[shakespeare47]

Anyone else find it difficult to keep silent when professors talk nonsense? I have heard professors spout off on their favorite conspiracy theories, their political views, etc.

Do you speak up, or just let them be?

I have a class on Mondays with a Prof who keeps denying global warming... insisting it's a conspiracy. Also, according to him, our (I'm in the U.S.) legal system has no ties to the British and Roman legal systems... apparently, it's based completely on the Bible.

[alicetailor]

Do other students feel the same?

[shakespeare47]

Originally Posted by alicetailor

Do other students feel the same?

There are a few who pipe and and just make non-chalant challenges in a joking manner.

[Travelinglady]

Where you attend school? Is it a conservative college/uni? What topic is the professor supposed to be covering? (What class, in other words?) Trump doesn't believe in global warming either.... All I know is something weird is going on with the weather, and if we humans are affecting it, then I think we need to figure out why and stop doing it!

Maybe ask some questions such as what does he think is causing the climate change and if he's off topic, then try to bring him back to the subject at hand. I think we all have our soap-box topics, but good professors don't veer much from their subject matter. (Is this going to be on the next test? )

I doubt you'd be able to change his mind. Perhaps he doesn't have both oars in the water.

(I was a college professor, off and on for 20 years.)

[shakespeare47]

I attend a community college. The topics I mentioned above have nothing to do with the economy class he is teaching.

Report him to the head of the department.

[Perna]

I would just ignore him, learn what economics I could from him and move on. Without sitting down with the guy and getting a sense of his whole picture, you can't really know to what extent he's just being provocative, what he actually believes, etc. If he truly believed some of what you are saying, it would skew his economics teaching and that would be obvious to his employers, in his background, etc.

[shakespeare47]

I've decided to wait until after the class is over, and then ask him about the comments he made.

[Travelinglady]

Okay. I have to say you would probably make an enemy if you called him out on it. Evidently he feels strongly enough about these topics to veer from his lecture.

Economics, huh?

[shakespeare47]

I'm finishing up a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, and it's a Engineering Economy class (w/ some ethics).

I have to admit that I have a habit of challenging authority figures, and then regretting the consequences. I'm making it a point to pick my battles. And I'm starting to realize that I sometimes turn people off with my attitude (even if ultimately I'm making valid points).

[Turtle_Rider]

let them be. A classmate laughed at him once, and he give C to that classmate, even through he actually done well in test

[DechanDawa]

academia = politics

[AmandaBroken]

My thought is are you willing to pay the price for challenging him. He may talk to other teachers and things may get difficult for you.

[alicetailor]

Do inform us about your talk with the professor.

[shakespeare47]

It's a 10 week course. I believe we're on week 6. I did speak up in class a few times, and have emailed him a few times. He seems like a decent guy... But, he has, what seems to me like an odd idea of how to tell if something is true or false. It seems to be less about evidence, rationality and critical thinking, and more about what his trusted friends and trusted podcasts are telling him and what he feels about a thing.

What I see is this mentality: I know that X is a trusted source... and if I think a source is trusted, then I don't question it. But, some sources can't be trusted, and I just deny what I hear from those sources.

He told a story the other day about a topic, and used as his source of authority for said topic, something a friend told him. I emailed him and asked him "what if I told you I have a trusted friend w/ more info than your friend and more authority, and what he told me contradicts what your friend told you?"

You really should probably bite your tongue and just get through the course.

[shakespeare47]

Originally Posted by lolagrace

You really should probably bite your tongue and just get through the course.

Meh... I don't know... maybe.

We actually have a cordial relationship. I do find myself wanting to be careful about making too many judgments about his behavior.

I would say learn to separate opinion from facts pertinent to your class...Don't question people's opinion, just know that it's just that.

If it's not related to what he's teaching, then let it go.

If it is, then he should welcome a healthy discussion of it and he'll most likely favor you for it (my husband teaches and his biggest issue is that students don't think for themselves, they just want the facts that they can regurgitate on a test....)

[shakespeare47]

So Monday was our last class. Because our instructor continued to advance his Global Warming denial agenda, I emailed his immediate supervisor, and I will meet with him today.

I'm going to tell him exactly what happened in class, and then ask him how we should deal with it. I intend to ask his supervisor if we should just keep this informal and off the record, or if it would be best for me to mention it on his evaluation. I intend to tell him exactly what I would put on his evaluation, and why, if that is what he thinks is the best option.

I was very outpoken in my classes throughout college and it was always well received or at least tolerated from what I could tell. I've been lucky and had really good professors at 2 different universities.

In all the years, there was only 1 professor who I didn't get along with, and he was well known worldwide so I didn't feel comfortable speaking up about it to anyone.

In my experience, they often show their political bent. It's better they show it than hide it so that students know the bias. If they didn't outright state it, rest assured it would still be there as we ALL have bias.

I wouldn't complain but would raise important questions to counter their points. It would make the class more useful and interesting if you debated. Why not challenge them? If they are open minded, they'd welcome the debate or tolerate it imo. And to be honest, if they are any good, they would like the challenging.

But one of the reasons I was very outspoken was because I had a good amount of personal and work experience before college (not that you don't) and so had much to contribute about the course topics.

Well too late, i just read your last reply. It sounds like you are letting your emotions drive you instead of intellect. Well we all do that but I think its best to keep it out of education realm and the workplace when at all possible.

[shakespeare47]

I plan on explaining the situation on his evaluation. What he did is used his classroom as a captive audience to advance his agenda. According to him, there is no other side... there is only one way to look at the issue, his way.

And he did this in an Engineering Economy class. As far as I'm concerned, the time spent wasted talking about Global Warming was time that could have been spent teaching us about economics. Maybe the college doesn't care, I don't know. But, they will be informed about the issue.

Either that, or I'll just put something like, "for an economy class, the instructor sure talked about Global Warming a lot... If our instructor's intent was to educate us about his views on the subject? He succeeded. I would have preferred to lean more about economics."

I think I might still have a good enough relationship with him to talk about it over coffee sometime... But, I'll have to watch what I say on the eval if I want that relationship to continue.