5 ms·

Maybe not grades. However, I've seen and heard from others of their professors routinely berating conservatives of their beliefs in front of the class.

throwawaycert 7y ago
If you can’t defend your views to a person in a position of authority, you are not cut out for higher education.
- bdcravens 7y ago
  When I was in college, I took an English class with a professor that had very strong ideology; our readings reflected that. In our writings on what we read, getting an A was easy: "toe the party line". Once I had a A for the semester pretty much locked down, I took the opposite position in my final paper. C. Even when you can defend your perspective, when the position of authority wields power, you're disincentivized by the system.
  - throwawaycert 7y ago
    Maybe your position was wrong. I know, hard to believe that you’re not some poor persecuted victim and might have just made a mistake. This isn’t primary school.
    - bdcravens 7y ago
      Maybe. Or maybe my previous positions were wrong but I just knew how to play the professor like a fiddle (which higher education incentivizes), and then went off-key intentionally just to see what would happen. Never know.
      - throwawaycert 7y ago
        Well, the study just published by a lifelong Republican tells you being wrong is more likely.
    - dang 7y ago
      Would you please follow the site guidelines when posting here? They include "Don't be snarky." We're hoping for this place to be at least a little better than internet default. Scorched earth, the end state of aggressive posting on the internet, is not interesting. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
      - throwawaycert 7y ago
        “Don’t be human.” Noted. Feel free to delete my account. If you ever learn how human beings work... well, I won’t care. Enjoy your bubble of ignorance and right-wing terrorism
      - throwawaycert 7y ago
        Snark is a normal interaction in civilized society and academia and has been throughout recorded history. It has nothing to do with the internet. Feel free to delete my account from your bubble of ignorance.
- wtdata 7y ago
  Shall we apply that same principle to, for instance, religion? Would you defend a professor berating in front of the class someone exposing the views of their minoritary religion?
  - throwawaycert 7y ago
    Yes. Why? Universities are not job training and professors are not your primary school teacher. They are serious academics whose writings and work can have global, multi-generational impacts. If you can’t go toe to toe with them and tell them why they might be full of shit, you’re just taking up valuable space and should go find an appropriate trade school for the low-responsibility lifestyle you actually want to lead.
  - gamblor956 7y ago
    Should we compare one thing to some completely different thing and pretend they're even remotely similar? Probably not.
    - belorn 7y ago
      When the European Union wrote the human rights with Freedom of religion in mind, it extended the same protection under the same section to political views, philosophical views, ideology, live experience and world view. The European court clairfied that it covered "views that attain a certain level of cogency, seriousness, cohesion and importance” or ”a coherent view on fundamental problems”." Article 9 is titled: Freedom of thought, belief and religion. They very much view political and religions belief to be completely similar in the eyes of the law. An Atheism has just as much protection to believe and practice their belief as an Christan. The law does not distinguish between a person speaking politics in the town center and a religious leader speaking religion. The same rights and restrictions apply, which is why for example a religious leader can get thrown in jail if they encourage violence against non-belives, just like how someone that encourage violence against people with dark skin will also be charged and thrown in jail.
    - wtdata 7y ago
      Why not? The OP was defending that berating someone for their political beliefs was just fine. Why are we expected to put the line at religion when "berating" someone's beliefs? The article in the human rights declaration defending the individual freedom to a particular religion and a political view is exactly the same. Therefore I expect the exact same treatment to be applied in both cases. It's you that should explain how do you see one having special status over the other.
- deogeo 7y ago
  I think the poster was complaining that only conservative students are the target of this. There is also a wide gulf between "defending your views" and "being berated". Especially given the power differential between student and professor - is the student supposed to fight back, and risk antagonizing the professor? I thought one of the defining traits of the US left was sensitivity to such power imbalances.
  - throwawaycert 7y ago
    Considering the students who complain are almost entirely wealthy white kids, I’m not seeing the power imbalance.

throwawaycert 7y ago

If you can’t defend your views to a person in a position of authority, you are not cut out for higher education.

bdcravens 7y ago
When I was in college, I took an English class with a professor that had very strong ideology; our readings reflected that. In our writings on what we read, getting an A was easy: "toe the party line". Once I had a A for the semester pretty much locked down, I took the opposite position in my final paper. C. Even when you can defend your perspective, when the position of authority wields power, you're disincentivized by the system.
- throwawaycert 7y ago
  Maybe your position was wrong. I know, hard to believe that you’re not some poor persecuted victim and might have just made a mistake. This isn’t primary school.
  - bdcravens 7y ago
    Maybe. Or maybe my previous positions were wrong but I just knew how to play the professor like a fiddle (which higher education incentivizes), and then went off-key intentionally just to see what would happen. Never know.
    - throwawaycert 7y ago
      Well, the study just published by a lifelong Republican tells you being wrong is more likely.
  - dang 7y ago
    Would you please follow the site guidelines when posting here? They include "Don't be snarky." We're hoping for this place to be at least a little better than internet default. Scorched earth, the end state of aggressive posting on the internet, is not interesting. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
    - throwawaycert 7y ago
      “Don’t be human.” Noted. Feel free to delete my account. If you ever learn how human beings work... well, I won’t care. Enjoy your bubble of ignorance and right-wing terrorism
    - throwawaycert 7y ago
      Snark is a normal interaction in civilized society and academia and has been throughout recorded history. It has nothing to do with the internet. Feel free to delete my account from your bubble of ignorance.
wtdata 7y ago
Shall we apply that same principle to, for instance, religion? Would you defend a professor berating in front of the class someone exposing the views of their minoritary religion?
- throwawaycert 7y ago
  Yes. Why? Universities are not job training and professors are not your primary school teacher. They are serious academics whose writings and work can have global, multi-generational impacts. If you can’t go toe to toe with them and tell them why they might be full of shit, you’re just taking up valuable space and should go find an appropriate trade school for the low-responsibility lifestyle you actually want to lead.
- gamblor956 7y ago
  Should we compare one thing to some completely different thing and pretend they're even remotely similar? Probably not.
  - belorn 7y ago
    When the European Union wrote the human rights with Freedom of religion in mind, it extended the same protection under the same section to political views, philosophical views, ideology, live experience and world view. The European court clairfied that it covered "views that attain a certain level of cogency, seriousness, cohesion and importance” or ”a coherent view on fundamental problems”." Article 9 is titled: Freedom of thought, belief and religion. They very much view political and religions belief to be completely similar in the eyes of the law. An Atheism has just as much protection to believe and practice their belief as an Christan. The law does not distinguish between a person speaking politics in the town center and a religious leader speaking religion. The same rights and restrictions apply, which is why for example a religious leader can get thrown in jail if they encourage violence against non-belives, just like how someone that encourage violence against people with dark skin will also be charged and thrown in jail.
  - wtdata 7y ago
    Why not? The OP was defending that berating someone for their political beliefs was just fine. Why are we expected to put the line at religion when "berating" someone's beliefs? The article in the human rights declaration defending the individual freedom to a particular religion and a political view is exactly the same. Therefore I expect the exact same treatment to be applied in both cases. It's you that should explain how do you see one having special status over the other.
deogeo 7y ago
I think the poster was complaining that only conservative students are the target of this. There is also a wide gulf between "defending your views" and "being berated". Especially given the power differential between student and professor - is the student supposed to fight back, and risk antagonizing the professor? I thought one of the defining traits of the US left was sensitivity to such power imbalances.
- throwawaycert 7y ago
  Considering the students who complain are almost entirely wealthy white kids, I’m not seeing the power imbalance.