I've been writing about free speech of late because some of SDP's critics are so obviously hostile to the idea. Fortunately these would-be bullies are about as threatening as the Smurfs discussed in my last post. NCATE is another matter. As Northern has a strong teacher training program, this is of great interest to me. Here is John Leo from U. S. News:
The cultural left has a new tool for enforcing political conformity in schools of education. It is called dispositions theory, and it was set forth five years ago by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education: Future teachers should be judged by their "knowledge, skills, and dispositions." What are "dispositions"? NCATE's prose made clear that they are the beliefs and attitudes that guide a teacher toward a moral stance. That sounds harmless enough, but it opened a door to reject teaching candidates on the basis of thoughts and beliefs. In 2002, NCATE said that an education school may require a commitment to social justice.
Now that sounds suspiciously like enforcing the party line. And there is no doubt about which party's line would be enforced.
The ed schools, essentially a liberal monoculture, use dispositions theory to require support for diversity and a culturally left agenda, including opposition to what the schools sometimes call "institutional racism, classism, and heterosexism." Predictably, some students concluded that thought control would make classroom dissent dangerous.
A few students rebelled when a teacher at Brooklyn College School of Education showed Michael Moore's movie Fahrenheit 9/11 in class and dismissed "white English" as "the language of oppressors." Five students filed written complaints and received no formal reply from the college. One was told to leave the school and take an equivalent course at a community college. Two of the complaining students were then accused of plagiarism and marked down one letter grade. The two were refused permission to bring a witness, a tape recorder, or a lawyer to meet with a dean to discuss the matter.
K. C. Johnson, a history professor at the school who defended the dissenting students, became a target himself. After writing an article in Inside Higher Ed attacking dispositions theory as a form of mind control, Johnson faced a possible investigation by a faculty Integrity Committee.
Apparently defending the student's right of petition and expressing his opinions in an article were thought to reflect badly on the University. Another example of what happens to students who are not dispositionally correct comes from Washington State University's College of Education.
The college threatened to terminate a student, Edward Swan, 42, for failing four "professional disposition evaluations." Swan, a religious man of working-class background, has expressed conservative opinions in class. He opposes affirmative action and doesn't believe gays should adopt children. His grades are good, and even his critics say he is highly intelligent. One teacher gave Swan a failing PDE after spotting the statement "diversity is perversity" in Swan's copy of a textbook.
Now I wish to point out that I do not share Mr. Swan's views on this matter. I do not think that there are any constitutionally permissible grounds for preventing homosexuals from adopting children. The state cannot assume that someone is guilty of something because he or she is homosexual. But neither can the state penalize someone for holding what are, presumably, religiously grounded beliefs.
What is encouraging is how fast these proto-authoritarians back off when challenged.
At the start of the current semester, Swan was offered a choice: Sign a contract with the college or be expelled. The contract included mandatory diversity training, completing various projects at the faculty's direction, and the possibility of above-normal scrutiny during Swan's student teaching this fall. Instead of signing, Swan contacted FIRE [the Philadelphia-based Foundation for Individual Rights in Education]. "Almost immediately, Swan's situation changed," said an article in the local newspaper, the Moscow-Pullman Daily News. The faculty told Swan he did not have to sign the contract and would not be expelled.
What has become of the left? It used to believe in free speech. Now it believes in forcing people to choose between their professions and their opinions. It used to be opposed to enforcing partisan standards of morality. Now it is committed to punishing those who do not have the right dispositions.
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