No, Betsy DeVos, faculty aren’t telling students what to think, Ivy League professor says - The Washington Post:
No, Betsy DeVos, faculty aren’t telling students what to think, Ivy League professor says
Marybeth Gasman is a professor of higher education in the Graduate School of Education at the University of Pennsylvania, where she directs the Penn Center for Minority Serving Institutions and holds secondary appointments in history, Africana studies, and the School of Social Policy and Practice. Here, she offers her opinions on Education Secretary Betsy DeVos’s recent comments about university faculty. — Susan Svrluga
Dear Betsy DeVos,
In a speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference recently, you decided to criticize college and university faculty for using their position to indoctrinate students and turn them against the Trump administration without any evidence.
More specifically, you told the audience, “The fight against the education establishment extends to you, too. The faculty, from adjunct professors to deans, tell you what to do, what to say, and more ominously, what to think. They say that if you voted for Donald Trump, you’re a threat to the university community. But the real threat is silencing the First Amendment rights of people with whom you disagree.”
There are multiple problems with your statement.
Marybeth Gasman (Courtesy of Marybeth Gasman)
First, faculty members in higher education have very diverse ideas and are often arguing about these ideas among themselves. I personally disagree with my faculty colleagues weekly and often speak out publicly about my differences in perspective.
Second, the overwhelming majority of faculty members do not tell students what to think, we teach students how to think critically. We give students the tools to think and urge them to question what they read and see and to avoid accepting ideas at face value.
Third, faculty members don’t tell students whom to vote for, but we often encourage students to vote in general as it is part of every citizen’s duty as a contributing member of society.
