From the article:
Most liberals celebrate these developments, yet with a certain uneasiness. Few of them want to apply these protections to society at large. Conservatives and libertarians are up in arms. They see these rules as an assault on free speech and individual liberty. They think universities are treating students like children. And they are right. But they have also not considered that the justification for these policies may lie hidden in plain sight: that students are children. Not in terms of age, but in terms of maturity. Even in college, they must be protected like children while being prepared to be adults.
When I teach classes based on discussion and free exchange, on the first day I usually tell students that their opinions need to be backed up with science, with facts, with theory. Simply sharing a point of view is pointless, because that’s not the purpose of the class. On the other hand, I disagree that a teacher should operate like a dictator in a classroom; the point is not just to impart knowledge to students but for the students to make it their own, and develop critical thinking and communication skills. They can’t do that if they just sit there while I cram information into their brains. They have to discuss, to think, to test, sometimes go around in circles. I also disagree that it is because students are still children; they are not. It’s because the discussion is likely counterproductive anyway.
I wouldn’t necessarily have a general discussion about same-sex marriage (or affirmative action, or abortion) in an undergraduate classroom - because it has too much potential to result in hurt feelings and offense without necessarily furthering knowledge. Students need to understand that “freedom of speech” means that they have the freedom to say what they want without sanction from the government. It does not mean that anyone and everyone is required to give them a platform for their ideas; it doesn’t mean that they should be allowed to say whatever they want in class. And besides, the U.S. government has also put restrictions on people’s free speech for the purpose of safety - for example, you can’t libel or slander other people; you can’t yell fire in a crowded theater; and there’s the hate speech laws.
The purpose of the class was to teach a specific principle. It doesn’t matter whether the student disagreed with same-sex marriage; the only relevant objection would be whether same-sex marriage fits with Rawls’ equal liberty principle. The student could argue, for example, that same-sex marriage doesn’t fit because marriage was not a “basic liberty” on Rawls’ original list (voting, running for office, freedom of speech and assembly, liberty of conscience, and freedom of personal property and from arbitrary arrest), and Rawls explicitly says that “liberties not on the list…are not basic; and so they are not protected by the priority of the first principle.” The fact the student knows of studies that show that gay marriage is not beneficial to children is irrelevant in the course of the class (and untrue - most reliable social science studies that use comparable same-sex and heterosexual families find no difference in children’s outcomes).
The student also assumed that although his opinion was grounded in fact, his instructor’s opinion was “based on her personal views.”
…I think her mistake was arguing with the student in the first place. If a student came to me after class and told me that they did not agree with gay marriage, my response would probably be “OK…?” just like hers was. If the student then told me that I needed to “watch how I approached these issues in the future…”, I would probably raise an eyebrow and sarcastically say “Thank you for your considered opinion.” Arguing with undergraduates is pointless.
If the colleges and universities become more centric around freedoms, lack of freedoms and ideology maybe kids will start picking colleges around those markers rather than USNWR.
I guess it’s my “fault” that I did get the kids through the larval stage prior to college…sounds like I cut them loose too accept responsibility too early. Oops.
Slate publishes a great deal of click bait nonsense.
@juillet , colleges and universities are tangled with government. State schools are run by govt, and even private schools receive tons of funding from fin aid, grants, and local, state, and fed tax breaks.