Editor,
As you freshman start the wonderful experience here at UNM, you will no doubt find it a stimulating experience as new ways of thinking and looking at the human experience are presented to you.
However, many of you will be startled to find out that many of your deepest beliefs will be under attack. Soon after this, you will hear the phrase, "Think outside the box."
Now there is nothing wrong with talking about alternative viewpoints. That is what education is all about.
The problem with some classrooms at UNM is that their instructors can be severely liberal and not bring in conservative perspectives. Yes, this is the time in your life where the terms conservative and liberal become more important. The only conservative viewpoints heard in these classrooms are the young uneducated students themselves, whose expected defense of their viewpoints will be exploited and torn apart within a matter of seconds by the instructor.
Always remember, you are in a captive audience with a highly trained motivator at the front of the class, and by the way, if you come from a conservative background, be prepared to be called a racist or Nazi.
My advice to you is to listen and think about all the information presented to you, but at the same time, remember factions at the university level can indeed be biased, even though the concept of a university is to be an institution open of the free flow of information and ideas.
I want to state clearly that not all your professors will teach in this manner. But there are those instructors who believe that most, beliefs, institutions and traditions of the majority of people in this country are wrong and should be changed.
I want to warn you about some underlying mindsets that these instructors will try to make you accept as a combined whole of their teachings:
1. If you are white, and especially a white man, you have ruined the planet.
2. Communism, no matter how many millions have died under it, will someday work and will triumph over capitalism.
3. If you stand up for your faith in the United States - especially if you are a Christian - you are intolerant, a bigot and ignorant.
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If you decide to believe this, that is your choice. After all, these professors will explain to you that their teachings are based upon exhaustive research and study, and are therefore, foolproof.
I remember the first day of a sociology class in Mitchell Hall. The class in the room before us was a statistics class and there were leftover formulas and work on the chalkboard. When my sociology professor walked into the classroom and saw the chalkboard, the first words out of his mouth were that statisticians are the biggest liars of them all.
If that sociology professor was trying to implicate that statisticians can skew their information for the institutions they work for, then cannot that sociology professor do the same thing? What makes him so much nobler?
Perspective is always the key word at UNM. Although different perspectives are of use at the University, it is unfortunate that some of them do not get a fair debate in some classrooms. In the end, it's your decision to make, so have a wonderful college experience.
Darren Wood
UNM alumnus
