Editorial: Professor bias doesn’t always hinder learning
look, even the Daily Bruin is talking about this... and don't you love, like all editorials, how the title will say one thing, the bulk of the article will say otherwise, and it'll all try to wrap up to the conclusion that the title designates... yeah...

The question of whether students' education is compromised by the political biases of their professors has come up recently in various media. Concern emerges from the belief that students will mold their intellect and ideology around the ideas communicated by their professors, rather than formulate their own belief system based on an unbiased education.

Professors are biased; that's the bottom line. At UCLA, about 90 percent of professors in the political science department registered with a major political party are Democrats. It's understandable why conservative students might feel they are in the minority, when so few openly Republican professors teach their classes.

But a professor's political preferences do not necessarily inhibit him or her from establishing a productive, diverse learning environment. Bias exists because professors are just as human as students, and so have developed sets of values throughout their careers that often affects the orientation of their research. Often time these biases may not come through at all because the subject matter for many disciplines, such as engineering or the physical sciences, does not actively ask students to think about controversial issues as much as classes in the political science, sociology or public policy fields would. That the biases exist, though, should not be regarded as the problem: biases become problematic when they lead to unintelligent political banter that can hinder student education.

Many professors and teaching assistants of liberal persuasions are known to off-handedly joke about the president or the Republican Party for the sake of joking, not education. Though seemingly innocent, unsubstantiated humor has the effect of belittling the values students in the classroom may hold. When their values are made the subject of professors' amusement, students will be less likely to voice those values and challenge the positions taken by their professors. Conservative students are already "surrounded" by liberal peers; to have the professor make light of the classroom minority is unfair. It defeats the whole purpose of college. College should be a safe place for the free interchange of ideas leading to personal intellectual enrichment.

Professors cannot separate themselves from their ideology, especially when teaching about politics and contemporary social issues – and there's no reason why they should try to. Teaching students about the research they have done supporting their ideas about society will help students on the same ideological plane develop a foundation for their own ideas. However, professors must also make certain to create an environment where students who disagree with them have no reservations about contradicting them in class. Having an open, frank debate about political issues where multiple ideological frameworks are analyzed and students are allowed to grow no matter what their political persuasions are is the ideal.

It's not productive for professors to pretend they are neutral, or to compromise the extent of the research they present in class in an effort to seem unbiased. Intelligent debate is key. And this can be accomplished through a relationship of mutual respect between professors and students which emphasizes student learning regardless of personal biases.