Celebrate Diversity (Just Watch What You Think): Georgia Tech Edition

Ideological bias at America’s colleges marches on!

I am bothered by the double standards I believe exist in the educational system. From my personal experiences and core beliefs, I greatly value diversity as well as individuality, whether it is that of thought and ideas or race and background. While great strides are being made to promote diversity of different types – ethnic, social and economic diversity – intellectual diversity is not only severely lacking, it is being stifled.

When discussing issues of education and socialism, I made a comment that I thought was relevant to the discussion. “You are not an individual,” the professor told me, “you did not make it here on your own, but because of society.” In discussions on society, a professor constantly referred to “rich white kids that grew up in privilege” and inferred that people from the South were ignorant and dumb.

When a student asked a question during class, the professor didn’t appreciate it and asked the student if he was from Vidalia [a city in southeastern Georgia]. She even went on to say that she had asked this question to many students and she loved using Vidalia as her city. Another student was highly offended, being born in Vidalia and having family from there. She apparently was inferring that people from Vidalia, or the South, were uninformed and slow. Of course this stereotyping of the “stupid southerner” brought on much laughter from the class.

I believe this mentality perpetuates conflict – by using class warfare, group stereotypes such as race, gender, and class. When the issue of religion comes up, as is often the case, professors have dismissed our beliefs as “fundamentalist” and constantly refer to the “religious right” in a negative manner – statements that I find highly offensive.

It is very frustrating to be in such a position and to be forced to deal with this on a regular basis, but it is very encouraging to see a growing awareness that this problem exists and a commitment to do something about it. It is obvious that we need a definitive course of action, and we are faced with perplexing questions. How do you balance deference to authority while still holding professors accountable for the way they conduct their classes? As students, should we be forced to choose between expressing the courage of our convictions and risking lower grades? Is the academic system intrinsically biased towards one side of the political spectrum, and if so, how can we move towards objectivity? Ultimately the issue is one of promoting scholarship, not partisanship; education, not indoctrination.

From Georgia Tech to UNLV, the veiled threat is clear: Think our way, or else. Individualism is anathema. If you’re not thinking Happy Progressive Thoughts, you are warped and must be struck down at once.

It makes you wonder who the real haters are sometimes.

(link via Boortz)

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