The following blog post was written by Jiesi Zhao, Sarah T. Hermann Intern Scholar

If you’re a college (or even a high school) student, chances are, you’ve had to bear at least a class or two that might as well be designed for the sole purpose of allowing leftist professors to spew out their liberal ideology and agenda. In fact, multiple studies  have found that as of 2005, 72% of faculty at colleges and universities in the United States identified themselves as liberal; a number that goes up to around 87% at the more elite institutions. As a result, students, and especially liberal arts majors, are overexposed to curriculum that is heavily biased in favor of leftist ideas.

While I was earning my Legal Studies degree at UC Berkeley, every class I took was taught by an uber-liberal professor whose idea of objectivity was presenting “contrasting” viewpoints from both Karl Marx and Michel Foucault. Needless to say, I was aggravated after the first few classes I took as a freshman. Over time, however, I developed a system for which to combat the overzealous nature of my professors’ ambitions in promoting their agenda while still maintaining good grades. With a little practice and some individual tailoring, my approach will help you withstand even the most unbalanced classes taught by liberal professors.

I realized early on in my college career that professors at my university have held their liberal ideologies for decades and there was little chance I could change their minds. The teacher’s assistants (TA’s), however, were usually still willing to entertaining different ideas. I found that most TA’s, although holding the same liberal ideology as the professors in the respective classes, were generally more accepting of “original” thoughts. Therefore, I was able to develop good relationships with my TA’s even when voicing conservative opinions during smaller group discussions that they lead. As TA’s are usually the ones who mark papers and midterms, I felt comfortable and confident that the grades I received would not be a reflection of the fact that conservative ideas underlie everything I argued.

I wasn’t afraid to speak out in class when something I heard in lecture or discussion section was clearly biased in favor of the Left, or in other words, questionable in logic. I always started out my objections as a question (ie. “But what about philosophical or ideological diversity” when discussing the issue of Racial Preferences for example) and pointed to the gaps or holes present in the liberal argument. Moreover, I found it useful to reference indisputable works like the Federalist Papers, which are inherently laden with conservative ideas. Borderline socialist professors may be able to pull more weight against me in ideological battles, but they cannot easily glance over and outright reject the ideas of our Founding Fathers, though many of them wish they could.

I distinctly recall, for example, that in a criminal justice class, I voiced an argument and wrote a research paper that chided the European Union for pressuring countries to conform to their ideals of human rights and specifically the abolition of capital punishment that left me unscathed and with an “A”.

Even if you are not too keen on speaking out in large lectures, you can still achieve similar results by visiting your professor, or more likely your TA, during office hours. Having one-on-one or small group conversations with your instructors entails that they have to listen and pay attention to what you are saying; it is harder for them to escape when you are sitting three feet in front of them. Referring to materials and educating yourself on the topic you wish to discuss, however, is important before your visit -Young America’s Foundation’s Recommended Reading List  is a good place to start. Then, you can ask for them to address your questions or arguments that you have discussed during that time in class.  

Liberal professors run the show in classrooms nationwide. Assigning biased readings as well as skewing the value of offering a fair and objective education that allows for diverse opinions, many of these professors do not take kindly to challenges to their long-established ideals.  It is all the more important for us, therefore, to stand up to them, question them, and to represent a proud conservative voice.

This blog post was written by Jiesi Zhao, Sarah T. Hermann Intern Scholar