Colleges and their departments

[CynicalIdealist]

Hello comrades,

I'm new to this board, and honestly, I'm trying to apply my leftism to my own daily life before anything else. Bearing that in mind...

I currently go to Lewis & Clark College in Portland, and I'm disappointed with its Poli-Sci department. I wanted to major in Political Science in the beginning of my tenure, as I had expected it to present a broad spectrum of political ideas (not to mention that I want to teach Poli-Sci, or something to the effect of Poli-Sci). However, both of its classes that I've taken (my current comparative politics class in particular) have felt incredibly detached from any notion of humanism.

With that said, maybe I should simply transfer to a different college? Reed is in the area--having a big leftist tradition of its own--though I wouldn't really mind going to college in a different area. Maybe I'm just looking to the wrong department?

[manic expression]

Hey comrade, welcome to the boards!

You're definitely not the first to be disappointed by your department, poli-sci, economics, even sociology are all pretty tough on leftists at times. But if you ask me, that's college. You're going to be challenged, questioned, even graded unfairly on occasion if you have revolutionary stances. Expect your politics to be belittled as a "phase of growing up" or "youthful naivete", expect professors who've barely lived outside of a college campus to make snide remarks about people who gave their lives for a better world, expect people to call leftism "religious" or "anti-religious"..."cynical" or "too idealistic" and not even care about consistency.

Because it happens in almost every department. I'm a history major, and I've learned to deal with the fact that some professors are worse than others, and that the best you can do is speak up in class, promote your beliefs in your papers and that's about it. It sucks sometimes but it's nothing compared to what our comrades are facing outside the classroom every day.

My advice (and it's only my advice) is to switch schools if you really don't like it there. 4 years is too short to spend somewhere you dislike (as I have), so take everything into account when making this decision (friends, campus life, off-campus life, the general quality of the classes, etc.). But remember, you probably won't find a "pro-leftist" department, because academics have a very hard time being pro-anything. Even if you could theoretically find a pro-leftist department, I don't think it would be a good reason to switch schools just for that. But that's just my opinion...do what's best for you. Just relax, think it all through and everything should work out.

[CynicalIdealist]

Thanks, though I would like some suggestions.

I hear that the ECON department at U-Mass Amhearst is good, as well as the Philosophy department at the University of Texas? Any suggestions of departments or colleges are much appreciated.

[Comrade Ian]

Departments as a whole here are with some exceptions as bourgie as anywhere else, but at UCSC there are classes you can take outside your major in History of Conciousness and a few other Grad Programs that also teach undergrad classes and let some undergrads into the grad classes. Right now I'm taking a class on Social Movements in the 30's and 60's which has thus far basically been a history of the Communist Party in the 30's, and I'm also taking a Marxism class with Gopal Balakrishnan (Editor of New Left Review) where we read Marx, Lenin, Trotsky, Lukacs, etc.

[cenv]

My advice would be to find a way to apply your politics outside of school (if you haven't already). Get in touch with an organization near you, look into events in your area, etc. It's frustrating being a communist/anarchist/etc in almost any community, so finding people in similar positions and exploring ways to put your ideas into action helps. Some colleges may give you more opportunities to take leftist-related classes, but at the end of the day, if the bourgeois education system is your main forum for political development, you're going to be disappointed.

[black magick hustla]

college is ok if you want to find people to discuss this type of ideas, but it doesnt really depend in the classes you take. we have a reading group where we read marxist works and dioscuss them. i dont need some fucking professor who made marxism a fucking commodity to give me his interpretation

[Floyce White]

Ideally, the process of college education is to present you with some concepts and methods of organization. In the classroom, you get some exercises in using those methods to organize those concepts.

Ideally, after graduation, in your work in the discipline, you will encounter many concepts and methods of organization unlike anything you learned in college. That's where you use your fact-finding and organization skills to write papers with novel approaches.

On a more practical level, students are corralled into ignoring any idea that isn't directly related to a current commercial activity. Academic journals don't print contributions of "little relevance" and "no interest" to grant givers and grant takers. Besides, studying social science from the bourgeois point of view teaches you nothing about social science from the workers' point of view.

I can't fault you for staying in Portland instead of going to the remote college towns of Eugene or Corvalis. If you want a city environment and greater variety of courses and extracurricular activity, you might consider UW Seattle.

[GPDP]

If you truly are miserable, then yeah, go to another college if you believe you can function easier as a radical.

I kinda lucked out myself, since my political science and sociology departments are very progressive, and there's even a number of Marxists and other radical leftists among the faculty. And this is in a university situated in the poorest area of the U.S.

[Red Commissar]

I don't usually take the viewpoints of the departments seriously. It'll be pointless to simply go to people who share your ideologies, because it won't be like that in real life. You'll have to learn to deal with people who don't hold your views in the end, so you'd might as well start in the university.

Really it's easier to say which departments you should avoid- theology and business.

As for your bit about the University of Texas, UT is more progressive minded but don't mistake that for being in-line with your views.