Re: however, this is a tragic situation

Responses below:

Yocum Daniel GS 21 CES/CEOE wrote:

> Because they are often the departments most directly trying to change the
> culture to reflect their ideologies. That is fine if it is overt but it is
> mostly overt, like John's "what's the point" argument. Lay the cards on the
> table and we have a game, try to sneak about and get smacked. Deceptive
> manipulations are not appreciated.
> Daniel

Waitaminute -- you're saying college professors attempts to "change culture" are
"overt"? What the heck are you talking about? You mean the PC movement is
secret? What world are you living in? What about all those links you sent me?

If you say that selecting syllabi for freshman writing classes that reflects the
professor's biases and then having the professor grade down papers that don't
reflect an "acceptable" point of view is manipulative and wrong, I agree with
you.

I don't know how often that happens, though. It never happened to me. I've
never done it to any student. The people I know that teach writing now at my
University have their biases, and I talk to them about their students, but the
students they get annoyed with are disruptive in class, not writing the "wrong"
ideas.

And even then, when you hear them talk about it, they're really entertained by
the disruptive students...it's pretty funny, actually...

> I don't but if it has been done, I am all ears.
> Daniel

I don't know that the big U's have either. I don't know they haven't. It'd be
interesting to see. As much as it gets talked about, I wouldn't be surprised if
someone has.

> You argue that the bias is just a
> reflection of the locality of the school and I say OK then why not change it
> for their diversity's sake and you say money and I say OK so there is no
> faculty diversity but you don't criticize that as vehemently as you do the
> claim of lack of diversity.

I didn't say there was no faculty diversity, just that diversity isn't defined
politically. I think you get to that below.

> Are you really looking for fundamental
> dishonesty in the source and when the source identifies some clear
> violations of elite academia's diversity values you do not criticize? Is
> this middle ground?
> Daniel

I don't know what the heck you're talking about. Really. Are you saying I
should be critical of the lack of political diversity? I don't know. It's
clearly illegal and immoral to refuse to hire someone on the basis of race,
religion, sex, etc. It's not clearly illegal to refuse to hire someone on the
basis of political leanings. It may be immoral. But I don't even know how
hiring committees could even evaluate that. What are they going to do? Try to
infer politics from the dissertation? You think they read all those
dissertations?

> I think that singling any one out for any social reason is dangerous, is
> social justice academia's job?

This is stupid, Daniel. There are -laws- about refusing to hire people on the
basis of race, religion, sex, etc.

> If so then that is political and by making
> social based preferences you are already involved politically.

No, it's a response to the legal environment. "Politically" as it has been used
in this discussion refers to a left/right political spectrum.

> Modern elite humanities academia eschews any kind of universal
> qualifications so those who hold the chairs decide what is taught. You are
> right on this Jim but it has already happened 'unofficially'.
> Daniel

Yes, those who hold the chairs decide what is taught -- in the sense of course
offerings. But then again, that's their job. Someone has to make that
decision, and it's not wrong to do. They don't design the courses themselves,
or determine the course content.

What kind of "universal qualifications" do you have in mind? Most hiring
committees look at publications in the field, experience, people skills, etc.

> I do not have a problem with
> left leaning academicians but I do have a problem with the denial of their
> leanings and classroom activities as well as University college policies.

What the heck are you talking about? Can you cite a single source about any
kind of "denial" of classroom activities and college policies across the US?

> Ok, but which sets of these institutions set the agenda in the various
> humanities fields?
> Daniel
>

Each institution sets its own agenda.

Jim

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Received on Mon Sep 29 22:17:36 2003