What is the moral conclusion of being quiet to get an A?

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hasikelee

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Thankfully I have not dealt head on with this issue, but my fiancee is encountering it in his sociology class.

Apparently the teacher is using his class as a platform for the culture of death. It is not just opinions surfacing, but direct utilization of the class to deal with issues such as euthanasia, war on terror, abortion, ABC, homosexuality, etc.

Those are pertinent to sociology, but the teacher is showing an extreme dislike to anyone who disagrees or has a differing opinion.

Now my fiancee is showing signs of failing this class, with additional points being taken off for being “irrational” and notes on his papers saying “you have excellent mla form but you are wrong” and a D!

Is it wrong or immoral to just be quiet and complete the class, or even just write the way the teacher wants, so that you can pass the class?
 
hasikelee said:
Thankfully I have not dealt head on with this issue, but my fiancee is encountering it in his sociology class.

Apparently the teacher is using his class as a platform for the culture of death. It is not just opinions surfacing, but direct utilization of the class to deal with issues such as euthanasia, war on terror, abortion, ABC, homosexuality, etc.

Those are pertinent to sociology, but the teacher is showing an extreme dislike to anyone who disagrees or has a differing opinion.

Now my fiancee is showing signs of failing this class, with additional points being taken off for being “irrational” and notes on his papers saying “you have excellent mla form but you are wrong” and a D!

Is it wrong or immoral to just be quiet and complete the class, or even just write the way the teacher wants, so that you can pass the class?
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Boy, this is a tough one. It becomes more obvious every day that our colleges are hot beds of liberal thinking and that no other opinions are allowed. I remember that in my first quarter (yes, quarter) I had an English prof who made us write a paper on why we did or did not believe in God. The prof returned my paper with the comment that although he did not agree with me, he gave me an A because I defended my position well and logically. Sounds like this teacher leaves no room for any other thought but his own.

Wonder if your fiance could speak with the teacher and ask why opposing points of view are not allowed. He could say that although his opinions are “irrational” to the teacher, there are many who agree with your fiance and that he thought colleges were supposed to encourage thought and reasoning. How can one do that if one only hears one side and if only one opinion is allowed?

I’ll be interested to hear opinions of those who have been in college and graduate school more recently than I.
 
Being given a comment such as ‘you are wrong’ or ‘irrational’, with no better or further elaboration, is totally inappropriate. Approach the teacher and ask for better feedback. If he does not respond adequately, then go to his superiors.
 
I think it could be okay to just write the way the teacher wants. One approach to this is to explore the subject from a different viewpoint. The advantage to this is gaining insight to the other side. There is risk if one isn’t properly formed in one’s morals; it can create more questions than answers. However, I think it’s important to ask the tough questions and seek the Truth.

Back to the teacher. Perhaps your fiance can sort this out with the teacher. What ever happens he has to be honest; I don’t think it would be right to say “this is what I believe”. I think that would morally wrong and it would be a bad witness to the professor.
 
Hello hasikelee,

I had almost all A’s in college and only one C, nothing lower. It is my one C, where I went head to head standing firm against and unethical, liberal multicultural professor, that I am most proud of.

Tell your fiance’ to stand firm and be glad it is only a grade he will loose. Pope Benedict XVI mentioned Muslim religion related violence and Muslim terrorists retalliated by killing sister Leonella to try to force Pope Benedict XVI to retract his position and/or remain silent in the future.

Be glad it is only your fiance’s grade on the line and not a jihad against the Catholic Church on the line.
The twofold symbolic weight of the killing of sister Leonella

by Lucetta Scaraffia

The dramatic killing of sister Leonella Sgorbati in Somalia on Sunday, September 16 (2006), is, unfortunately, a symbolic action of great significance. This is so for two fundamental reasons. Because, in fact, even in the absence of precise assertions, this is a matter of blackmail. And because the one assassinated was a woman, and a religious woman.

As seen in the history of the Christian persecutions, this time as well the method was chosen of striking others in the place of the one who was indicated by so many voices in the Muslim world as the main target, namely Benedict XVI, and not only because the Italian religious sister was an easier victim The explanation is found in the memorable pages of the Japanese writer Shusaku Endo, which narrate the persecution of the Christians in Japan in the seventeenth century: some Jesuits, although they were ready to die to bear witness to their faith, were forced to commit apostasy by having the Christian country people subjected to torture before their eyes. A Christian can dispose of his own life, even to the point of martyrdom – and the countless Christian martyrs of the past century demonstrate this – but not of the lives of others: the killing and torture of other Christians paralyzes the real target of the aggressive action, it gags him, it prevents him from saying and doing what would be right for himself, until it impedes him from martyrdom. The Japanese case is the most sensational, but there have been other, similar cases, if one only reads attentively the lives of the missionaries of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries: it’s enough to recall the Combonian missionary sisters who were held prisoner by the Mahdi in the Sudan at the end of the nineteenth century.

quoted from: chiesa.espressonline.it/dettaglio.jsp?id=85302&eng=y
 
Anyone who marks down a student merely because they disagree with their stand on a moral issue is a slime ball. Personally I would write a letter to the dean of whatever college this professor was a part of. I would also send a copy of it to the President of the University and to the local papers.

I would not write a paper switching sides merely to placate such a low life. Such an act would be intellectually dishonest, and compromise your (financee’s) principles.
 
wcknight said:
Anyone who marks down a student merely because they disagree with their stand on a moral issue is a slime ball. Personally I would write a letter to the dean of whatever college this professor was a part of. I would also send a copy of it to the President of the University and to the local papers.

I would not write a paper switching sides merely to placate such a low life. Such an act would be intellectually dishonest, and compromise your (financee’s) principles.
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:amen:
 
For all you know this Prof. is challenging your fiance by pushing him to defend his reasoning and thoroughly consider and explain his position as an intellectual exercise, not as part of a campaign to discredit his beliefs or change his mind. He may even respect his firm, if differing convictions on these issues–and may ultimately reward him with a solid grade.

That said…keep copies of everything. If he ends up with a less than satisfactory grade, I would take the paperwork to the departmental dean and pursue it there.
 
hasikelee said:
Is it wrong or immoral to just be quiet and complete the class, or even just write the way the teacher wants, so that you can pass the class?
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Have her take it up with whichever dean is above her professor. Wait and get an appointment and talk to the dean personally.

Do not write something like, “Abortion is wonderful and a boon to women everywhere.” This would be wrong to write, and she doesn’t believe it anyway.

However, she could write, “I think the best argument in support of abortion is blah blah blah.” Or she could write about the statistical studies that have been done to see the effect of sex education in the classroom. There are a number of them. Or whatever. Must these be position papers?
 
I just try to refute things on an unbiased way and attack it on other grounds. For example, recently a professor allowed a student to give a speech on why minors should be allowed to have abortions without parental consent and that everyone needs to vote no on the proposition trying to change this.

I simply wrote the following e-mail:

I would like to comment on what happened in your class today. Although I realize I am in the minority here, I did not appreciate class time being wasted for someone’s political agenda. If someone were to come in and quickly announce that there is a meeting for anyone who is interested and gave out a time, then that is perfectly fine in my opinion. However, to waste the first 10 minutes of what should have been more time for review for an upcoming exam, for an unrelated to the class topic seems inappropiate to me. Furthermore, because of the nature of the topic, it provides a distraction from the class and what needs to be done that might carry over throughout the class if people are devoting more time thinking about the topic instead of what they should be thinking about, the class and the upcoming exam. Regardless of where I stand on the issue presented, I just thought I would let you know that I did not think it was the best idea for you allow what happened today and while I realize you are the professor and have full say on what you want to allow in your class time, I wanted to share my concern with you.

Back to your question: In the case of tests or essays where you have to perhaps deal with a one sided professor then give the professor what he wants at first. Just acknowledge his intelligence and show respect for him but then throw in little questions showing your opinon and your concerns and perhaps why you are not quite sure about the issue. Show evidence to back up your claims of uncertainty and this is where you get your opinion out in a safe way. You are supposed to talk about both sides of an issue anyways. Of course the truth is you are sure that the professor is wrong but just by slightly challenging him it will open it up enough for him to perhaps be willing to discuss it on frinedly terms and be open to your opinion. Always works for me.
 
Well, first off I would say don’t change positions just because some teacher might fail you for it. The person writing the paper should do their best to make sure the writing quality is good so that it is obviuos that the only reason a bad grade is given is becuase of the opinion not the writing quality. If the grades continue to be less than great, take it up with student services, they would be happy to help you since it is a form of discrimination.
 
Have somebody impartial, not at the college – perhaps somebody at the Josephinum or Steubenville and someone else at a secular institution – look at his papers to see if they really cut muster.

Then, if the papers are strong, without notifying the professor, go to the Department Chair with the paper. He should use his judgment about whether to mention that he has submitted his paper for review to someone else. Is his GPA overall strong? That’s evidence too.

His tack (if true) should be that he has never encountered the kind of negativity from a professor that he is finding in this class and would like guidance on how to handle it.

Does this professor pick on people in open discussion? Maybe he could assemble a cohort.
 
When I was in college, I had a Philosophy professor who did the same thing. He would spout off his personal beliefs each class, and woe to anyone who held differing beliefs. As a part of the course, we had to keep a journal and he would grade our entries. His comments were essentially favorable to anyone who regurgitated his words back to him, and anyone who dared to hold a different perspective was marked down. The vast majority of his students ultimately received D’s and F’s in the course because they dared to think for themselves. One student received an A, and that was because that student adopted the “go along to get along” attitude-he told the professor he agreed with everything he ever said, wrote his journal and papers using the professors own words, and became a parrot in class.

Those of us who received failing or near-failing grades from this professor complained about him to the administration, and I guess enough of us did, because the professor was gone by the end of the year.

My advice to your fiance: do not keep quiet, do not play the go along to get along game. Speak to the teacher, make sure he understands whether she is in fact marking him down because his opinions differ; and then go the department chairman and on up the admin ladder as necessary.
 
hasikelee said:
Thankfully I have not dealt head on with this issue, but my fiancee is encountering it in his sociology class.

Apparently the teacher is using his class as a platform for the culture of death. It is not just opinions surfacing, but direct utilization of the class to deal with issues such as euthanasia, war on terror, abortion, ABC, homosexuality, etc.

Those are pertinent to sociology, but the teacher is showing an extreme dislike to anyone who disagrees or has a differing opinion.

Now my fiancee is showing signs of failing this class, with additional points being taken off for being “irrational” and notes on his papers saying “you have excellent mla form but you are wrong” and a D!

Is it wrong or immoral to just be quiet and complete the class, or even just write the way the teacher wants, so that you can pass the class?
Click to expand...
I have had classes where teachers used it as a stage for their liberal views, you have just got to learn to stand your ground which it looks like you are doing.
If they are giving you failing grades then you need to keep a few factors in mind. First make sure you keep the assignment handout stating what the assignment requires, then make sure your paper meets those requirements to a reasonable degree, if the paper is offtopic or a “hate” letter then you wont have any case. First take the assignment handouts and your papers up with the teacher then if the failing grades keep appearing then take it up with administration.

I have been in classes where such teachers prevented me from getting fair grades because I openly disagreed with them and that is how they punished students.
 
Thanks, guys. I think even before this thread got going, other students were already reacting. Something must have happened!

There is now another instructor that sits in on the class. No anouncement, he is just there.

Also, the discussion forum that the teacher uses for all the students is now being “cleaned up.” My fiancee had printed some of the entries before this magical disappearing act, thank goodness.

(The discussion forum counted for 35% of the final grade. It consists of having to write a small 1-2 page post on what happened in class and also answering a question. Many students left posts equivalent to wandering around saying “where am I? what is going on?” The professor is unavailable for assistance. Students are to ask other students for help!)

But, yes, he has a very strong GPA and if he had not been failing this class his GPA would have been a 4.2. Administration is currently taking no action, so he is stuck with the grades he has.
 
hasikelee said:
Thanks, guys. I think even before this thread got going, other students were already reacting. Something must have happened!

There is now another instructor that sits in on the class. No anouncement, he is just there.

Also, the discussion forum that the teacher uses for all the students is now being “cleaned up.” My fiancee had printed some of the entries before this magical disappearing act, thank goodness.

(The discussion forum counted for 35% of the final grade. It consists of having to write a small 1-2 page post on what happened in class and also answering a question. Many students left posts equivalent to wandering around saying “where am I? what is going on?” The professor is unavailable for assistance. Students are to ask other students for help!)

But, yes, he has a very strong GPA and if he had not been failing this class his GPA would have been a 4.2. Administration is currently taking no action, so he is stuck with the grades he has.
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Hmmm. Smoke:fire. Often when something is this blatant you will find that it is not “news” to administration.
 
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