I just want to know if it’s a common thing for professors to be very vocal in their opinions, considering I don’t really have a “politically correct” background (White, Republican, and Christian). It would be a pain in the behind if professors gave me grief for being myself.
Some professors may express their views, but it would be exceedingly unprofessional and rare for anyone to,give you grief for your views.
OK thanks for that.
What are you specifically afraid of? What kinds of classes will you be taking? (For example, I’m a math major and I can’t imagine hearing about these topics at all.)
Going for Chemical Engineering
A majority in every possible way is worried about getting grief for being him/herself. 
Relax.
So a white, Republican, Christian…male I presume…is afraid of prospect of prejudice received from his professors? I cannot say you won’t hear a statement in class that will make you feel uncomfortable or judged. I would count on feeling uncomfortable because of your background a handful of times in your college career. It happens.
In my experience, professors are vocal on their views. What would a class discussion be without a professor’s guidance and opinion? I’ve had professors delicately share their views. I’ve had professors bluntly state their views. I haven’t always agreed with everything, but that’s the beauty of it – I don’t have to agree with them as long as they’re respectful. As long as your professor doesn’t discriminate against you, all is well.
I’ve had a professor who is quite the talker. He’ll make statements left and right. It made me uncomfortable at first, but then I got used to it. Not all statements needed to be sugar-coated and in the end, which I’m a bit grateful for, I’ve learned not to be so sensitive to buzzwords whenever a topic comes up.
For what it’s worth, I’m an engineering major who is in the Honors program. I’ve had topics span over all over my classes, my major didn’t prevent me from hearing things.
In your core courses, you probably won’t run into many problems. In the general eds, maybe if you really play up your attributes (White, Republican, Christian) by blowing off the importance of Affirmative Action, declaring undying support for Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh, or attempting to convert everyone in the class you might get some flak, but if you just act like sensible human being and just do the assignments rationally, you should be fine. It’s hard to tell you what your professors will be like. There was an English teacher my sister took that was vehemently against home schooling (and verbalized so in a rant during class), much to the discomfort of my sister because she was home schooled. But there was also a history teacher she took, who although a die-hard, sincere liberal with whom my sisters disagreed on many political stances, she enjoyed because she was genuinely a nice person who led an engaging class. In both classes my sister received As.
If you’re going into STEM, that’s not really a concern. Professors don’t really care about that stuff in those fields (from what i’ve seen).
However, if you’re doing GE’s, try to avoid certain classes. We have many ethnic studies classes that I know lots of white males avoid taking because they feel targeted (which, to be honest, is entirely plausible).
Sounds like I’ll be fine; I’m not extreme right or a Jehovah’s witness or anything like that. I was just worried that proffesors would seek me out and try to piss me off or something.
I’m the same as you, friend, and this is true advice.
Watch what classes you take. Some TA’s can be unprofessional and grade down because they disagree with your political views, so spot them and run away. You may be the only person in a large discussion section who has a differing opinion about something you didn’t even think was controversial.
Don’t be unkind and shrug it off when people are unkind to you, because they will be.
Do they seriously do that? Do you shit me not?
Also, is it reasonable to say that if a proffesor knew where I was from (Alaska) would they give me crap for being in a “bad state” or whatever? P.s. AK pride all the way!
In college, you can occasionally be called upon to show you understand things from different points of view. I’ve noticed that can be difficult for some of you.
In one of my classes last semester, I had to write essays analyzing certain controversial topics from multiple sociopolitical perspectives. One essay discussing the merits of the conservative take on the Iraq War, one essay analyzing the merit of the liberal take on reproductive rights, one essay discussing conservative views on police brutality, and so on. It was taught by professor who was easily the most staunchly liberal person I have ever met in my entire life - but the class was full of conservatives (a lot of upper middle class white kids from the suburbs and few international students from the Middle East and Asia who were likewise pretty socially conservative) – but everyone did fine. No one was muzzled. The lowest grade anyone received on an essay was a B+ and that was because of writing style, not content.
Even if you were literally Rick Santorum, you should still be able to craft nuanced arguments about topics without alienating other views - I think professors and TAs dislike ignorance more so than they dislike opposing views in and of themselves. Rush Limbaugh doesn’t bother people because he’s a Republican; he bothers people because he is abrasive and extremely antagonistic.
I’m a Poli Sci major and I haven’t seen professors butt heads with any students; even very vocal ultra conservative students walk away with A’s in classes taught by liberals because said conservative students were intelligent and could articulate their views skillfully.
Also; don’t take this the wrong way but literally no one cares or thinks about Alaska ever.
Completely agreed.
I have seen TA’s butt heads with students, though, and grade down for opinion. Not on my papers, and my TA’s have always been great about analyzing the arguments, but my friend got a D on a paper I got an A+ on (her section’s average was an A). I read the paper, and it was just as good as mine. She went over the TA’s head to the dean’s office, filed for a regrade, and got it. Think her grade was boosted up to an A-/A. Left that TA’s section and joined another one, she’s been doing fine since.
Professors probably won’t grade you down for holding divergent beliefs, but one thing you might find annoying is the homogeneity of opinions in the classroom, all conforming to social liberalism and political correctness.
I am not white, nor Christian, nor Republican, and am probably more liberal than I am conservative, but I still find it incredibly annoying at times; it’s like collective groupthink. Of course, this is a bit dependent on where you go to school–I’d imagine private universities in the North East are the most politically homogeneous, and that’s where I am.
I was in a major that had a lot of religious, conservative or right-leaning professors from rural backgrounds (animal agriculture and science). I consider myself an atheist and more progressive and didn’t agree with a lot of their personal opinions, but I never felt pressured to hide my views from them or risk facing consequences to my grade. Most of the time, professors are hesitant about sharing their opinions explicitly, because they don’t want to risk backlash in any form, and if they do, they usually don’t make a big deal about it in the classroom.
Needless to say, regardless of your political alignment, religion, or ethnicity, extreme hostility to opposing views in any form is going to be frowned upon. You come to college to be exposed to different points of view and ideas and to have your current perceptions and opinions challenged. Even if you don’t agree with them, you need to be able to intelligently argue your positions with facts and sound logic. Most good college professors will encourage this practice more than trying to just force you to agree with them.
Great responses here. With a brother (avid Rush Limbaugh fan) who regularly gripes about how ‘all colleges are full of liberals who want to make students agree with them’, I have hear a lot about how unwelcoming colleges are for conservative / christian / republican students. As the other posters have said, one of things a good college will do is ask you to think independently (I love @preamble1776 's example above, where every student had to write thoughtful pieces from a range of perspectives). Also, at the moment it seems that we people are living in silos, where they rarely hear different views. College is a great place for getting beyond that. I have recently seen some interesting admits of stereotype-defying students at colleges such as Bucknell and Wesleyan. IMO, that improves the experience for everybody*.
*(providing that everybody plays reasonably nicely of course!)
snaps pencil