When Students Silence Teachers
Stanford Review |JONAH WU
“For thirty-five years, the Review has documented the repression of students’ heterodox ideas. Recently, however, professors who challenge progressive ideology are now being increasingly targeted. They have fewer job prospects, often bear visible hostility, and even risk losing tenure. Students are not only less willing to accept instruction that does not conform with progressive orthodoxy — they feel psychologically threatened by it…”
Wu goes through a recent complaint against a Stanford professor that throws into graphic relief the situation at universities today.
“Students used to hold their professor’s point of view in high esteem. Not every text had to be read through the lens of critical race theory. Students could hear an opposing opinion, engage with their professors, and even change their minds. But now, when told by the professor that their interpretation is wrong — students break down in tears, complain to the authorities, and seek to throw him out. No capability to swallow one’s pride, hear the other side, or forgive remains. I do not know how much more coddled and closed the American mind can get.”
In closing, Wu appeals to his peers— “To my fellow students — we must defend our instructors’ freedom to say what they actually believe. Even let them interrupt you to do so…[if not, we’ll receive] the very definition of an illiberal education.”
Related:
A Commencement Message to Very Excellent Sheep (Common Sense, 5/24/22)
