Professors think they know everything.

[nerca-beyul.livejournal.com]

First post here. Been lurking around some, not to sure about posting. But today, I got so pissed off and have been fuming ALL DAY to anyone who will listen.

So, recently we've been talking in this comm about the pains of being a conservative college student. I got a really acute example of that today.

One, I'm a journalism student. It's super tough every day because as you guys well know, journalism is one of the most leftward-leaning professions out there. I get to hear my viewpoints mocked almost all the time at work and in classes.

Last semester I had one professor that I thought was exceptional in keeping politics out of class. Then I have an ethics class with him this semester. He's started making here-and-there liberal comments.

Today, I got walloped in the face.

We were discussing whether or not we would publish the name of an illegal immigrant mother if she gave birth to the first baby of the new year.

Somehow, he effectively went into a 15-minute rant in which he said:

-"You may not believe it, but what do most people believe about immigrants? That they're taking jobs away from Americans and that they're all criminals, especially Mexicans, which seems to be synonymous with drug-runners." (Nevermind the fact that, by definition, being an ILLEGAL immigrant DOES mean you're a criminal.)
-anyone who supports strict immigration laws is racist against Hispanics and abhors Mexicans and is thus completely backward
-the Arizona law is the epitome of racism because it means cops can ask any random person of brown skin for papers and deport them if they don't have them; and that "some crazy lawmakers" want to make the same thing happen in Florida
-"People who support immigration laws are making it very difficult to be a brown person. It's a sad reality, but it's a tough time to be brown in America right now." (what the hell does he think about Marco Rubio, I wonder?)
-everyone "outside the liberal multicultural haven of a university" (i.e. conservatives) thinks all Muslims are terrorists

This greatly offended me because I am a die-hard conservative and believe very strongly in strict immigration laws, but I: am obsessed Hispanic cultures and especially Mexicans, the first guy I dated (also a friend) is a legal resident alien from Mexico, had a roommate and close friend who is Cuban refugee turned naturalized citizen, and have an aunt who's adopting two young Guatemalan girls whose birth mother is being deported. Additionally, I'm very much a conservative Christian but my favorite actor is a Muslim.

Clearly I am the COMPLETE opposite of what he said! How DARE he stand up there and preach to me about how wrong "my" stereotypes are when he's obviously stereotyping me?!

So now my dilemma is whether I go to his office and TELL HIM that he offended me, or sit down and take it because as much as I'd like to believe he's above messing with my grades, I also believed he was above using politics in the classroom.

Because I don't want to blow this out of proportion, but at the same time I'm entirely sick of sitting down and taking insults right to my face.

EDIT:

The following is an e-mail I sent to my professor:
Hi professor L,

(some questions about our upcoming midterm)

Also, I wanted to let you know that some of your comments in lecture yesterday about immigration offended me. As someone who has family who work for Border Patrol and someone who supports immigration laws (including Arizona’s), I resent the implication that my beliefs are “making it hard to be a brown person in America right now.” Just because I believe in immigration laws and deporting illegal immigrants does not mean I dislike Hispanics or Mexicans. I have many Hispanic friends that I love dearly, including a friend who is a legal resident alien from Mexico and a roommate and close friend who is a naturalized citizen originally from Cuba.

Additionally, as someone who considers herself outside of the “liberal multicultural setting of the university,” I resent the assumption that I am a member of that community and the implication that “most of America” outside of that community is prejudiced against Hispanics and Muslims.

I don’t understand how an argument in favor of writing stories that break stereotypes can be based on a generalization about the beliefs of “most of America” or most of America “outside of the liberal multicultural setting of the university.” Forgive me if I’m wrong, but that seems fairly stereotypical to me.

EDIT TWO:

For all of that, this was his response:
"Caitlin,

Thanks for the comments. I apologize."

Comments

[moony88.livejournal.com]

I've been facing a similar situation for the last four years. I'm a film student in Arizona, of all places. It's hard. Especially when you realize that you're the only conservative in the room. And I'm not even hard-core, I always tell people at school that I'm Republican-lite. It's really up to you and the relationship you have with the teacher whether you feel it's worth it to go talk to him or just grin and bear it. I was lucky a few times with teachers that I could go and talk to, when I did that I was very calm and was kind of like "Look, I understand that the majority of the room is more to the left, but when things devolve into a political debate that ends with name calling, I'm not okay with that. I'm not a democrat or a liberal." And sometimes that goes over well, I had one teacher who would pull me aside sometimes after class if things had gotten heated and apologize that things got out of hand. I'm not one who debates, I try to keep quiet and just get through it, because there's no point in arguing with people who so blatantly disagree and aren't going to concede any point.

I had another teacher that I'm actually really good friends with and one day this kid in my class and I were off doing group work and he started saying all these things about republicans and how everyone on the right is racist. And I finally said something to which he told me to "shut the f-up." I got up and left the room, because I'll take a lot of things but I won't be spoken to like that. Well after class someone said something to the teacher and he asked me to explain what happened. And I started to explain the gist of it and he cut me off and said "Oh, were you expelling the wisdom of Glenn Beck?" That was actually the only time I've ever gotten smart with a teacher.

And there's a teacher now who gets up and goes on about how evil capitalism controls Hollywood. Right after those speeches he mentions the big plasma tv he recently got and how he's publishing a book soon. It takes everything in me to not stand up and scream "hypocrite!" Then today we were talking about LA and he asked "what does LA have a huge quantity of?" and a few people answered "Illegal immigrants." To which he replied "illegal, legal, no real difference." UHM?

It's hard and it really really sucks to have to hesitate like this when you've been offended. But it really is a matter of the factors. Your relationship with the teacher, if he seems like the kind who would take it out on your grade. I'd suggest waiting and see if it happens again, if it becomes a trend, I would definitely say something.

[nerca-beyul.livejournal.com]

Being the natural smartass that I am, I almost raised my hand in class and asked, "Um, I'm sorry, what is the relevance of this to ethics in journalism? And can you explain to me how your argument against 'most of America' using stereotypes doesn't use stereotypes?"

I actually get the double whammy in classes because I'm a journalism and English double major. And usually I just brush it off, whatever, but UM, insulting me and calling me racist to my face?! I draw the line there.

And there's a teacher now who gets up and goes on about how evil capitalism controls Hollywood.
Um, wtf? Does he know anything about Hollywood??? Hollywood is about as far from right as it gets.

And how in the world can a professor get away with letting another student do that to you? Um, I would have gone to the department.

[moony88.livejournal.com]

I know! Hollywood is capitalism in it's purist form! And I'm pretty sure that a good deal of the $80 I spent to buy the used text book that he wrote didn't go towards charity or any other social program. Pretty sure it went towards a new BluRay disc.

He dealt with the other student afterwards. I some how manage to keep my smart ass gene in control with teachers. With the student I got into it with, I didn't. He was in the middle of saying that no other president has ever been threatened with violence like Obama has. And I was just like "Excuse me? I'm pretty sure Lincoln, Kennedy, and Garfield would beg to differ."

Complaining to the department does nothing. Every office in the film department had these little "Yes we did!" cards in them after the election. I complained about one teacher I had who spent an entire class period showing us Obama videos and then spent 10 minutes on McCain which just lead to people making fun of him. She then said "Are there any republicans who would like to come up and defend their point of view?" Which, in a class room of 200, where only about 4 people are to the right, is like asking "who would like to come over and bend over so we can just throw things at them and verbally berate them." I said something to the advisor for the major and all she said was "Oh... we've had a few complaints about her before."

[nerca-beyul.livejournal.com]

I don't understand why people are so convinced that Obama's hated on more than any other president. Clearly -- CLEARLY -- that is not the case.

And that is terrible! How could someone say that? Why should anyone have to "defend" their point of view? What the hell happened to freedom? And idk if your university has this, but our university also has a Dean of Students office where we can report things going on with teachers. It's not as biased or close-knit as the department.