Wednesday, October 01, 2003
Academic freedom smells like ass
Faith Stein makes a good point about the problem with the academic freedom code changes in relation to Snehal's infamous "conservative thinkers are encouraged to seek other sections" quote:
...the real issue being the ability of said instructor to acknowledge and tolerate discussion and debate, which was seemingly dismissed outright by this teacher before the very first class.
That's the intellectual reason why the code revisions are pathetic. ("Oh, oh, we don't want any trouble, so here, instructors, do whatever the hell you want, and academic integrity can be considered secondary.")
The non-intellectual reason why the code revisions are pathetic is that TEACHING IS A GOD DAMNED JOB! Why do these people think they should have any kind of freedom? They're being paid to do a job. In just about any other job, you get paid to do a task, not to have freedom. You accept pay in exchange for temporarily giving up your freedom. That's a concept called "employment." If these folks want "academic" freedom, then what claim to they have to getting paid for academic work? Does anyone else actually challenge this concept of "academic freedom"? Is my opinion really that strange?
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