wordcrush

In this Guardian article Geoffrey Alderman defends Dr Ilan Pappé' s right to hold what Alderman consideres to be "deeply flawed and essentially stupid views" views on Jewish apartheid. Alderman's main point is that "Academic freedom is more or less absolute," and that any administrative or governmental attempts to intervene in academia actually reflect a desire to "stifle critical discussion."

I wonder at what point this absolute freedom becomes "less." I've had many friends complain to me about revceiving bad marks because of their teacher's unfair biases. In many cases, I think their claims are justified. Do students also have the right to absolute academic freedom? Isn't that one hell of a slippery slope, one that ultimately leads to student run curriculi or hiring? At the other extreme, doesn't absolute academic freedom imply a professor's right to grade by throwing darts at a class list? Maybe absolutes themselves are not the greatest idea in general, because (haha) they have such abundant potential for stifling critical discussion. The slope slides both ways. Regardless, if you disagree with me, go to hell.

# posted by Lintropy @ 4:17 PM