Free Exchange on Campus - Professor Sam Richards

Professor Sam Richards

Written by cps
Tuesday, 11 April 2006
*Mr. Horowitz claims, Dr. Richards’ “class lessons are reinforced with ‘out-of-class’ assignments that include the viewing of left-wing propaganda films.” (305-06)* As Professor Richards points out, Mr. Horowitz “disingenuously fails to note that students also receive credit for attending ‘conservative’ events—including a talk by none other than David Horowitz! In fact, when Mr. Horowitz visited Penn State, I strongly encouraged my liberal students to attend. Similarly, the three times that [anti-affirmative action activist] Ward Connerly has visited [Penn State] I implored my students to attend his talks against affirmative action because I knew he would challenge them to think and, for those who supported affirmative action, defend their views.” Mr. Horowitz claims, Professor Richards’ “lecture notes for the first class of each semester inform students that, ‘It is not possible to keep our ideologies out of the classroom or any other place where ideas are shared. SO I’M OPEN ABOUT BRINGING MY IDEOLOGY INTO THIS CLASSROOM BECAUSE I SEE THAT ALL EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS ARE IDEOLOGICAL TO THE CORE.’ [emphasis in original]”(306) *Mr. Horowitz goes on, “This is a pretty frank admission that his agenda is to indoctrinate students, not educate them.” (306)* First, the two sentences in the quote above are spliced together—the first sentence appears at the beginning of Professor Richards’ lecture notes, and the second sentence (the one in all caps) appears at the end. Mr. Horowitz does not indicate to the reader that he has merged these quotes. Second, the message of Professor Richards’ lecture is precisely the opposite of what Mr. Horowitz claims it to be. It is specifically designed to encourage Professor Richards’ students to think critically and decide for themselves what they believe. Mr. Horowitz leaves out the parts of Professor Richards’ notes demonstrating that Richards’ true objective is to encourage “thinking that attempts to account for all sides of an argument and tries to go beyond simple answers to complex questions.” Professor Richards’ full lecture notes are below; readers can judge his message for themselves. As Professor Richards responds, “this assignment demonstrates my mission as a teacher, which has always been to introduce students to a panoply of contradictory ideas and then to encourage them to sort out the mess themselves and arrive at their own conclusions.” In addition, Professor Richards points out that the application for teaching assistants for his class states, “We welcome applications from students of all cultures, faiths, sexual and political orientations, and ability levels. The more diverse we are in ideologies, backgrounds, and experiences, the more we will have to teach one another.” CRITICAL THINKING DISCUSS IDEOLOGY Beliefs about how the world is, has been, or should be organized This includes our beliefs about morality (right and wrong) & ethics (good and bad) It is not possible to keep our ideologies out of the classroom or any other place where ideas are shared. Every thought and feeling that we have is shaped in some way by our ideological belief systems. So when professors say that they practice “value free science” or that they are “value free” in their classroom you should challenge them on it. The clothing I wear, the films I select, the books I choose, the type of exams I give, my grading scale—are all rooted in how I think the world is or should be organized (i.e., my ideology). How is it possible to keep every one of my moral and ethnical opinions out of my classroom? It's not. This doesn’t mean that we all think at all times by drawing on “uninformed” opinion. My thoughts, for example, are rooted in my interpretation of how the world is organized AFTER years of serious study. Granted, some of my study is flawed in differing ways, but much of it is not—it is grounded in data that I have analyzed in one way or another, as well as my experience of the world. SO I’M OPEN ABOUT BRINGING MY IDEOLOGY INTO THIS CLASSROOM BECAUSE I SEE THAT ALL EDUCATIONAL SYSTEMS ARE IDEOLOGICAL TO THE CORE. CRITICAL THINKING – What I stress in this class: Thinking that attempts to account for all sides of an argument and tries to go beyond simple answers to complex questions Acceptance of two or more seemingly contradictory ideas as compatible (i.e., ability to understand and accept paradox). Example: Minority groups must band together to get ahead. However, when minority groups band together this creates obstacles to their getting ahead. Thinking in the gray area (the realm of “not knowing”) The world is not black or white. Truth does not come easy—it requires careful and critical wrestling with complex ideas…and it requires a willingness to engage in the mystery of life and to embrace the fact that we’ll never know the answers to the perennial questions. Tags:
	Permalink

Sign me up for the Free Exchange Update