Study: Liberal Professors Suppress Opposing Views in Class
by Jim Brown
January 21, 2004
(AgapePress) - A new study reaffirms what conservatives have been saying for years about the political ideologies of university professors in the classroom.The Washington-based Independent Women's Forum recently conducted a study of college men and women between the ages of 18 and 24. More than one-third of respondents report their professors be either very liberal or somewhat liberal. Only 13% of students consider their professors to be conservative.
According to the study, almost a third of students say they have been forced to take a philosophical position they were uncomfortable with for an assignment. IWF's campus program manager, Kristen Richardson, says the survey also reveals a certain level of intimidation among students with liberal professors.
"While we all know that the majority of professors tend to be liberal," Robinson says, "it seems to be having an effect on classroom participation." The result, she says, is that students who disagree with a professor's point of view "shy away" from speaking up in class when they know that their view is different from the professor's.
The same study found that almost three-fourths (74%) of the respondents are currently registered to vote, and that 57% of those not yet registered plan to do so before the November 2004 election. Richardson calls that "great news" -- and an indication those students represent a generation not to be overlooked by candidates while they are campaigning.
"There have been a lot of get-out-the-vote campaigns in the past couple of years," she says, "and I think this is great to see that the 18 to 24-year-olds are not the apathetic group that they are sometimes stereotyped [to be], they are interested in the election, and they have a lot to say about it." In fact, the study indicates that fully 84% of students plan to go to the polls in November.
Other findings of the study, which was conducted before the capture of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, include: 50% of respondents approve "of the way George W. Bush is handling his job as president" -- and for 40% of those responding, job creation and economic growth is "the single most important issue" in the upcoming elections.
