believed one way or the other and generally those teachers wanted you to at least consider there was more to know about certain things in the world. Isn’t that one of the reasons we go to college though, to get to the understanding that there is so much that we don’t know and understand?</p>
<p>A “liberal environment” doesn’t exactly refer to school politics. It’s hard to describe exactly, but it’s very different from a place like Liberty University, which exists for the sole purpose of spreading certain political and religious beliefs.</p>
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<p>now I REALLY wish I could go to Tufts :(</p>
<p>I don’t know about college, but I’ve definitely seen bias. it probably hit me harder because I felt that our world cultures teacher was flagrantly taking a side (and freshmen, being freshmen, believed every single word), but I couldn’t speak up. not because I would bluntly be put down or discriminated against by the teacher, but because everyone would just think I was being crazy and look down on me. subtle discrimination.</p>
<p>rebeccar your story made me laugh, even if it was at my expense.</p>
<p>A few years ago, a set of teabaggers in the PA. legislature travelled around the state to get people to provide examples of liberal professors retaliating against conservative students. The few examples they found were laugable.</p>
<p>Yep, the reality is that the phenomenon OP is complaining about isn’t very common. But for some reason a group of people are heavily invested in the idea that is common.</p>
<p>My liberal professors think I’m liberal, my conservative professors think I’m conservative. It works out quite well for me.</p>
<p>The only time I’ve had any inkling about my professors having a political position happened in my PoliSci and argumentation classes. My best guess is that the argumentation teacher was a Libertarian and my PoliSci teacher thought the whole of American politics was incredibly laughable.</p>
<p>I also think it’s interesting the things we have made political and how they shock me. You learn there are certain things you don’t mention in mixed company. Politics and religion are the big ones, but you also have to be careful talking about things like “evolution” and “climate change”. As a science major this is stupid, but it still floors me when one of my professors talks about it as fact and not a single student argues or walks out of class. There’s almost a sense of relief. Like, wow, we can talk about this openly? It’s like coming out of the closet.</p>
<p>But to answer the original question it makes me uncomfortable when someone in a non-political position of authority starts going on about their political or religious beliefs. Regardless of how I feel about them, in front of the class is not the time or place to be airing them. Regardless of what they are it is going to alienate roughly half of your class. Just shut up and do your job.</p>
<p>However I can count on one hand how many times that’s happened in my college career. Now if you want to talk about attending Jr. High and high school in a conservative area as a liberal queer who went through a bout of Wicca…</p>
<p>“If you only hear the left-wing viewpoint all of the time, and the only time you hear dissenting viewpoints it’s when filtered through a left-wing lens, you aren’t “learning to think critically” at all. This would be true even if the left-wing viewpoint was 100% right on everything.”</p>
<p>Just wanted to post about how funny I thought this was. 
Down here, everyone seems to be hardcore right-winged. Finding a liberal is a rarity; I’m strongly left-winged and I feel isolated a lot. Personally, I voice my opinions loud and clear - I am that “other viewpoint” and I’ve definitely influenced some people. I’m still in high school, but I’ve gotten on two history/social studies teachers’ nerves by criticizing Reagan (APUSH) and praising Obamacare (APECO) though my grades were unaffected.</p>
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<p>I kind of feel the opposite, with the following caveats. If the students are also able to offer contrasting opinions, and as long as discussion stays respectful, I’m all for professors sharing one or two ‘controversial’ viewpoints in the interest of class discussion and debate. I don’t think you should sit through an entire semester in a subject like government or current issues without having your perceptions challenged in some way.</p>
<p>Of course if professors simply rant or our hostile to disagreeing opinions, that is a problem.</p>
<p>Once again an entire debate ensues just because Tom wants to cause drama like usual</p>
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<p>Why do people always say stuff like that on this board? Is it because I’m just coming across the wrong way because it’s the Internet? Why in the world would I want to “cause drama?” I’m not twelve years old. When I ask a question about a topic, it’s to hear what other people have to say about it. If people were <em>already</em> talking about it, I wouldn’t have to ask.</p>