Liberal Professors

[Blisspath]

I had to go to a faculty inservice meeting a few nights ago and was sitting with a group of the college's full time professors. One asked if I was new this semester, I told him that I had been there for three semesters and only taught part-time, because I had a full time job. After this he and his friends seemed to give me the cold shoulder for the rest of the night. I asked one of the other adjuncts profs and he said that they had treated him the same way. I read somewhere where 75% of full time college professors are liberal. I can understand this as they generally go from grad school and then start teaching and never really live in the "real world" They don't make a lot of money and that bothers them as they are important, educated, and respected while on campus but seem to feel uneasy in public. Have you ever met one of your teachers in public? Its like they are a totally different person sometimes. Would you rather have a teacher who has never practiced what they teach or someone that can bring real world cases into the classroom? I worry that these people are having too big of an influence on our students today. They are taking their bitterness for the capitalist system and instilling their beliefs on students who assume that they are experts. I may have to start teaching full time to help level the imbalance:) but then again I like being a greedy capitalist pig full time:)

[The_Amaster]

Well, in answer to the question you asked:

Would you rather have a teacher who has never practiced what they teach or someone that can bring real world cases into the classroom?
I'd rather have someone with real-world experience. However, I do not automaticly equate lack of real world experience with liberalism.

I disdain and argue with most of the Liberal Academics, and the Conservative Capitalists, simply because those demographics tend to have black and white (or at least very little gray) views.

[rock_nog]

You act like being a liberal is a crime or something. Honestly, I don't really have a problem with conservatives, though I do tend to be wary of anyone who isn't open to the notion that there isn't one right answer to everything. Just seems a bit fascist to me to say "It's our way or the highway." And, nothing personal, but in my personal experience, conservatives tend to have that problem more. I just don't understand how anyone can be so totally sure that their opinions are right? I mean, if that were the case, that there was one right answer to everything and that answer is obvious, we wouldn't need democracy.

[Blisspath]

You act like being a liberal is a crime or something. Honestly, I don't really have a problem with conservatives, though I do tend to be wary of anyone who isn't open to the notion that there isn't one right answer to everything. Just seems a bit fascist to me to say "It's our way or the highway." And, nothing personal, but in my personal experience, conservatives tend to have that problem more. I just don't understand how anyone can be so totally sure that their opinions are right? I mean, if that were the case, that there was one right answer to everything and that answer is obvious, we wouldn't need democracy.

I don't think that most liberals are bad, just ignorant about economics and history. Liberalism destroys ambition by creating dependence on the government. Every entitlement that we have ever started has grown into a larger program. Liberalism also creates class division by taking taxes from one person to give to someone who has done nothing to earn it. I'll give you some examples of how liberalism hurts the people that it is intended to help. The minimum wage is about to go up to 7.25 an hour..will this help the poorest workers? no... many will lose their jobs because small businesses will not be able to keep as many employees and will have to raise their prices to make up for the wage increase. Also Barack wants to change mortgage laws to be included in bankruptcy laws. Good idea? nope If judges are allowed to reduce a person's mortgage to settle 50% of their mortgage the same as they do for credit cards..soon mortgage rates and credit card rates would be the same. I don't think many lower income people could afford a house if the interest rates were 20%. There is an evolution that comes with liberalism and entitlements..the result is what happened to France..they are having to make tough reforms to keep the country from being destroyed.

[Revfan9]

lol automatically labeling people as a single group and assuming that they're bad people :/

[The_Amaster]

Just don't forget that under an ideal Conservative Capitalist society, credit card companies and banks are free to drive interest rates sky high under the excuse that "they're free individuals who don't have to borrow from us" even if they're the only game in town. And don't even get me started on what Wal-Mart would do. *shudders*

Now, not bashing Conservatives in any way. My point is no side has all the answers!
And in fact, I think that both sides have the answers to a similar number of different problems. We need a balanced government.

[Blisspath]

Just don't forget that under an ideal Conservative Capitalist society, credit card companies and banks are free to drive interest rates sky high under the excuse that "they're free individuals who don't have to borrow from us" even if they're the only game in town. And don't even get me started on what Wal-Mart would do. *shudders*

Now, not bashing Conservatives in any way. My point is no side has all the answers!
And in fact, I think that both sides have the answers to a similar number of different problems. We need a balanced government.

Many retailers are free to raise their prices now. Why don't they? competition..if Wal-mart were to raise their prices too high..people would stop going there and go to K-Mart or Target instead.

[phattonez]

That's why all capitalist markets try to stop monopolies. Once you have a monopoly, there's no competition, and then there's exploitation.

Usually, professors don't have influence over economic thought unless that's the class that they're teaching. So I don't think that it's too much to worry about.

[Lilith]

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[Beldaran]

There are just as many sheltered academic conservatives.

I can vouch for this. I go to Baylor University and it can get very right wing-ish around here, and not in a bad ass libertarian kind of way, but in an obnoxious George W. Bush kind of way.

[Shyvus]

I'm self-made and I've seen lots of horrible shit and I'm a liberal. Lots of the same people are. I agree that academia gets fluffy and masturbatory, but I don't see the relation. There are just as many sheltered academic conservatives.

I have to second this. Nail on the head. Also add that I'm educated in economics, business and accounting. And science.

And educated liberal. t3h scares.

[Icey]

To respond to your original post, Blisspath, I have to say that professors who act like that can come from anywhere on the political spectrum. The only professor I had at UCLA who made his personal politics an issue was conservative. He was very proud of being a conservative political science prof in Los Angeles. And it was counterproductive. I agree that liberal or conservative, a professors' personal views shouldn't be thrust upon students. It's fair to present opposing arguments from both sides, like quoting politicians on opposite ends of a debate, and then encouraging students to address the key issues themselves.

But as for full time professors being dicks I think that just has to do with the fact that they have tenure and know they have it made. UCLA is a research university so naturally a lot of professors don't give a damn about teaching and only care about their research. I've had a couple classes where the lectures were worthless because the profs just didn't care. (Luckily the upper level classes more than made up for anything I might have missed out on).

On the other side, the best teacher I've ever had here - and I've taken him four times now - is a "visiting professor" and a "lecturer". He doesn't do research and he actually cares about teaching! What a concept. I'm thankful for people like him every day.



Usually, professors don't have influence over economic thought unless that's the class that they're teaching. So I don't think that it's too much to worry about.

No economics professor should have that influence anyway. Most schools of economic thought are based on empirical data and statistical studies. So if a prof presents you with some bullshit with little to no evidence it's intellectually dishonest and easy to refute. Unless you belong to the Austrian school of econ and you think numbers are evil, then you can say whatever you want.

[Shyvus]

The only influence I've had from an Economics teacher was to make me a better student, and that was more my stubbornness than anything having to do with him. He was adjunct and didn't teach. No lectures, didn't even answer questions. He actually said to the class "Remember, I don't do this for a living."

I had to teach myself the entire course because the exams were from the text and other extra material and were incredibly hard- it's the only subject I've actually had to study. Usually I read the material once and I'm done.

Discipline is necessary in college, but if I wanted an independent study, I would have signed up for one.

Unfortunately, this is the same experience I've had with every adjunct professor except one in math who was semi-retired. I've had 8 so far. They didn't understand the meaning of teaching, didn't want to put forth the effort, and didn't give anything to the class except a hard time.

The worst experience I had was with a biology class. The lecture was taught by two full-time staff because the original professor broke her legs the week before school. Halfway through the semester, an adjunct who was already teaching at 3 schools took over the class. He changed the syllabus eight times in a month against the deans approval (though when we complained, he said there was nothing that could be done) and posted homework questions that were nonsensical, not related to the material and full of spelling and grammatical errors on a website that was usually down. What we learned in class was not the standard curriculum, but what he was researching.

I don't mind learning advanced material, but the class was full of medical students who needed the class as a base for A&P. The standard curriculum was there for a reason.

[Feasul]

Unfortunately, this is the same experience I've had with every adjunct professor except one in math who was semi-retired.

For a second I thought you said "semi-retarded."
The best teacher I've ever had is sort of a wandering professor. He's not an adjunct, but he's not really on my college's staff, either, he's just sort of passing through for the year. He's in the philosophy department, and he also has background in computer science, linguistics, and is mostly interested in cognitive science. The best thing about him is that even though he's extraordinarily knowledgeable and charismatic and could easily convince most of a class that he's right about whatever topic we're discussing, he flat out refused to give us his opinion on anything. (I had him for ethics last semester.) He'd just play devil's advocate in any argument to hel you develop the ability to rationalize and strengthen your own views, cause even though he's a realist and is pretty sure that there are difinite answers out there, he's the first to admit that he's likely to be wrong about most of what he thinks.

[Blisspath]

For a second I thought you said "semi-retarded."
The best teacher I've ever had is sort of a wandering professor. He's not an adjunct, but he's not really on my college's staff, either, he's just sort of passing through for the year. He's in the philosophy department, and he also has background in computer science, linguistics, and is mostly interested in cognitive science. The best thing about him is that even though he's extraordinarily knowledgeable and charismatic and could easily convince most of a class that he's right about whatever topic we're discussing, he flat out refused to give us his opinion on anything. (I had him for ethics last semester.) He'd just play devil's advocate in any argument to hel you develop the ability to rationalize and strengthen your own views, cause even though he's a realist and is pretty sure that there are difinite answers out there, he's the first to admit that he's likely to be wrong about most of what he thinks.

I've taught four different classes in college(pharmacology,pharmacy systems,medical terminology, and medical ethics) and of those ethics is by far my favorite. All the others are fact based and I tend to not be able to get a good classroom discussion going. Many times I take the devil's advocate approach just to get a good debate started. I think students are far more willing to debate if there is no right or wrong answer..and it makes my job a lot easier. I don't really like to hear the sound of my own voice for four hours at a time. One of my favorite professors in college was a philosophy adjunct. He hated wearing ties, but was forced to because of school policy. Some days he would come in and announce that he couldn't take "the tie and the four walls" and we would go sit outside and have class in the sculpture garden. He was also over the hiking club and we take us on hikes, where he would sit on a big rock and I'm pretty sure get stoned and meditate.:)

[Blisspath]

The only influence I've had from an Economics teacher was to make me a better student, and that was more my stubbornness than anything having to do with him. He was adjunct and didn't teach. No lectures, didn't even answer questions. He actually said to the class "Remember, I don't do this for a living."

I had to teach myself the entire course because the exams were from the text and other extra material and were incredibly hard- it's the only subject I've actually had to study. Usually I read the material once and I'm done.

Discipline is necessary in college, but if I wanted an independent study, I would have signed up for one.

Unfortunately, this is the same experience I've had with every adjunct professor except one in math who was semi-retired. I've had 8 so far. They didn't understand the meaning of teaching, didn't want to put forth the effort, and didn't give anything to the class except a hard time.

The worst experience I had was with a biology class. The lecture was taught by two full-time staff because the original professor broke her legs the week before school. Halfway through the semester, an adjunct who was already teaching at 3 schools took over the class. He changed the syllabus eight times in a month against the deans approval (though when we complained, he said there was nothing that could be done) and posted homework questions that were nonsensical, not related to the material and full of spelling and grammatical errors on a website that was usually down. What we learned in class was not the standard curriculum, but what he was researching.

I don't mind learning advanced material, but the class was full of medical students who needed the class as a base for A&P. The standard curriculum was there for a reason.

The professor should have been disciplined for changing the syllabus/prospectus. That is a written contract, if you will, between the teacher and the students. I wanted to show a film called "Miss Ever's Boys" to my class last semester, but wasn't sure I could find it so didn't include it in my multimedia section of my syllabus.(I did find it I just didn't quiz them on it) I've had many students tell me that some of the professors at our school don't lecture or will let them have study time for half of the class. I don't understand this as I have to rush sometimes to get through everything that I planned.
I would hope that you will have better professors in the future. Most of us adjuncts aren't there for the money, but many might need to work on their teaching skills. I teach two four hour classes per week but spend at least twice that preparing my lectures( and we only get paid for the hours we teach plus one hour for office work) I love it and take it very seriously..its an honor to help people who want to improve their lives.