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ERIC Number: EJ1387621
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2023
Pages: 11
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-8756-7555
EISSN: EISSN-1930-8299
Available Date: N/A
Student Perceptions of Political Advocacy in the Classroom
Liebertz, Scott
College Teaching, v71 n2 p92-102 2023
Complaints about inappropriate attempts by a liberal professoriate to influence their students' political attitudes and even punish those who disagree with them are common. Assumptions are made that because the profession leans left, professors must be trying to persuade their students to be like-minded. Little academic evidence supports this view. This paper expands on previous work by asking students at a mid-size national public university to assess their professors on average across their academic careers both in terms of the frequency of political advocacy in the classroom as well as the extent to which it is experienced as an inappropriate teaching tactic. I posit that attitudes are a function of a perception of ideological difference, as well as Fenno's Paradox. That is, students are more likely to perceive professor bias at the national level than at their particular university. Results indicate that a non-trivial minority of students (23%) feel that professors do inappropriately politicize the classroom, and that perceived ideological difference between student and professors predicts this view. I also find that similar to how parents tend to like their local schools while lamenting the state of education in general, students are much more likely to perceive professor bias as a national problem than a local one.
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A