Some time last year, the former op/ed editor wrote a little column on political indoctrination. His conservative views were not relevant to the fact that he found that professors at Binghamton often used their class time to preach their own liberal ideologies. You may expect to find it from friends, family or political organizations on campus. But when teachers take their own views and present them as absolute fact, it makes even this pure leftist Democrat want to cringe.

Of course not every class is transformed into a political science discussion. But it’s refreshing when professors connect their subject with the outside world. College is supposed to be about education, as in fair and objective learning. It makes the information that much more relevant when it is actually used to shape our opinions about current issues. Encouraging discussion on a prevalent topic might break the students out of the apathetic stupor that plagues so many lecture halls. Teachers are human. They have a right to their own ideas and there is nothing wrong with expressing them to the class.

But…

Emphasis on discourse, on more then one viewpoint is essential. The professor is in control of the class, but this shouldn’t give her the opportunity to lecture merely on their own viewpoints. Doing so is just taking advantage of a professor’s power.

I’ve found that most of of my politically minded teachers have been liberal in their opinions. And most have been relatively tolerant of both sides of the spectrum. But there are those few exceptions who will dedicate an entire session to explaining why their extremely liberal ideas are correct and that every single solitary person on the planet who disagrees should rot in hell. Wait… odds are, they’re atheists. So they don’t believe in hell.

Imagine the quagmire this puts me in. The conservative students can walk out livid and angry muttering under their breath, “ugh, just another crazy misinformed hippy” and “jeez, now I know why I am a Republican.” But what about those who actually agree with the liberal “propaganda”? People like me that think the set teacher is completely right. I actually really enjoy the comments they are making. I’m highly amused at the cracks made against the right. The environment needs to be protected unconditionally. So does the right to an abortion. Religion, whatever you practice or decide against practicing, should be kept out of the government and schools.

So why does it make me so uncomfortable to have it shoved down my throat? I’ll tell you why. Because I should be able to make up my mind on my own, without a teacher telling me what to think. It’s demeaning. It gives liberals a bad name. By telling us how to think, you’re implying that I can’t look around the world and figure out that politics right now need to change — fast. Liberal professors: by stooping to the level of pseudo-brainwashing, you’re acting just like the right wing fascists in power right now. And I know you’re better then that. At least I hope so. Because if academia, the supposedly most informed and literary area of our society, can’t be tolerant, then I don’t even have the remotest expectations for George W. Bush to be.

Nora Slonimsky, a sophomore English and history major, is the assistant op/ed editor.