I got an F

[chicaoftherevolution707]

I must sound like quite a *****, and I must complain alot, but I have another discrimination story to share. I have a basic government type class and the proffessor had us write a paper about our ideal country. I know it sounds kind of grade school, but this was a serious idea. She gave me an F because as she said, "it lacked respect for amerika because of its socialist ideas". The assignment was to create YOUR OWN ideal country. I guess I just don't understand how people like her work. Somebody needs to cheer me up I'm really mad lately!

[RebelOutcast]

As pleased as I would be if something unpleasant happened to such reactionaries, we cannot advocate criminal acts. Breaking such laws can get RL shut down.

You could say however: "She deserves to be burned alive."

-EM-

Haha, I forgot what I even posted but your edit made me laugh :P

[Elect Marx]

Call the ACLU or some civil rights organization. This is shear violation of your rights and of the assignment grading parameters. After you go to such a group, contact or have them contact the administration at your school... your teacher might just change her tune and you will be making a clear statement to reactionary authority figures.

[redstar2000]

School authorities do not welcome students who openly express "left" ideas...so that's something you just have to get used to. There's no such thing as "free speech" for lefties in the U.S. -- or probably anywheres else.

What you need to do is find other ways to reach kids with your ideas that the authorities can't stop you from doing.

Imagine that you're an anti-Nazi in the Third Reich. How could you give the Nazis a hard time and not get caught?

That's how you need to learn to think.

Good luck!

[Cheung Mo]

That's all well and good, but her goal with this paper is to get good grades and a sound post-secondary education, not to reach people through ways that get around the barriers set by those with authority (although that's not to say that doing so is not the goal of her other endevours).

As she's being denied her right to a education by a reactionary professor, her main concern should be to get in touch with the ACLU and with other radical organisation of both the liberal and the socialist left so as to ensure that this problem is rectified.

[redstar2000]

If all she wants is a grade, then all she need do is what nearly all students do: just regurgitate whatever crap she's been fed.

In other words, just lie!

It's not as if we have any "obligation" to tell the truth to authority.

Most "teachers" in most "schools" are not there to "educate" people...they're there to process them like any other assembly-line. Schools were established to "make citizens"...loyal, hard-working, and obedient.

To be sure, there's a lot of rhetoric about "encouraging independent thinking"...but you see what happened to her when she showed evidence of it.

If she wants to waste a lot of time and energy fooling around with the ACLU...that's up to her.

The fact remains that there is no such thing as "free speech for lefties" in the U.S. or probably any place else.

Even if she "won in court", she'd end up having to go back to court each time she wrote a paper.

Waste of time!

[Janus]

I did something similar to this in school as well. The teacher gave me a C and claimed that I hadn't properly addressed the question but the real reason was that he was prejudiced against radical leftist ideas.

If all she wants is a grade, then all she need do is what nearly all students do: just regurgitate whatever crap she's been fed.

That's the truth. That's what school and tests are all about: just regurgitating crap that teachers have taught you onto a piece of paper .

[Elect Marx]

Originally posted by redstar2000@Apr 7 2006, 01:59 PM
If she wants to waste a lot of time and energy fooling around with the ACLU...that's up to her.

Yes; certainly drawing attention to reactionary authorities and encouraging others to do something about injustice is a waste of time. Just sit down and take it... great advice <_<

Someone in this position has three choices.

1) Take some public action to oppose this treatment

2) Act subversively

3) Do nothing

[Mariam]

The fact remains that there is no such thing as "free speech for lefties" in the U.S. or probably any place else.

Even if she "won in court", she&#39;d end up having to go back to court each time she wrote a paper.

Waste of time&#33;

True&#33;&#33;
One of my profs. rejected my projet about Orwell&#39;s Animal Farm, because as he said: " I won&#39;t accept any type of political interpretations"
So it took me half an hour to reason with him, and came out with with another "non-political" project saying that educational institutions are not the place to express my "whatever views"&#33;&#33;

[redstar2000]

We&#39;ve all been through it...except perhaps 313C7 iVi4RX.

When I was in college, I took an advanced course in "labor relations" during the summer...and wrote an enormous paper (over 100 pages) on the relationship between Taylorism and the rise of Nazism in the Weimar Republic -- it may have been the most extensively researched paper I&#39;ve ever done (over 200 footnotes from dozens of sources).

The "visiting professor" (some kind of academic "star" from Cornell) gave me a B-...when I knew for a fact that no one else in the small class had done even remotely the work that I had done&#33;

It was a political grade pure and simple. :angry:

Now, of course, I know better...there&#39;s simply no point in putting a lot of time and energy into academic papers unless they&#39;re on completely "neutral" subjects..."The Decline of Buddhism in the T&#39;ang Dynasty" or something like that.

Originally posted by 313C7 iVi4RX
Yes; certainly drawing attention to reactionary authorities and encouraging others to do something about injustice is a waste of time.

Except, of course, for reformists...who make a living at that sort of thing.

Revolutionaries have put such illusions behind them.

[Elect Marx]

Originally posted by Che y Marijuana@Apr 7 2006, 03:27 PM
It&#39;s less work than redoing the essay, redstar, and there&#39;s absolutely nothing wrong with fighting "small battles".

Exactly my point; thanks.

Is this where you personally attack CyM too, RS?

I know what you mean though; armchair revolution certainly helps more people then reformism. People just love to start revolutions with conformists that don&#39;t stand up against reactionary practices.

[Mariam]

fighting "small battles".

I like that line...
That&#39;s way I couldn&#39;t just let it go and had to fight a small battle with the prof,but I feel like I had to back down.
I believe it&#39;s not all about grades, It&#39;s more like what 313C7 ivi4RX said:
to stand up against reactionary practices

[LoneRed]

speaking of political grades, I got a C for writing about Marx, and the teacher saying to put our opinions in the paper, more on this is in the article submission thread :Karl Marx and Globalization.

[Mariam]

When ever they ask you to put on your opinion that means don&#39;t you ever express your opinion&#33;&#33;
Yah that&#39;s a good article&#33;&#33;

[redstar2000]

Originally posted by Che y Marijuana@Apr 7 2006, 03:27 PM
It&#39;s less work than redoing the essay, redstar, and there&#39;s absolutely nothing wrong with fighting "small battles".

Not if you&#39;re a small person, I suppose.

[Hegemonicretribution]

It seems to me that teachers in the U.K. are far more open about institutional bias within the curriculum. I was often told that my work was "very good" in the most patronising tones (meaning that they had at best a minute clues as to what the fuck I was going on about), but that I did not hit the criteria as outlined by the markscheme.

In fact most lessons are not actually containing content relating to the topic, I have been told in the past I need not attend these, but rather teach us how to score highly in each type of exam. Whilst all the teachers admit that there should be a better way, they accept that this isn&#39;t the case. It is just stated that we should be quiet until we have a decent position within a university where we can express an oppinion that is not necessarily on any mark scheme that you see pre-graduate.

I suppose admitting to themselves that they are bollocks offers some comfort, but not a lot.

[Cheung Mo]

Originally posted by Adonis@Apr 7 2006, 07:39 PM
The fact remains that there is no such thing as "free speech for lefties" in the U.S. or probably any place else.

Even if she "won in court", she&#39;d end up having to go back to court each time she wrote a paper.

Waste of time&#33;

True&#33;&#33;
One of my profs. rejected my projet about Orwell&#39;s Animal Farm, because as he said: " I won&#39;t accept any type of political interpretations"
So it took me half an hour to reason with him, and came out with with another "non-political" project saying that educational institutions are not the place to express my "whatever views"&#33;&#33;

Trying to interpret Animal Farm in a non-political way is like trying to analyse Israeli history without discussing Zionism: It&#39;s a logical impossibility.

[JimFar]

Adonis wrote:

One of my profs. rejected my projet about Orwell&#39;s Animal Farm, because as he said: " I won&#39;t accept any type of political interpretations"

If George Orwell had heard that, he wouldn&#39;t have died from TB but instead would have died from a heart attack, laughing so hard.

[pandora]

Well resourced.

Well I have my problems academically with not understanding the system and saying things I should not, so I definately understand this.

It is a game. It is not life. They control the academic infrastructure and are not open to new ways of thinking. That being said, I would take the paper to a higher level, if she does not allow you to re-evaluate the paper around a question. I would take it to the school principal and tell them that she is reducing your options in critically comprehending the topic.

First, redo your paper perfectly, no grammatical errors. Then submit it to the adminstration, let them know that you are prepared to submit it to the newspaper (facsist organizations, but it&#39;s a good threat) or the ACLU for bias.

Re-evaluate her criteria with her and tell her you feel strongly about your ideas but want to get this problem solved. Remind her of the New Deal and that the United States has a mixed economy since the Great Depression, which is why we pay taxes (supposedly)

Will your parents support you that is a big push. Adminstrators don&#39;t like ticked off parents with "lawyers" yelling.

Make sure that you understand how to ARGUE your case properly this will let them know that you could be a legal problem.

After this talk to your adminstrator about how someone who is "ahead" of the basic curriculum can get your needs met by working on special projects in perhaps service learning. Who knows maybe you will get to do socialist work and get credit as long as it is documented just so they can get you out of your hair.

Bottom line, my mistake, DO NOT GO TO A STATE SCHOOL. Go to the most liberal institution you can get away with or study philosophy or physics so that you can improve your skills without these sorts of people holding you back.

Bottom line they are keeping you from refining yourself as an educated Marxist, you need to improve your intellectual ability and remember this is short term, where you go next is up to you.