In high school, I distinctly remember teachers dodging political questions aimed at them by my fellow students. They would usually say something along the lines of “I’m not supposed to talk about that” or “I can’t tell you guys that.”
I suppose this has just become a luxury that I have come to expect from my teachers. That is why that, upon starting college, I was a little shocked at how open some professors are about their personal political beliefs.
I shouldn’t have been too surprised about it though, considering how blatantly biased most college campuses have become. The bias just so happens to be in a direction opposed to my own beliefs, but I feel like I would be just as annoyed if it swayed my way.
There is absolutely no need for any type of political bias in any classroom setting. School should be a place where a clean, neutral education can be obtained.
“But aren’t college campuses supposed to expose its students to new and varied points of view?” This is a rather obvious rhetorical question that many like to use when defending practices that I am here condemning.
The answer to the question, by the way, is a resounding yes! Of course this should be a part of secondary education. Exposure to lifeways, points-of-view, and opinions that differ from yours is never a bad thing.
However, I believe that this exposure can occur naturally. We don’t need college professors, who should be teaching material we can use in our prospective careers, jamming their political opinions down our throats.
I think that we are more than capable analyzing and synthesizing all of these things for ourselves. Let us form our own opinions, thank you very much.
The reason I wrote this article was mainly the result of one professor I happen to have this year. He has been by far the worst in terms of spouting his opinions to the class. Quite predictably, most of his “outbursts” revolve around President Trump.
Some of these are worse than others. Just to give you a taste of some of his hypocritical and blatantly vicious comments I’ll recount two of the worst outbursts for you here.
The first example came from talking about a war that happened in a Shakespeare play. During the conversation, for some reason, he brought it back to Trump’s draft deferment during the Vietnam War. I personally had never heard of this, but upon further research it seems he was deferred because of a problem in his heels called bone spurs.
What was most telling about this comment however, was another one he made just the week before. He claimed that had he been of age during the time of the Vietnam draft, he would have actively tried to dodge it.
The other unpleasant outburst of his that I will describe happened quite recently. In a discussion on another Shakespeare play, he dove into the importance of a Jewish character in the text. He talked about the inherent Antisemitism throughout Europe at the time.
And here is literally what he said, “It’s surprising that Shakespeare would include a Jewish character in the play. It be almost like nowadays, if a Trump supporter wrote a book about a Jew.”
While he did qualify the statement afterward with an “of course, not all Trump supporters are anti-Semites,” the implication was clear.
What makes these professors any better than any other teacher or professional for that matter. Doctors don’t talk about politics while on the job, nor office workers, nor construction workers, etc., etc. Of course individual workers may talk about it between themselves at work, but these conversations do not affect the job at hand.
Why should professors be held to a higher standard? Why are there no restrictions put in place on what they say like with other levels of teachers? These are some of the questions that people should seriously be asking.
