Controvery in the Classroom--A Remedy Worse than the Problem?

From USA Today comes the linked story about efforts by 14 state legislatures to shape classroom discussion via proposed legislation. Since economics is about choice, just about any topic might come under discussion in the economics classroom. Who's to decide what's legitimate?

Let's take a quick look at the legislative proposals:

Though proposals vary slightly from state to state, core principles remain the same. In Ohio, for instance, a bill would bar faculty or instructors from "introducing controversial matter into the classroom or coursework that has no relation to their subject of study and that serves no legitimate pedagogical purpose." Ohio's state colleges and universities would also have to create "a grievance procedure by which a student, faculty member, or instructor may seek redress for an alleged violation."

To be a professional in the classroom means understanding Socrates when he said, "I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think." Some instructors might corrupt this educational philosopy to read, "If I make them think, they will think like me." An instructor might consider it a personal failing if students haven't come around to his or her way of thinking. That's confusing the outcome with the process. Contrast it to the Socratic perspective, which emphasizes the value in the process of student discourse.

There is a simpler solution than state legislation, grievance panels, and the whole bureaucratic jungle that both faculty and students will have to navigate if legislation is enacted. First, those few faculty who lack professionalism and thus let personal feelings toward students' beliefs influence their grading need to read their teaching surveys more carefully. Students do not care for such nonprofessional behavior. Many will and should avoid taking classes with such instructors. That's the market for information making for an efficient outcome. Second, a grading rubric can contribute to the amerlioration of the problem. A rubric spells out in great detail what factors will influence a student's grade. Every class should have a well defined rubric as part of the syllabus so that students will know how their grades will be determined. If those nonporofessional instructors insist that students agree (or pretend to agree) with their point of view or be penalized, then let them put it writing as part of the rubric.

In economics, rubrics are especially important since so many current events and theories involve belief systems. Ever seen a neoKeynsian and a monetarist go at it? I feel for the aggrieved students who have complained about their inability to express themselves freely in the classroom or who have been penalized by lower grades because their thinking did not match that of their instructors. Fair grading and a fair hearing of everyone's views is the least that students have a right to expect in exchange for their hard-earned tuition dollars.