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Maybe, but if all your teachers have obvious biases and they grade on how well you pander to their biases, and all their biases just happen to line up, then you

Maybe, but if all your teachers have obvious biases and they grade on how well you pander to their biases, and all their biases just happen to line up, then you're left only able to argue one side of things. It's not hard to imagine going to a liberal arts college where the professors are all moderately to aggressively liberal and/or Democrat. I'm not saying that it's RIGHT that this could happen, but that it's not unreasonable to expect that it COULD happen.

ntkachov 12y ago
Its not about bias. Professors honestly believe that what they are teaching you is the truth and that their viewpoint is the correct one. They don't want to hear your ability to argue with them or present critical thought. They want to know that you absorbed their viewpoint. When you write a paper contrary to their viewpoint, they see it as you not understanding the material, not as you understanding the material and choosing an opposing viewpoint.
- msandford 12y ago
  I think you and I have described the same thing using different words. Just because someone doesn't know they have a bias doesn't mean that they don't have a bias.
  - ForHackernews 12y ago
    There's a bunch of replies all over this thread that are almost comical examples of HN users trying to rebut the positions of people they agree with. I don't know if that's because internet commenters in general just use the preceding comment as a springboard to jump onto their own soapbox, or if HN users are particularly bad at reading and responding to the content of a text (while loudly denouncing such worthless literary skills).
pdonis 12y ago
I think WalterBright was arguing that being able to argue any point of view, right or wrong, with equal facility is a bug, not a feature. :-)
- ForHackernews 12y ago
  Yes, he obviously is. This thread is a nice case study for why CS students should have to take gen-ed classes that require close reading and analysis.

ntkachov 12y ago

Its not about bias. Professors honestly believe that what they are teaching you is the truth and that their viewpoint is the correct one. They don't want to hear your ability to argue with them or present critical thought. They want to know that you absorbed their viewpoint. When you write a paper contrary to their viewpoint, they see it as you not understanding the material, not as you understanding the material and choosing an opposing viewpoint.

msandford 12y ago
I think you and I have described the same thing using different words. Just because someone doesn't know they have a bias doesn't mean that they don't have a bias.
- ForHackernews 12y ago
  There's a bunch of replies all over this thread that are almost comical examples of HN users trying to rebut the positions of people they agree with. I don't know if that's because internet commenters in general just use the preceding comment as a springboard to jump onto their own soapbox, or if HN users are particularly bad at reading and responding to the content of a text (while loudly denouncing such worthless literary skills).

pdonis 12y ago

I think WalterBright was arguing that being able to argue any point of view, right or wrong, with equal facility is a bug, not a feature. :-)

ForHackernews 12y ago
Yes, he obviously is. This thread is a nice case study for why CS students should have to take gen-ed classes that require close reading and analysis.