Last week, the managing board ran an editorial entitled “Political animals, political email-ers” that discussed political bias both in the classroom and on the Internet. The editorial argued that professors should not reveal their political inclinations to their students. It raised several important points, the most significant being that a student may feel intimidated or uneasy if it is clear that the professor’s convictions are opposite to those of the student. Students often feel uncomfortable sharing their own opinions in class for fear of upsetting their professors; and, whether we like to admit it or not, the specter of grades always looms over our heads, filtering our comments to the most acceptable common denominator.
I want to suggest a different way of looking at the problem, one that may prove more productive in combatting the very real issues that arise when students and professors disagree. The managing board may like to think that if professors are simply quiet about their biases, then the biases disappear — but in reality, the lens through which a person views the world fundamentally affects many aspects of his behavior. For some people, religion provides this lens; for others, politics orients their values. No matter the doctrine, the reality is that we often stand opposed to each other on very critical issues, and these divisions are just as likely to happen between students and professors as they are between different students. Simply imposing a zone of neutrality in the classroom does not mean that a professor’s attitude and actions are not shaped by what he or she believes.
I propose that instead of forcing professors to hush up about their beliefs, and then pretending as though that solves the problem, we try creating an open dialogue between professors and students. What if our professors admitted openly the biases they hold on certain topics? What if we never had to play the guessing game of where our professors stood on certain topics, but rather knew their beliefs unequivocally? If both students and professors alike were realistic about their own fundamentally held convictions, we could then strive together to create a respectful and productive dialogue in spite of such differences. A community in which our differences were openly acknowledged and respected — instead of furtively hidden and therefore reconstructed by suspicious observers — would be one in which the love of learning didn’t come at the cost of surrendering one’s convictions at the door.
The first benefit from such an approach is that prejudices would be more clearly visible, and therefore more easily confronted. Prejudice thrives where biases are assumed but never voiced, where one suspects another’s motives but can never prove them. Shine a light on someone’s biases, and you make it more difficult for them to let prejudice to slip in. A professor who is open about his liberal politics will know that his conservative students will be wary of unfair treatment at his hands. When assigning grades or reading papers, he will be careful to provide reasonable, constructive criticism not founded in mere partisanship. Preventing a confrontational atmosphere from arising will be the challenge of this approach; however, if we could form a community where we hold each other accountable for unfair treatment while still respecting and applauding our differences in opinion, we will have achieved something spectacular.
The second benefit from open recognition of biases between professors and students is that we will have a more fruitful dialogue. Professors should not be silent during a class discussion, merely guiding the students back on track when they veer off into tangents. On the contrary, we all do ourselves a disservice when we silence the opinions of anyone in the room, especially someone knowledgeable about the subject matter. In certain classes, the viewpoints of a professor may be less germane — it is hard to imagine a discussion of welfare policy being pertinent to organic chemistry. However, in many classes, ranging from religious studies to foreign affairs, a professor who willingly volunteers his own opinions would be a boon to class discussion. Professors should never tailor their material to suit a certain viewpoint, limiting the range of exploration available to their students. And they should never allow their own opinions to stifle their ability to teach to a wide variety of students. Yet if, after introducing a broad spectrum of convictions, the professor openly takes a stance and challenges his students to debate him on that stance, students’ understanding of and involvement with the material will surely increase.
I find it refreshing when I come across a professor who is open about his stance on different issues, whether political or religious. On the other hand, when a professor’s biases are clear despite his attempts to hide them, I feel uneasy, on the lookout for prejudice and unfair treatment. It’s high time we recognize that merely silencing an opinion doesn’t kill it, and biases will surface in other ways if they don’t have room to breathe. We should challenge ourselves to be direct with each other about what we believe and why we believe it, and we should have the courage and wisdom to allow our differences to shape our understanding rather than to foment discord and distrust. Carrying on amicable relations with another individual — whether a professor or another student — despite significant differences in opinion is a skill that we should all seek to acquire. Allowing students and professors to be open about their beliefs would force us to grow from, rather than hide behind, our differences.
Russell Bogue is an Opinion columnist for The Cavalier Daily. His columns run Thursdays.
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