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arguing with a professor

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minervx
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05 Jan 2012, 5:00 am

Each professor is different. Some encourage you to challenge their beliefs while others are dogmatic, and anything in between.

In the social sciences, there are likely professors who have completely different ideologies than you, and you may feel they are pushing them on you. But there is a right and wrong way to argue with them. If you challenge them, are combative, it will be fruitless. They will be rude to you, humiliate you, or take it out on your grade, which is why I kept care and prudence in my words.

The best way, in my opinion to challenge them, is to get them to know you and like you during the first month. Complete all your assignments, do well on tests, attend all classes, come on time, sit in the front, answer/ask a few questions per lecture, and at the end of
each lecture briefly talk to them asking them about their career or the subject. After a month, they will get to know you.

After that, every now and then, you can politely and diplomatically question one of the opinions they express. After you've established that you take the class seriously and respect the professor, the professor is more likely to respect your opinion and may even make a concession or two to you.



Dunnyveg
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05 Jan 2012, 11:57 am

minervx wrote:
Each professor is different. Some encourage you to challenge their beliefs while others are dogmatic, and anything in between.

In the social sciences, there are likely professors who have completely different ideologies than you, and you may feel they are pushing them on you. But there is a right and wrong way to argue with them. If you challenge them, are combative, it will be fruitless. They will be rude to you, humiliate you, or take it out on your grade, which is why I kept care and prudence in my words.

The best way, in my opinion to challenge them, is to get them to know you and like you during the first month. Complete all your assignments, do well on tests, attend all classes, come on time, sit in the front, answer/ask a few questions per lecture, and at the end of
each lecture briefly talk to them asking them about their career or the subject. After a month, they will get to know you.

After that, every now and then, you can politely and diplomatically question one of the opinions they express. After you've established that you take the class seriously and respect the professor, the professor is more likely to respect your opinion and may even make a concession or two to you.


Minervx, in my first couple of years of school I actually took my professors seriously, and paid a heavy price. What I found was that most professors were hard leftists, who were as narrow-minded as the most doctrinaire Puritans, and as vengeful as the most sadistic inquisitors.

I found it was best just to regurgitate what they had to say on the tests and assignments, and otherwise keep my mouth shut. Dennis Prager isn't exactly my favorite thinker, but I agree with him when he says that modern higher education is self-inflicted idiocy.

My deep appreciation for free inquiry led me to become a librarian, and my library is full of the (non-leftist) stuff the professors refuse to teach.

Finally, let me add that I don't want to turn this into a political discussion, but rather a freedom issue. I don't want leftist politics forced on me any more than I want somebody else's religion forced down my throat.



AardvarkGoodSwimmer
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05 Jan 2012, 1:03 pm

minervx wrote:
. . . Complete all your assignments, do well on tests, attend all classes, come on time, sit in the front, answer/ask a few questions per lecture, and at the end of
each lecture briefly talk to them asking them about their career or the subject. After a month, they will get to know you. . .

That seems like a lot of preconditions before a person can be accepted as a human being! :D

An alternative might be, that you can ask an initial question, just be brief and don't ask a follow up. You're asking for the professor's judgment call, he or she is giving it, that's fine, just let it be (even if you privately disagree)

And then, if you get to know the professor a little bit, see how he or she handles class discussion, then maybe you can have some back and forth and some follow up questions.



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