<p>There's been a lot of discussion in recent years about academe as a liberal bastion. Here is an article about a study that explores the impact of the political attitudes of professors on their students. (Bottom line: It ain't much!)</p>
<p>My son deliberately took a class from a certain professor that a conservative activist had put on their "dirty thirty" liberal hit list. He liked the class so much that he took a second one from the same professor. Has he turned into a fire breathing radical as a result? No. But he has learned not to automatically believe the propaganda coming from those who condemn the politics of academics.</p>
<p>Egad--hearing another prospective! And, in college! What a novel idea. </p>
<p>UCLA BM's S learned a lot, which is what college can do for you if you are open to it.</p>
<p>Good for your son, UCLA B M!</p>
<p>It's important to draw a distinction between influencing how people think about an issue and recruiting them to a political view. I really think most of the professoriate is sensitive to this.</p>
<p>If we are serious about helping young people develop critical thinking skills, it's important for them to be exposed to new ideas and approaches.</p>
<p>Would it be considered "opening your mind" and "hearing another perspective" if someone took a class from a certain professor that a liberal activist had put on their "dirty thirty" conservative hit list? I usually only hear one side of this particular story.</p>
<p>Is there a list like that?</p>
<p>The question was asked:</p>
<p>
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Would it be considered "opening your mind" and "hearing another perspective" if someone took a class from a certain professor that a liberal activist had put on their "dirty thirty" conservative hit list?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>YES</p>
<p>Really? I've never heard of that, and I've been teaching almost 20 years. Where would one find such a "conservative hit list"?</p>
<p>My son chose to take a course from a notoriously sarcastic, etc. prof with ridiculously high and unpredicatable standards. He just says he's learning a lot, that he thinks it's good if profs call students on nonsense and even if he doesn't get a great grade, he got what he came for.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Really? I've never heard of that, and I've been teaching almost 20 years. Where would one find such a "conservative hit list"?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Here is the UCLA "dirty thirty" liberal professor hit list. It is REAL.</p>
<p>UCLA</a> Profs.com - Exposing UCLA's Radical Professors - Articles Index</p>
<p>More opinions on the dirty thirty:</p>
<p>UCLA's</a> Dirty Thirty</p>
<p>History</a> News Network</p>
<p>The</a> Dirty Thirty: Bush hating, leftist UCLA Professors</p>
<p>This list is creepy and totally un-American!</p>
<p>I am no stranger to this kind of thing. My question was/is...Has anyone seen a similar hit list for conservative profs? 07dad, you mentioned seeing/hearing about something like this. Can you provide a link or ref?</p>
<p>Bethievt and UCLA B M's sons have the right idea...Take what you can from talented, possibly controversial profs and ignore the rest.</p>
<p>Cadbury, my take was not that 07dad had seen such a list, but that if one existed, it should be treated the same way.</p>
<p>Like you, I've never seen one--I think we are all making the same point--it doesn't seem to be prevalent in the other direction, for whatever reason. At least, not well-publicized if it does exist.</p>
<p>Thanks for clarification, garland.</p>
<p>Sorry for my misread dad07.</p>
<p>One of the most conservative profs at Harvard is Harvey Mansfield. He is not shy about making his opinions known. He is loved by his students, conservative and liberal alike, and consistently earns rave reviews. I have heard that his course on Machiavelli is wonderful.</p>
<p>The same can be said for Donald Kagan at Yale, and his courses on Ancient Greece.</p>
<p>And don't forget Professor John Yoo at UC Berkeley Law School. He is the one who wrote Bush a justification for torture at Guantanamo Bay. Yet he is on the faculty at one of the foremost bastions of liberalism.</p>
<p>cadbury--</p>
<p>I'm not aware of such a list. As others have mentioned, my comment was to idicate that it is mind opening for a "liberal" student to take a class and listen (and perhaps learn) from a staunch conservative.</p>
<p>I cannot imagine that any liberal who ever listened to Wm Buckley debate did not come away with something to think about.</p>
<p>Statistics showing that political leanings of students only become slightly more liberal during college does not in any way prove that liberal bias of college faculty has no harmful effects.</p>
<p>If a student takes a course from a faculty member who refuses to hear opposing arguments or who publicly ridicules and/or reduces grades for a student presenting opposing arguments in a paper, such a student is poorly served, independent of whether or not he changes his political leanings as a result of taking the course. Students should be encouraged to write well and thoughtfully, and they should be allowed to be honest. A student who is forced to choose between being honest and receiving a bad grade or mimicking a professor's political bias and receiving a good grade is being poorly served. Obviously not all faculty members impose their opinions on students, and not all opinionated faculty members are liberal.</p>
<p>Nevetheless, I would not be surprised to see a student receive a poor grade in a women's studies course for submitting a well-written paper on why he/she thought women should stay home for ten years to raise a family, or for submitting a well-written paper against affirmative action in a course on race and society. Such a student may remain conservative, but he/she has lost the opportunity of receiving appropriate feedback from a faculty member. Is it possible that one of the "Duke 88" faculty members would have reacted unfairly to a student who wrote a paper opining that the lacrosse players were being unfairly treated and that the cowardly faculty members should be fired?</p>
<p>
Is it possible that one of the "Duke 88" faculty members would have reacted unfairly to a student who wrote a paper opining that the lacrosse players were being unfairly treated and that the cowardly faculty members should be fired?
</p>
<p>That would never happen. And by that, I mean the firing part. The grade retaliation allegations were at least strong enough to get Duke to change a grade (twice - F to D and D to P), though the faculty member in question remains on the books.</p>