Speaking out against professors

Taryn Beaufort | Opinion Editor | The USD Vista

Classrooms should be thought of as safe spaces for students to share diverse opinions and views. Some students don’t have to think twice about shooting their hand up to raise a concern in class, but there may also be students who  feel otherwise. At the University of San Diego, professors work hard to ensure that students do indeed feel comfortable enough to voice their opinions.

Although it may seem intimidating, senior Khalil Suradi noted that he feels comfortable disagreeing with his professors while in the classroom setting.

“Yes, they are highly educated in their field, but that does not mean they cannot make mistakes,” Suradi said. “They are human after all, which means they are imperfect. Also, sometimes challenging the professor may stimulate an additional conversation on the subject and that is more beneficial in my eyes.”

However, Suradi noted there is a difference between disagreeing with a professor versus being condescending.

“Of course you have to be respectful and mindful of others in the classroom,” Suradi said. “Hypothetically this is how I would go about it. I would probably ask the professor to elaborate a bit more on what they are teaching. If that does not help, I like to create hypothetical situations to see how the professor might go about solving that particular situation. At times they clarify my doubts, and other times they see where their explanation might be faulty or lacking context.”

Suradi believes that students should always have the right to question what is being said in the classroom, as that is part of the learning process.

“We all know that tuition is not cheap, so I am going to absorb everything I possibly can from the professors,” Suradi said. “We pay way too much money to let our doubts slide. If a professor gives off that aura (that they aren’t open to questions), maybe they are in the wrong line of work. And isn’t their purpose to educate students?”

Senior Anna Kalfayan echoed Suradi’s beliefs  that universities should foster an environment where students feel comfortable speaking up.

“All of the students on this campus are here because they wanted to take part in higher education,” Kalfayan said. “Part of gaining a higher education is learning about topics more in depth and getting to delve further into those unasked questions.”

Kalfayan expressed her comfort in being able to speak in class and arguing her opinion.

“I can see how it might be intimidating for some students to speak up in class, especially given that they might be disagreeing with someone who has gone through extensive schooling and have more credentials,” Kalfayan said. “But at the same time, they were in our position once, so I think they would be understanding of the place we are coming from. I believe that at the college level students are well educated enough to share their beliefs.”

Bradley Bond, assistant professor of the communication studies department, welcomes disagreement into his classroom.

“I would use disagreement in class as a pedagogical tool to increase students’ understanding of where knowledge comes from and why we know what we know,” Bond said. “I wish students would disagree with me more. When we are discussing theories of media’s influence in my classes, students often take what I say as fact. There are likely alternative ways of thinking and I would love for students to voice those alternatives, and then open the door to a class discussion about why or why not other theoretical perspectives might be better suited.”

Bond acknowledged students should have the right to voice the opinion freely in the classroom setting.

“A classroom should be a safe space for everyone to voice his or her opinion and for individuals to ask questions and challenge assumptions in order to better understand what we know and don’t know about various academic disciplines,” Bond said. “If a student disagrees with a professor about a conclusion that the scientific community has come to accept or about a historical fact, that is something that the faculty member has to be able to manage in such a way that invalidates the student’s comment, but validates the student’s worth.”

Bond commented on how he would deal with a situation in which a student raises disagreement.

“It would depend on the content being covered and the context in which the student voiced his or her disagreement,” Bond said. “I would really try to use these moments as pedagogical stepping stones, meaning that other students can learn a lot about the process of uncovering knowledge by reflecting on where their beliefs about factual information come from and why or why not those sources might be appropriate and accurate (or not).”

Diane Keeling, assistant professor of the communication studies department, commented that how she handles disagreement would depend on the context.

“If a student disagrees with a theoretical perspective that is being proposed, great,” Keeling said. “No concept, theory, or idea is perfect. If the disagreement was not about course content, but about course assignments or how a class is run, I would invite them to my office hours to learn more about their perspective and spend time explaining why the assignment was created or why the course is organized in that particular way.”

Similar to Bond, Keeling welcomes disagreement in her classroom, but added a caveat for how she expects it will be handled.

“Disagreements don’t mean students should not learn the content,” Keeling said. “I have a frequent saying in my classes, ‘You don’t have to agree with the content, but you have to at least understand it and what problem it helped address for its creators.’”

The process of working up the courage to share a differing opinion can be difficult for some, while for others it may seem just part of their classroom habits. Some USD professors strive to make their classrooms a space where these comments are welcome, as they may even be able to help stimulate learning.