This being my second semester at a community college, I have not had any trouble incorporating my personal views into my papers as far as it affecting my grades. However, several of my friends have told me that once I transfer to a university, professors can ultimately fail students for conflicting views (political, religious etc.). Is there any truth to this rumor?

Yes, my views typically conflict with professors'. No, I can't elaborate.

The professors I have had never did this, I guess it may depend on the person and school.

Absolutely not true, so long as you're not going to a private, religious-based university.

That being said, it is bad form to write papers with a bias and not acknowledge both sides of an argument. You can inject your views into anything you write, if the criteria allows it, but don't go overboard and just state your view. You have to contrast it with the opposing view as evidence that you understand the whole situation.

I have not been to a university and I have no stories about such things but it simply can't be. What kind of a backwards society would allow that, the board of education in your country should be ashamed if they let such a thing happen.

Teachers are there to empower students not trip them for no good reason. It is in a teachers best interest to see their students pass as if the majority of students go then they themselves have to go for not working hard enough on making it so that their students can pass the course material.

If it turns out to be true then I will be astonished.

Well, my Assembly Language prof is a bit like that. If you don't do it exactly (and I mean exactly) the way he wants you to (even if he makes no mention of this in class or notes or assignment), you'll lose almost half your marks.

But that's an extreme example. Most profs I've had were pretty reasonable with differences of opinions.

Its important that you follow the instructions and stay within guidelines. Following instructions is different from getting docked for giving an opinion differing from the professor's. If you're at any respectable university, the professor shouldn't be voicing his/her own views either, not that they can't, but it's improper and impolite to do so.

About 25% of the papers I wrote in college allowed an opinionated argument, so most of what you'll be writing probably won't allow you to say what's on your mind. That also depends on what you plan on majoring in.

Depends on the professor. Some are more open minded, some aren't, and some in-between. If you can write a convincing paper with valid arguments and sources, it'll pass. However, I have met professors who did grade based upon their personal view of a student, and not the content of the paper, and was widely despised by the student body as such. Hell, even the extremely scary organic chemistry professor who makes people cry on a daily basis knows how to teach and grade fairly. The former kind of professors? Nada.

In essence, it depends on the major and the classes you take. Found the professor in the sciences tend to be less bias with political things and the like, and only demanded good research. Then again, there was no politics in the chemistry, physics, and math courses.

I'm majoring in English as of now, with thoughts of a possible switch to something else non-mathematic such as Philosophy or History. I'm sticking to English for the time being, at least until I transfer.

As an addition to my OP: I do have a current History (Western Civilizations) prof. who teaches certain individual(s) from history were evil. This can't be professional and I'm not sure what to make of it.

Who is he calling evil?

Isn't history professors supposed to be non-biased when it comes to teaching history?

Its pretty much impossible to be unbiased in history, its so subjective.

I was about to ask if you were in the US, but I see that you are not. Actually, professors and teachers interject their own views into a lot of things. I had issues with this in high school as I'm pretty far on the other side of the social and political polls then the teachers I had. I had one who tried to fail me because of it, but we'll just say that he didn't because I made it less of an option for him.

Sadly, I also have quite a few people my age who are now teachers and who continue to try and pass their bias onto their students. Whether on purpose or not, they're not very professional.

To the OP: Yes, it happens, but not very often. The problem is that even if a prof does it openly, they can't fire them usually due to tenure. Crap? Yes. Way it is? Unfortunately.

Yes I understand that, but it seems to me that the OP's professor is trying to teach (or convince) his/her students that certain persons were "evil". When I went to highschool a teacher told me that "A historians job is not to judge the past, but merely "observe" and learn from it no matter the topic", something along these lines. When they however start adding their own opinions/beliefs to the history it seems wrong to me.

I only have one and about a quarter of university experience, but I would say, in general, no.

Although, my friend said, about his sociology course at a university, that the professor docked his grades on an essay, I believe, in reason that his views were "incorrect" or something

Personal views aside (and I'm asking you all to put your views aside as well) here is the word-for-word account of what my History professor said:

"The purpose for teaching history is to preserve the moral compass of humanity." "I am a Jew and several of my grandmother's reletives were killed at Treblinka and Auschwitz... We [America] didn't go over there [Europe/Germany] because we wanted to further our interests in the world. We went over there because they [National Socialists] were putting people into ovens." "The Nazis had lost their moral compass... Adolf Hitler was the most evil man to ever walk the face of the earth."

Plainly put, is this professional? How am I supposed to write objective papers when I'm being taught to be subjective? Even under the fear of being persecuted. I'm also fairly sure that America went over to Europe because Great Britain needed our help and Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, so this not only appears bias but flat out wrong.

Professors aren't allowed to fail you based on your views. They are allowed to hate you. Most of them are probably going to hate you for your views, as you know. The conventional American view is that your beliefs are cartoonishly evil. Those who practiced your beliefs are most often portrayed as villains. Sometimes with Jetpacks. Captain America punches them in the face.

Teachers grade more harshly when they hate you.

And yes, people are totally allowed to teach that Hitler was evil for his attempted genocide, though Truman was also racist, and we were way more successful with our attempted genocide.

I'm sorry, I had to sig that, if you don't mind.

Edit: Evil has religious weight behind it though. I don't understand how something that can be debated in existance on par with heaven and hell or dieties and demons can be taught as historical fact.

I took a few junior and senior level history classes in college, one in particular dealt with how to evaluate and write about history. Writing history isn't 100% facts and nothing else. History writing is done by putting events into a narrative and sometimes requires adding a human element to what you write. After all, history is only important because it serves as a mirror for humans to look into and see who we are as a people and a civilization. With an event as extreme as the Holocaust, of course it's acceptable to make a point of the moral and ethical injustice because that's what makes it such a significant part of 20th century history. You'll learn more about how to balance your subjective views with your objective views as you advance through college, so don't expect to know how to do this right off the bat. Just be aware that there is no black and white.

But I'm being taught that there is black and white. And Hitler is the black. I'm scared that if I write a paper that simply portrays everything as grey, I'm going to get docked.

Forgetting what anyone has taught you about how to feel, what's your visceral, gut feeling about Hitler and the Holocaust? I would assume your feeling is that he's monstrous, as any rational and civil human being would feel.

When writing a professional paper about such a topic, it's important to state the facts in such a way that the reader feels that same gut feeling. You don't have to outwardly say Hitler is an awful person or even persuade them. His character and actions speak for themselves.

Honestly, professors have a lot of power.

I am in my second semester of a community college as well, and during registration I learned about a professor in a class I almost took that only taught based on his beliefs and opinions.

Its a shame some are like that but I can respect that, just not...sit through it

Also, be careful about the political stuff guys, hate to see a member seeking help get his thread closed

Yeah, I'm not going to get into my personal views again. I just think that the only professional way to teach history or to be a student of history is to present all information without labels. Much like Socrates and his quest to find out why we pay our taxes, I have found that there is no universal answer as to what Right and Wrong or Good and Evil are, therefor to use such terms as the truth is simply not correct.

Edit: @ Robbio: But what if one person doesn't think so? How many people does it take to make a fact?

A professor or teacher typically isnt allowed to fail someone because they disagree with them. If you were making claims that (for example) that Hitler did only good without providing any evidence or examples, then a professor might say "Hang on" and dock you for stuff like that. If a belief of yours is backed up by suitable evidence and explanation then you cannot be failed for it. if you are, you can always just make an academic appeal anyway.

And 'evil' can exist without any religious weight behind it. I'm pretty sure all atheists, Christians, Buddhists, Muslims and Jews would all agree something like a baby-eating murderer is 'evil' regardless of religious beliefs.

That's completely acceptable and very wise. So long as you use credible information, present facts in a rational manner, and are prepared to counter any criticism, then you have nothing to worry about.

Believe me, any good university encourages different perspectives and ways to evaluate information. Don't think of college as a mold that plops out students with the same thinking year after year. Only students who are complacent, slackers (which you'll find is most of them) fall into the trap of regurgitating what they think their professor wants.

I normally wouldn't be concerned (as I usually face a similar issue in all of my classes), but the concern here is that if I had to make an academic appeal, I would be playing against loaded dice.