"I encourage you not only to get out and vote in 2012, but to vote for Sarah Palin."

[white_wolf]

Those are the words of a speech that was given in my Business Communication class (No, I don't know why I signed up for it either) and her speech contained all the usual worship of Palin, so much that I didn't have time to counter it all, lazzie-fare,traditional values,lower taxes, liberal media, oh and one of my favorites "Palin isn't an elite who went to a fancy ivy league school (Yeah she went to 6 junior colleges before she could graduate) and a new one comparing her to Deborah Sampson, a woman who dressed up as man to fight in the Revolutionary War, there was much misinformation so I decided to just mention her quitting record. Seriously though, thanks a lot John, I could possibly forgive you for everything else, but I'll never forgive you for Palin. Damn, I should make it clear, this was a student speech, but the professor was really supportive and asked no hard questions. He asked really hard questions on one student's speech supporting the workers of WI, evening saying FDR opposed Pubic Unions.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. What your teacher did is not only unprofessional, but it

should also be illegal.

Good God.

[Drale]

2. You should report her to the head of that department

Any school worth its weight won't put up will bullshit like that.

[driver8]

18. I agree -- this is very unprofessional.

I would complain to the department head.

[babylonsister]

3. So much wrong with this-the mind boggles. I couldn't pull that lever or

push that button. :puke:

[QED]

4. Was this by the instructor or by another student?

Aren't Palin's 15 minutes up yet? I am so sick of that woman and her spawn and her screech.

[Exilednight]

5. It's against federal law for state and federal employees to campaign for

candidates using government resources. That is exactly what this instructor did.

[white_wolf]

6. I edited the OP to make clear it was a student.

That was my bad, sorry. The professor was really easy on the women giving the speech and asked softball questions, whereas he brought out the old "FDR was against public unions" on the guy who was supporting the workers of WI.

[patrice]

10. I'm wondering if it could be demonstrated that the teacher WAS campaigning by

means of the student's presentation, if it could be shown that he would have disallowed some other subject matter that, though problematic, was still legal under the 1st amendment.

If I were young and in that class, I'd make it a point to construct the most perfect, yet perfectly absurd, presentation possible and see what happens.

[patrice]

7. You know, the definition of pornography isn't so black-&-white as most suppose, but I bet theteacher

would aggressively prevent all kinds of quasi-pornogrpahic stuff in class presentations, because s/he likely has a prejudice against it, material which could actually be legal under the first amendment. However, s/he let her/his class be assaulted by this clear demonstration of poor-taste anyway, despite people's very possibly deeply held personal values, likely because, unlike borderline pornography, s/he agrees with this value perspective and hence allowed propaganda in his/her classroom. And it IS propaganda, because his/her very probable rejection of quasi-pornographic presentations negates 1st amendment defenses and would, thus, prove that it was propaganda.

[white_wolf]

8. I'm sure his questions regarding my speech advocating for

single-payer won't be easy and as simple as his for her which was "Do you think she can win?" Where as the union supporter got "You do know FDR himself opposed Pubic Sector Unions, right?" and "Well, the free market will take those jobs elsewhere if they don't get rid of the Unions." Yeah, I'm pissed.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

22. The professor was wrong. FDR did not oppose public unions.

He opposed strikes by public unions.

[white_wolf]

23. I even tried to tell him that and

he was like "No, he didn't support them at at all, because he said the government could not be held hostage by unions." Yeah I hate this class. Just three more weeks.

[AndyTiedye]

9. Did Anybody Lose their Lunch?

:puke:

[RegieRocker]

11. There should be a stipulation that if professors start promoting

their political agenda, a person could leave the course, be refunded, and find a different teacher.

[reggie the dog]

31. when i talk politics i tell my students

"in my opinion as a voter"
that covers my ass. i say to them

[RegieRocker]

33. It is still a abuse of power. Students feel intimidated and afraid to

voice their opinion due to repercussions.

[reggie the dog]

37. i encourage students to argue with me about historical interpretation

i let them know from day one that so long as they explain their reasoning and cite sources that their grades will never suffer due to politics. I let them know i am left wing and once a first student breaks the ice by confronting me with a right wing interpretation they realize that i really do like debating and discussing and that i really do not grade down due to politics. i tell this to parents too at the parent-teacher conferences and have never had a problem so far. i stress that if i were to ever grade a kid down due to disagreeing with them about politics that i would be doing nothing more than brain washing. I tell them about playing the devils advocate and they see that i grill students be they on the right or the left. i encourage them to know the arguments of the right and the left in order to be able to argue against their oppisition more efficianty. the students generally really love that kind of class because they know they can say what they think so long as they explain why and on what evidence they draw their conculsion. we also talk about the reliablity of sources of info.

[RegieRocker]

38. Unfortunately there are bad apples, you may not be one of them and

that is good.

[Martin Eden]

12. I also encourage Republicans to vote for Palin in the GOP primary.

Pretty good guarantee of a Democrat in the White House for at least 4 more years.

[Art_from_Ark]

24. Be careful of what you wish for

People thought Dubya was a dunderhead, but he still ended up occupying the White House for 8 very long years.
As did Ronald Reagan, another Republican who had a "This space for rent" sign where his brain was supposed to be.

[Martin Eden]

35. I wish for a GOP train wreck ...

... and Palin fits the bill. She will NOT win the general election. Her negatives are way too high. The Republican Party is steadily heading off the deep end, and she could give it the final push. We need more than one party in this country and we need the GOP to reform itself into something a little more sane, but I think that train will go completely off the tracks before that happens.

Politics is a gamble, and I'd rather gamble in the general election with Palin as their nominee than with a Romney who might actually attract a good chunk of the swing voters. At this point any Repuke in the White House -- even the most "moderate" candidate -- is a disaster for this country. I'd rather gamble on Palin losing the election than on 4 years of Romney or any other GOP nominee in the Oval Office.

[provis99]

13. if it was a student, there's not much a teacher can do about it.

I tried to stay clear of criticizing students that gave talks in class, given that some were so shy and afraid of even the slightest criticism. That meant I bit my tongue whenever someone said something grossly stupid, too. I'd rather have them say something stupid, than say nothing at all. But allowing another student in class to correct the fool is alright by me.

[white_wolf]

15. True, its just its clear he agreed with her.

As I said, he also asked the hardest questions he could think of to the Union supporter.

[provis99]

17. I'd have to have been there to get a sense of the teacher.

Occasionally (I don't know if it applies in this case) I've seen a teacher ask more rigorous questions of a good presentation, because it is more interesting, and the teacher is aware that the student is capable of providing answers. A dumb presentation might not provoke any questions at all from a teacher, because how do you ask a good question of a stupid presentation without sounding condescending?

[Iris]

32. I'm not sure, though.

I mean, I went to college with some pretty immature ideas and had excellent instructors who made me reconsider them. I don't remember any one of them coming out and saying I was just wrong, but maybe they said things like, "Are you sure about that?" or, one in particular I remember on a paper I wrote, "were the 60's REALLY liberal?"

So, as an instructor myself, I'd probably try to find a way to point out to the student giving the speech and the rest of the class that the media is not liberal, maybe using it as an example of the kind of political rhetoric that gets repeated over and over even when it's not necessarily true. If these were persuasive speeches, then the student was merely persuading, but that doesn't mean the assertions should not be challenged.

[deaniac21]

14. The deal is that Sarah Palin will never run for anything again. It would kill

her income stream.

[Blue-Jay]

16. How could anyone oppose Pubic Unions?

[applegrove]

19. Let's hope people like her spread the word and get Palin nominated.

[chollybocker]

20. I bet she's a volunteer vote counter in her spare time.

[Blue Owl]

21. I would have started laughing loudly and walked out

n/t

[Odin2005]

25. Business departments are RW propaganda centers.

[white_wolf]

26. Yeah, I learned that lesson too late.

My economics class is also full of RWers. One day in that class I'm just going to be like "Can we please at least just discuss some of Marx's critiques in Capital?"

[FVZA_Colonel]

27. Deborah Sampson is a fascinating figure in Revolutionary history,

and to compare Palin to her just feels like blaspheme.

[ChoppinBroccoli]

28. I Not Only Support Sarah Failin In The GOP Primaries..............

..............and intend to show up to my polling place, ask for a Republican ballot, and then actually vote for her (the beating Obama would put on Sarah Failin in 2012 would make Walter Mondale snicker), but I also fully support Pubic Unions. :-)

[SheilaT]

29. This reminds me that in 2006 I was taking

an English comp class at a junior college, and at least one 19 year old student was absolutely starry-eyed over the possibility that Condaleeza Rice might run for president in '08. While I had a small admiration for the young lady's hoping for a viable woman candidate for president, her complete ignorance of how electoral politics actually works was almost touching.

Oh, and lots of college teachers overtly or covertly support their own political agenda. I've experienced it lots, especially since I've been attending college on and off my entire adult life. And I just recently attended my 45th high school reunion. It comes with the territory. You simply need to decide how much you want to stand up to the instructor, how likely you might be to get a bad grade if you make your own, different, opinion obvious. I've decided that it's generally not worth the effort.

[Keith Bee]

30. Uh,

whut???

[a la izquierda]

34. Oh for the love...

sounds like my friend's Business Ethics class.
I'm particularly careful to place blame where it's due in my classes (Latin American history). So, while I point out that the CIA was complicit in certain events, equal blame HAS to go to the right wing in most instances.
Still, I get lambasted by kids who don't want to hear it on my evals.

[mwb970]

36. What a nightmare it would be to have a right-wing asshole as a teacher.

In any subject.

[Ganja Ninja]

39. I think I would have walked out and demanded my money back for the entire course. n/t

[Initech]

40. I'd drop that class like a ton of bricks.

[RagAss]

41. I would get a lawyer to get my money back...after farting during the speech and walking out.

Of course.

[crazyjoe]

42. As mentioned up thread, this is illegal. The student should be tried and convicted

and thrown in jail !!
<sarcasm>

[KurtNYC]

43. hmmm...was it that girl that dropped out of UCLA 2 months back?

aka "Asians in the Library"

One interesting thing about Stupid people: they don't KNOW that they are stupid.

At link great song inspired by stupidity:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zulEMWj3sVA