I've found one of my paper topics. ADHD and its treatments. Am I really that interested in this topic? Not really. Then why am I writing about it? Because I'm pissed off that today's class was so incredibly one-sided in discussing the issue. Even when I was fishing for a sliver of support for the other side of the argument, I got no answers to my question. I mean, it really shouldn't be that big of a deal, especially since I generally agree with what the professor and random-guy-in-back-with-degree were saying, but the implications of it all really began to piss me off afterward. We're in an institution of higher learning where we should be encouraged to do just that: learn. There are very few topics in the social sciences that can be conclusively decided upon one way or another. Each side has its supporters, and each side has its adversaries. I fully believe that we should be taught to search through both sides of the argument before coming to conclusions for ourselves. I agree that professors and the like should have their own opinions about the topic and should be able to voice such opinions, but I also think that they should be qualified as opinions and not be discussed as if they were absolute fact. They know we're impressionable, they know we're barely educated about any of these areas which they study with years of experience and expertise. But their experience still does not justify this narrow-mindedness when it comes to not allowing students to explore all sides of the argument in order to form their own opinions.

And this is just an education class. I can't even begin to fathom what goes on in the realms of more controversial disciplines. Last week there were tons of articles talking about academia's reaction to Bush, revealing that over 90% of poli sci professors here who identify with one of the two major political parties are democrat. Yes, I need to watch my influences, especially lately, but really, some diversity here please? Fuck all this racial business. Skin color does not equal diversity. It's a diversity of ideas that really matter in an insitution of higher education, and granted these ideas may stem from a variety of experiences including being of a minority status, it's not all about race. So stop fixating on it. And now that we're looking at people's ideas--and political affiliation governs so many aspects of these ideas--we see how grossly unbalanced this department is.

I've never taken a poli sci class before (cuz' you all know how much I detest politics), but I'd imagine that one-sided arguments can be much more prevalent than in my ed classes. It makes me sad, then, if this is really true, because as much as we'd like to think we're perpetuating the concept of learning and discovery, we may just be feasting on these spoon-fed opinions with little thought otherwise.

So note to self when I'm a professor: express opinions, justify them as opinions, empower students with the resources to form their own opinions, and for the love of god, fucking answer questions when asked.