Liberal professor shows intolerance
The following is a Counterpoint column:
By Wayne Smith
Regarding Daniel Malotky ("The right-wing attack of higher ed," April 17) [not posted], an erudite assistant professor of religion and philosophy and director of Ethics Across the Curriculum at Greensboro College: whew. What a hunk of biographical overkill. My attention span is always seriously challenged by loud and excessive back-patting of oneself.
Daniel reminds me of The New York Times assistant editor who whined after George Bush was re-elected, "I don't know how Bush got re-elected. I don't know a single person who voted for him."
Daniel might as well be studying the mating rituals of the yeti. What he doesn't know, he just makes up.
Daniel's basic premise is incorrect. Conservatives, those who have mastered the alphabet, are not accusing liberal professors of being tolerant. Quite to the contrary, conservative students (yes, Daniel, there is such an animal, prominent brows notwithstanding) are concerned about liberal professors and assistant professors being intolerant.
I was in college in the 1960s. Yes, Daniel, I am a biped; however, I do tend to run on my knuckles when in serious flight.
In my experience, conservative professors were much less likely to express their political opinions than were their liberal counterparts. I have found conservatives are more likely to deal in footnotes and liberals are more prone to volume.
Daniel is positive that conservatives are too stupid to be professors or assistant professors. He then demagogues conservative demagogues for their lack of his type of credentials.
The writer lives in High Point.
Comments (13)
To report abuse of the comment feature on this site, please use the feedback form at the bottom of any page.
Wow. I read this whole essay and I'm just a little surprised. Why dedicate 450 words (more or less) to an ad hominem attack? Was this supposed to be "higher minded" than the essay it responds to? Or could we just boil it down to "I know YOU are, but what am I?"
Posted on May 2, 2005 7:35 AM
Big News Flash: Colleges and University professors are mainly egotistical liberals who are silverspoon-fed from the moment they decide to dedicate themselves to rewriting history.
Wow!
Posted on May 2, 2005 11:08 AM
It would really help that when counterpoints are run, the original column were online. I'm guessing that it's not (but didn't search). If it is, can you provide a link, please?
I'm hesitant to discuss this writer's meaning without reviewing the original.
Posted on May 2, 2005 11:36 AM
Mr. Smith,
You sir are soooo correct. Our colleges and university faculties are 85% liberal and do engage in brainwashing their captive students. Prof. Malotky must have been smoking something stronger than bright leaf when he wrote his letter.
Posted on May 2, 2005 1:21 PM
Yes Wayne, repubs and other brands of conservatives are too stupid to teach at the college level. They are fine for christian elementary level academies as all they have to teach is creationism (or in the higher grades - intelligent design).
Posted on May 2, 2005 1:35 PM
Yellowdog should attend a christian academy and then a public school of the same level.
I think yellowdog would be very surprised.
Posted on May 2, 2005 2:58 PM
I've seen a fair amount of the material presented in both a local Christian academy and in the Guilford County schools. That makes me even more happy that I sent my son to the public school system. From what I saw, the public education was far superior.
Posted on May 2, 2005 3:22 PM
Good idea huh? I could learn how the earth is flat and how the sun goes round the earth and the earth is only 6000 years old and Karl Rove is a christian hero. Wow so much to learn so little time before the rapture....but then I wont be going will I, HUH?
Posted on May 2, 2005 4:31 PM
Whether or not you go is completely up to you and I couldn't make that call. I've seen some very good Christian academies that turn out well-informed students with a solid education and good individual attention. I'm sure there are some that are lacking, as well.
Yellowdog. You may not be, but you definitely sound close minded. That's not an insult. That's a critique of what you just wrote.
Posted on May 2, 2005 5:05 PM
For all of you who think that colleges are liberal hotbeds where professors brainwash students, you should maybe attend some classes at a local university. Never in my recent tenure did have a class where the professor started talking politics and interjected his/her opinion. Only in a handful of classes did politics come up at all and my classmates all offered many different opinions and all my professors greeted them with openness. It is a vast misconception that college students go to class and get indoctrinated with what the professor has to say. It does happen on occassion, as recent news reports suggest, but luckily for most of us we got into college because we have a brain and do not always believe what a professor has to say, same goes for the president and politicians.
Posted on May 2, 2005 8:28 PM
I am impressed by the anger and pejorative comments in these responses. I am likewise impressed that no hard statistics or documentation is included for analytic scrutiny or respectful consideration. Maybe that's why we don't call this "higher education".
Posted on May 3, 2005 12:43 PM
Kurt,
You're kind of the pot calling the kettle black here. You weigh in with criticism of arguments lacking evidence, yet you don't provide any yourself. I'm not sure where the anger comes from, however. It seems that some people can't discuss religion without becoming angry.
Close-mindedness and anger are human traits, not Christian ones.
Posted on May 3, 2005 1:46 PM
I'm a conservative/libertarian professor, and K's right: the whole left-wing conspiracy thing is oversold. Sure, 85% of my colleagues are liberals, but only a few are moveon.orgists, and even of those, the vast majority are professional enough to conduct classes in a reasonable fashion.
And besides, isn't something wrong when conservatives start with the crybaby, world-is-about-to-end hysteria of the mindlessly pseudo-intellectual wing-nut left? If it concerns you that much, do what I did: get a PhD and an academic job. It's a free country.
Posted on May 5, 2005 1:32 AM