Twilight of Academic Freedom

[lovelplants]

uh nice.. well i agree for academic freedom...

[dzsquared1]

Academic freedom is another way of saying "Just keep paying us and we'll do whatever we want".

Let's face it-"Intellectuals" are not diety; they should be held accountable for their performance just like everyone else. Their job is teach their subject, not indoctrinate the students to leftist philosophy.

[perfectbark]

You would think that college administrators are embarrassed ....... but they are not.

[nw316]

For faculty to display that for students to understand what it means to be an intellectual the faculty needs to display controversial points of view and in so doing warrant guaranteed salaries... ok, let's try that in the medical field or in law enforcement.

[nw316]

It sounds to me like job security is the real concern in this interview... not exactly inspiring. So, do students deserve the same freedom when disagreeing with faculty? I know plenty who get lowered grades (ultimately career security) if they disagree with their professors, no matter how perfectly stated in reasoned defense.

[engineerjatt]

College faculty is one of the most thrashed career. I really dont know why people choose to be college teachers.....it is a pathetic humiliating job. ...

high school diploma holders earn better wages working on burger king....

[ColbertandStewartpwn]

"high school diploma holders earn better wages working on burger king.... "

Really? That's kind of the problem here...

[Killedkennyagain]

@engineerjatt You exaggerate, but the good ones definitely do not get paid enough for the value they provide, especially compared to the coaches of the colleges sports team, which in many cases is 3 or 4 times that of Professors.

[sanbog2]

Everybody wants academic freedom......except for the other guy's views. As shown by the comments here.

[Blevins1961]

I obtained my Masters Degree in 1998, and my Bachelor of Science Degree in 1986.

I was a college instructor, but found working outside of this field was more stable.

Education for its own sake, to improve character is a Fact.

Yes, most of these College Instructor Jobs, are only a part-time, and are NOT enough income to survive.

It was at the end of WWII, with the New GI Bill, many vets went to college and instructor-professor careers were booming.

Those days have passed.

[PrometheusWithLight]

Ah, unfortunate.

See, what happens is, a simple few have rouined academic freedom for the others.

Case in point, the intelligent design movement. The entire movement was founded to undermine science (I'm not joking; google the "Wedge Document.") These people tried abusing academic freedom in a failed attempt to teach creationism as science; a few pseudointellectuals have, I'm quite sad to say, ruined it for the res tof us.

[prschuster]

When you (PrometheusWithLight) mention how the Intelligent Design Movement hi-jacked the notion of academic freedom, I immediately thought of Ben Stein in "Expelled". Politics is becoming a world of post-modern word games.

[LlamaLovesSigs]

ne1 want to chat?

[milkgodnl]

Splendid .. simply Splendid ..

As a TA working on a PhD, I used the term "academic freedom" to a contingent faculty member .. she loved the concept but had never heard of it. Although I teach Computer Science course(s), every semester I mention the fact that the founder of our field, Dr. Alan Turing, was gay! I hope my students will leave my class knowing that you do not have to be a Baptist from Waco to be a good Engineer or Mathematician.

[ttfourme]

I would love to see this video in any clip describing the profound deceptiveness of the "Academic Bill of Rights" created by David Horwitz

[B4MagiCarpeTurns2ash]

good job.

the earth is a school. the system is extremely corrupt, starting with the educational system.

how sad, but true.

[Frenchdoc9740]

What a great video. Cary Nelson exactly epitomizes what he talks about here. He shows us what it means to be an intellectual, to have well-reasoned arguments, to have thought through a position and to have stuff to back it up.

[mlabit1985]

@Frenchdoc9740

'Stuff', I believe here is not the type of nomenclature that 'we' should be using. In fact, I just saw a Progressive video sponsored by OSI and the TIDES foundation through activist investors like George Soros, you might have heard of em' (he's kinda a big deal, and an elitist arrogant son-of-a-gun like this chap), that, huh, huh, ~let me catch my breath~ ... says 'stuff' is bad ! AHHHHHH scary, 'stuff' and look out for the bearded marxists, If you can go around avoiding mirr