Beacon of left-wing indoctrination

Posted by Marc Hodak on May 8, 2007 under Collectivist instinct | Comments are off for this article

Today’s New York Sun had an article about The Beacon School’s problems with the government regarding unauthorized class trips they took to Cuba. I can sympathize with their silly entanglements the government, but not with their ultimate motivation:

A 2004 graduate of Beacon, David Goodman, dismissed claims that the teacher who took students to Cuba this year, Nathan Turner, was anti-American, but said he taught history with a ” Howard Zinn kind of look at the world.”

“He is off the charts liberal,” Mr. Goodman, who said he has liberal views, said. “A lot of the school is like that. I came out of there feeling that it was too leftist and they weren’t giving you enough of a general history.”

One might think this is par for the course at a New York public school, but my son jokes about having to read Howard Zinn in his private school, as well. Some joke.

Most New York liberals will say that history can’t be taught without a political slant, much the way that creationists don’t think biology is a “value-free” science. Objectivity is impossible, they figure, so you might as well offer a perspective that is “right” (as in “left”). My son’s school readily admits that they offer an “alternative” (read “left”) perspective on history, but they say they expect their students to challenge it. I will grant that they allow students to challenge their perspective, but to “expect” your average New York high school student to challenge a teacher’s liberal slant on a subject is, I think, hysterically disingenuous.

I teach at NYU. My classes touch on ethics, history, and public policy. My classical liberal leanings on those topics are in plain sight for any reader of this blog, but I would be mortified if any of my former students could be quoted in a newspaper identifying my political leanings on the basis of my classroom instruction. In fact, this Friday I will be participating in an Aspen Institute* roundtable on corporate values as a result of an invitation by a former student who clearly didn’t know any better.

Sure, objectivity is difficult to maintain. But I believe it’s part of being a professional. I would not expect my doctor’s or pharmacist’s politics to be visible in my interactions with them. I apply a similar, Turing-type standard to teachers, reporters, etc. If I can tell a teacher’s political slant in a class by virtue of their lectures or assignments, I think they are a bad teacher. If I can tell a reporter’s slant by reading their news articles, I think they are a bad reporter. That’s why I don’t watch CNN or Fox News. Unfortunately, the point of left-wing indoctrination is to destroy distinctions like “objectivity,” with the possibly unintended consequence of polarizing our politics and academics.

*For those of you who don’t know, the Aspen Institute is a pretty left-of-center place. So far, they seem to respect what must appear to them my fairly contrarian approach to business ethics. At this Friday’s colloquium, I will be testing their committment to “open-minded dialogue.” I’ll get back to you on that.