Author: Marjorie Camarda
As a CTSJ major and ECLS minor, I generally try my hardest to avoid math at all times. But the antics of a certain professor recently moved me to root through my desk for my old TI-83 that was left over from my high school math class and do some calculations.
To attend Oxy, we each pay $17,220 per semester, not including room and board. For the average student taking four courses each semester, that comes out to a daunting $4,305 per course. That figure can burn quite a hole in our parents’ pockets—but we are receiving the very best education that money can buy, right?
Except as of late, some of my professors have felt it appropriate to deviate from the syllabus—and in fact from the reach of their department altogether—and spend a better portion of the class period pontificating about their personal political convictions.
For example, last week one of my professors spent a full 30 minutes in a frenzied spiel about why Dick Cheney is a terrorist. Mind you, this was not a class discussion, as it was purely a monologue; nor was it a lecture, as the professor did not cite a single fact, figure or reference.
I will refrain from naming aforementioned professor, but he is from neither the Politics nor the DWA department. He was simply a manic professor on a wild, never-ending tangent.
We are willing to shell out $4,305 to learn from qualified professors about their area of expertise, but not to listen to someone spew about why Dick Cheney is among the 21st century’s most dangerous terrorists. I could turn on Stephen Colbert for that and it would be free, not to mention far more entertaining.
The problem is not that I disagree about Cheney being a scary man, or even a terrorist by some definitions. Oxy students often complain about the tirades of all our ultra-liberal, ex-hippie professors. As a flaming liberal myself, I generally agree with all the ex-hippies, while my level-headed, politically moderate roommate rolls her eyes at my excessive liberalness several times a week.
However, I am of the opinion that if professors want to talk about the latest election or the current state of the White House, then they should teach classes designated for such concerns. That way, they will not simply be inculcating us into their way of thinking. They will be able to provide students with a syllabus forewarning them of these discussions, readings to support the themes of the class and, most importantly, an actual education.
So far, in said class taught by the “ex-hippie” professor, I have learned that Bush and his cronies are laughable world leaders, that marijuana might not be the ultimate evil after all and that we should all make love, not war. But I already knew all that-long before I came to Oxy.
Meanwhile, I am shaking in my boots because I am no closer to being able to analyze that 16th-century play that is sure to be on my final in three weeks.
Margie Camarda is a sophomore CTSJ major. She can be reached at mcamarda@oxy.edu.
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