Comments on: Freedom to Teach? http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2007/09/freedom_to_teach.html The Law, the Universe, and Everything Sat, 21 Nov 2009 21:19:19 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.3 hourly 1 By: Tommy Flanagan http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/2007/09/freedom_to_teach.html/comment-page-1#comment-52234 Tommy Flanagan Tue, 25 Sep 2007 17:31:59 +0000 http://www.solove.org/archives/2007/09/freedom-to-teach.html#comment-52234 Professors should at at least try to present controversial issues in a balanced manner or somehow indicate their others may think differently than they do. It is difficult to do, and I have seen it done well on one particular website www.procon.org That said, students should learn to question authority - including the authority of their instructors. They will need to figure out for themselves whether their opinionated professor is making sense or being ridiculous. These critical thinking are essential. Having a professor teach his/her own students to question even the professor's authority would go a long way to enhancing a student's essential critical thinking skills. Professors should at at least try to present controversial issues in a balanced manner or somehow indicate their others may think differently than they do. It is difficult to do, and I have seen it done well on one particular website http://www.procon.org

That said, students should learn to question authority – including the authority of their instructors. They will need to figure out for themselves whether their opinionated professor is making sense or being ridiculous. These critical thinking are essential.

Having a professor teach his/her own students to question even the professor’s authority would go a long way to enhancing a student’s essential critical thinking skills.

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