"I'm for less government, fewer laws, less thought policing, more personal responsibility, more personal choice, more personal accountability."
Good. I am too. "Your solution (if there's even a problem, which I don't think there is) stands against all those things I'm for." Wrong. Nice straw man again. I can't see how wanting professors to actually teach and being accountable for that stands against any of the items in your list of what you say your are for. So, let me summarize what has happened. 1. You believe professors at public university should be able to say anything they want in class, even if it does not have anything to do with the class. Problem: Professors are hired to teach and do research. While 99% of Americans are expected to peform their job, you are giving college faculty a free pass. This free pass is at the expense of tax payers by the way. 2. You say that the only instance the government can interfere with a runaway professor is if he or she is advocating hate crimes or using hate speech. Problem 1: An agenda of hate and politics are not disjoint. A lot of overlap. Where do you draw the line? You have already allowed the gov't to stick it's foot in the door with the ability to stop the hate agenda. Now you want to draw an imaginary line somewhere and tell them to stop. Problem 2: If a person has a PhD, it would have to be mail order if they ever managed to back themself in a corner with rhetoric. Change a few words here or there and hate speech becomes a class lesson. 3. People can punish colleges that allow runaway professors by choosing different colleges. Problem: For most people a college degree is a requirement for a better life. Sometimes the local public university is the only viable option. Private college may not be an option since they are usually much more expensive. Or, a person may want an engineering dregree from E-tech because they are the best in state and 99% of their graduates are hired within 6 months. Might be worth sitting through a couple of English classes where all they do is bash politicians. Tough choice: Minimum wage or attend Communist U (and hence give unintentional support to rogue professors) so I can a piece of paper that says I am more employeeable than others. 4. Let the students or parents sue the school if the schools don't do what they are supposed to do. Problem: Great. Let's put the burden on the students and families. I am sure most 17-23 year old students have enough motivation and the means to hire a lawyer and get after that school, which probably has deep pockets. I am sure most parents can afford to hire a lawyer as well. Sarcasm intended. Earlier on, we were discussing doing right because it's right, not because of the stick. Seems like a lot of people need the stick. If you are counting on a bunch of college student to weld the stick, the system will never change. Let's get more lawyers involved as well (somewhere John Edwards smiles). We all know that they make things better and more clear. If a state is funding a university directly (not through student loans), the state should have the right to demand teaching, not rhetoric. Allowing professors to shun their duties is unacceptable. The first line in order to stop this in the university itself. Make the professors teach. If they do not, the state can simply withhold funds. That'll learn 'm real quick. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Create Web Applications With ColdFusion MX7 & Flex 2. Build powerful, scalable RIAs. Free Trial http://www.adobe.com/products/coldfusion/flex2/ Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:229285 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
