(I have decided to narrow down my topic to "political correctness and free speech in univerisities in the United States.)
Have you ever heard of speech codes? Campuses all around the nation have developed their own but similar speech codes to control what comes out of their students’ mouths so that people will hear less and less politically incorrect speeches, and eventually we will achieve the so-called tolerance in a higher education setting.
However, my question is, what is the definition of political correctness? Every one of us has our own set of beliefs. Some people are more conservative, and some people are more liberal. For example, I personally do not support abortion and believe it is a murder, and I am sure some of you may not agree with my opinion. I respect your viewpoint, and do not see the need of reporting you to the administrators or the media just because what you disagree with me and what you believe is not what I believe. One of the greatest and most interesting things about universities is that students are not afraid to express their opinions on controversial issues and have discussions with the others who do not share the same belief with them, and I strongly think that is where college students learn most of their knowledge and social skills from. Then, why do we have speech codes in the places where future leaders of our country are being produced? Is it because we are too cautious about the possibility of offending others? If we are strained from speaking up and standing up for what we truly believe, then what is the point of having free speech?
Tolerance is when people with different beliefs come together and be able to respect each other when they speak their mind. Did us Americans forget about that?
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I think perhaps we have these code of correctness, especially in the classroom, in order to accommodate everyone but more importantly to challenge the student to attain a deeper thought process. It is perhaps to teach eloquence instead of encouraging a type of laziness that comes from using slurs or generic statements of belief. I agree that most people go to college for the experience: to be grouped with those perhaps otherwise unknown and have their beliefs put to the test. I think most teachers don’t care what you believe/say as long as you can back up why you think so and why you choose to word it that way. Perhaps it’s not about a lack of tolerance, but the institution wanting you to back up what you say. Is there any news articles that exemplify what you mean? I know that the institutions I have attended haven’t minded when words like “nigger” or “spic” are used. But if they are, the student has to defend why they chose that word versus the hundreds of others available. I haven’t been in a class where a teacher has stopped a discussion or a paper about a hot button topic either. Is that what you mean? I am sure I am being dense and just not quite understanding. Maybe a real time example would help illustrate the problems you describe.
ReplyDeleteI think the campus codes are a great way to bring attention to this topic, in a relevant and relatable way. I'm really curious what MACC's speech codes are, and what impact they may have on student speech. I suspect that the speech codes have very little impact on the speech at MACC, but instead social taboos are the leading suppression of certain speech. People simply don't want to offend their peers for whatever reasons. I think we've become more sensitive as a culture, but probably more important are the themes that are consistent with just about every civilization. If you speak in a radical to the mainstream thought of the society you're in, whether your view is logical or not, you will either be ignored or chastised.
ReplyDeleteI'm very curious about these campus codes, but surely the regulation of speech has much to do with culture and history. I'd rather people speak their minds so that I may attempt to persuade them, than people hide malicious thoughts until they grow into something approaching violence.