Via USAT: Whither academic freedom?
Vicky Cangelosi, a junior at Pennsylvania State University, says she’s received poor grades in women’s studies and public speaking classes solely because she argued a conservative viewpoint in her assignments. A state law, she says, would provide an avenue of recourse when a student feels victimized on the basis of her political beliefs.
While I am not unsympathetic to the idea that there are professors who squelch ideas and opinions that they do not like, I am certain that a legislative solution is not the answer.
Students who score poorly often don’t like to admit that they are to blame, and one obvious answer is that the professor is somehow biased. Even outside the idea that one is being graded on ideological grounds, it is a popular complaint that professors grade on “opinion.” (My personal favorite example is the student who decided, on Christmas Day some years ago to send me an e-mail informing me of what a rotten prof I was, and how I graded on opinion only. The fact that she couldn’t write and apparently was unclear on the concept of research had nothing to do with her poor grades, of course.)
While it is no doubt quite easy to judge the ideological views of some profs, students aren’t always as good as figuring these things out as they think. I have had numerous students think that I was liberal, and other who profess lack of sureity as to my ideological penchants.
On balance, proving this sort of thing (ideologial bias in grading) is also rather difficult to do and creating new review processes are just creating pseudo-litigation over grades.
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It’s the sci-fi stuff, isn’t it? Everyone knows all the star trek fans are liberals.
Comment by bryan — Wednesday, May 18, 2024 @ 9:29 pm
It seems to me that a legislative solution will just lead to grade inflation, as professors would be afraid of handing out the deserved grade.
Vicky Cangelosi may be a conservative, but it appears that, unfortunately, she has learned the lessons of victimhood only to well.
Comment by Remy Logan — Wednesday, May 18, 2024 @ 10:49 pm
Remy,
I think you are quite correct on both counts: it will lead to grade inflation (who wants to go through all that?) and certainly it simply takes what is supposedly a “liberal” approach to a problem: take it to the government to fix. Not exactly a “conservative” solution.
Comment by Steven Taylor — Thursday, May 19, 2024 @ 7:34 am
I have a theory on you Christmas Day student. You say she was unclear on the concept of research, right? Well, apparently she assumed that since her papers were based on opinion, they could only be graded on opinion. Surely flawed logic, but . . . there you go.
Comment by Jan — Thursday, May 19, 2024 @ 9:38 am
Actually, that USA Today article twisted my words. What I told the reporter was that I have NOT personally been the victim of discrimination in the classroom, but that I have WITNESSED it take place to another conservative student in a Womens’ Studies class, and I’ve HEARD that it’s happened in a Speech Communications class as well. Where public universities (such as Penn State) are concerned, and public funds are being used, the legislature has every right to monitor how the money is spent and the policies of the university. But the point is that liberal bias in the classroom is all too common, and while it does not always result in discrimination, if it happens one time, that is one time too many. Try replacing “discrimination against a conservative student in the classroom” with “discrimination against a minority student in the classroom” – in either case, it is completely unacceptable. All the students are asking for is for professors to present all sides of the issue to us, and let us make up our own minds. Since the universities are denying that bias exists, and squelching conservative students’ efforts to make headway on campuses, where else can we turn except to legislation?
Comment by Vicky Cangelosi — Thursday, February 2, 2024 @ 11:06 pm