Catherine wrote:

> Sorry about that, Kakki.  I hadn't read your later
> post clarifying this, so it makes a lot more sense.
> Yes, it was very chic to be radical back in the 60s
> and even the 70s.  I had a few of those, but probably
> none as radical as the ones you encountered

Probably because I was in California (and you know how we are ;-) where the
movement to allow openly Marxist professors to teach began, and the fight to
allow them to teach became a movement in itself.  (See Herbert Marcuse and
Angela Davis)

- I never met one who called him- or herself a Marxist, but in
> university it may have depended on what courses you
> were taking.

Yes, they tend to not be found in the hard sciences, but more in the social
and political Sciences.

> I was thinking more of teachers of today (one example being my
brother-in-law) and I would
> think of them more as liberals or socialist-leaning, types, but with
down-home values.  Kind of ex-hippies
> who've mellowed out a bit.

Sounds like most of my friends - how did we get so gray and middle class?
;-).  I guess my problem is with the ones who teach an agenda.  I'm old
fashioned in thinking that teachers should ultimately encourage people how
to think for themselves independently. Isn't it all about exercising the
brain, regardless of the subject, in the end?  I think those who layer on a
particular political agenda to a subject in school, or worse, punishing
students who don't agree with them with bad grades, are taking advantage of
their students and crossing the line.  Again, this has just been my personal
experience and that of some people I know.  Others may never have had this
experience and I'm sure experiences vary depending on where one grew up or
went to school.

Kakki

Kakki

Reply via email to