Tuesday, March 22, 2005
It's all about 'Academic Freeeedom'!!!
freedom to indoctrinate?
At Santa Rosa Junior College, Molly MacPherson and her friends decided to take a stand. They taped 8 x 11 pages quoting a part of the education code which forbids teaching communism. To wit:
“No teacher giving instruction in any school ... shall advocate or teach communism with the intent to indoctrinate or to inculcate in the mind of any pupil a preference for communism."
They added a nice red star and signed it anonymously. That was a mistake.
The response was… predictable:
“It makes me a little anxious,’’ philosophy instructor [weenie]
“Attack on academic freedom...” “Attack on freedom of speech” [thank you, Ward] “return of McCarthyism” “shameless / malicious media stunt” [to what end?] “thugs” “a regrettable contempt for the college’s principled commitments to free and fair academic inquiry” [roflmao] “Here, we believe, is the real issue raised by last week’s events: that the goal of such tactics, at SRJC and nationally, is not to start but to stop genuine dialogue, in all its critical difficulty, its ethical constraints and its challenging pluralism, in favor of unprincipled efforts to enforce a party line.” [**shifting sands alert**]
And my fave? The most telling quote:
German instructor Sylvia Wasson, said her colleagues were “overreacting’’ ...Wasson, who had McPherson in four German classes, described her as an A student, a ``very bright woman’’ and a “critical thinker who happens to belong to the wrong party on campus.’’
Conclusion? Try telling a fish he’s wet.
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