Bias hurts learning process

I’m one of those kids that just sits in the back of class and doesn’t say much. I like taking an outsider’s perspective on classroom discussion, and it can be very entertaining and enlightening. I enjoy hearing the comments of my peers on the matter at hand.

The important part there was “the matter at hand.”

It seems like a growing trend for students is to sneak in their political views during casual classroom discussion. And, on most occasions, they will land a cheap shot on their least favorite presidential candidate, George W. Bush.

For example, my political science class was learning about the Electoral College. And of course, the professor was doing a fine job of breaking down common election procedure and discussing who exactly is in the College and so forth. The general point was to prove that the drafters of the Constitution wanted a Republican form of government and that the system works.

Enter the kid in the second row.

His grand contribution to the class was something along the lines of, “Obviously the system didn’t work because George W. Bush is president.”

Well, kid in the second row, last time I checked, Mr. Bush got the necessary majority of the electoral voters and thus won the presidency, popular vote be damned.

So our generally informative conversation about our American government quickly went sour as this student painted George W. Bush as evil and claimed that he stole our election.

This is after learning that the popular vote wasn’t necessary to win an American election. Not only was it an ill-timed comment, it was an uninformed one.

Second example: In my sociology class we were discussing that the most qualified individuals should, and almost always do, get hired.

Hand goes up. “Well how is that true if George W. Bush became president?” The sound of liberal laughter filled the room. I became furious, not at what was said, but when it was said. When students just crave the attention of being another cool Bush-hater instead of contributing an intelligent thought, it worsens the academic experience.

I don’t know about the rest of the student body, but since my family and I pay an arm, a leg and a left kidney for a college education, I expect to be educated. These self-righteous, politically minded people are just robbing me of a positive academic experience, and, in effect, costing the rest of the class money.

Last time I checked, I came to college to increase my knowledge. One gets educated through facts and knowledgeable ideas. However, during the last week of classes, I found that not everyone feels the same way as I do.

Sean Blanda can be reached at sean.blanda@temple.edu.