This class seriously has me irritated. The professor emailed yesterday to bless me out for stating a “personal opinion” on the main board, but not specifying which one or where. So I wrote back, asking her to elaborate and it turned out to be a response to a post where everyone was frothing at the mouth, chanting about how our money saying “in god we trust” somehow “proves” we are a Christian nation. Yeah, I know…not exactly the sentiment I enjoy reading from our future law enforcement officers either. So I responded by posting this, supported by data from the U.S. Treasury:
I’m not sure how what’s printed on our money is proof that we were founded as a Christian nation, especially when this was added to our money much later, beginning in the late 1800s on some coins (though this was interrupted for some time and then re-established once again in the early 1900s) and on our paper bills beginning in 1957 (U.S. Dept. of Treasury). That’s over 100 years after the ratifying of the Constitution for coins to appear with “In God We Trust” on them and nearly 200 years for paper money. So, I don’t exactly understand the asserted correlation and declaration that this proves our Christian heritage.
Fact sheets: currency and coins (n.d.). Retrieved September 10, 2008 from the United States Department of the Treasury site: http://www.ustreas.gov/education/fact-sheets/currency/in-god-we-trust.shtml.
That was where I went wrong apparently. The teacher said this expressed my opinion on the matter and hence was unacceptable. My fellow students freaked out, naturally:
I think that you are just trying to start an argument, and I don’t appreciate it. Yes, the dollar bills did not say those words originally, but nonetheless, they made it to the paper. From Tischler, “The United States is the most religious, optimistic, productive, well-educated, and individualistic countries in the world”(2007, p. 63). . If you are non-Chrisitan, I would understand your wanting to argue the point, but it is meaningless to me to argue about something that is so obvious. “IN GOD WE TRUST”.
[some chick - name omitted]
Tischler, H. L. (2007). Introduction to Sociology. CA: Belmont.
[all spelling errors hers - direct copy and paste]
And that qualifies as scholarly work? That qualifies as an acceptable citation?? Really?? Come on! Tell me that’s not tolerating propaganda! She quoted one sentence from some dude’s opinion in the total absence of any substantial backing! Are we back to Freshman year here?
I was instructed to keep my opinions to myself from here on out as I am inciting problems in the class. Argh! That wasn’t an opinion! It was just information from the U.S. Treasury! Free information that anyone with a little sense can access for themselves!
Then they went off on a tirade about 9/11 being a hate crime, and I’m nervous to even weigh in on it. They’re throwing around religious scripture like it’s going out of style, and one woman even quoted Leviticus to “prove” god’s disdain for homosexuals! WTF?? Yet me, with my unemotional, inquisitive posts and government and/or quality peer-reviewed journal citations am expressing “personal opinion” the professor’s so concerned about?
My other infraction was referring to John Stuart Mills as a feminist (hey, they brought it up) and a couple weeks ago posting some government figures and statistics that clearly tell us how disproportionate the rate of incarceration is for minority males, to which a female classmate replied that she felt “bashed” as a result. WTF? It’s not personal, honey! They’re government figures, not a reflection of my personal beliefs or opinions.
Now they’re debating Amish hate crimes. Man, I don’t want to touch their discussions with a 10-foot pole at this point. But I have to post to earn the frickin’-frackin’ participation points for this course. *sigh* If it were a normal chatroom or the like, I wouldn’t be concerned about this matter, but with the professor breathing down my neck a bit and graduation so close, I don’t wish to do anything to jeopardize completing this required course. Every time I post something worthwhile to rebut one of their statements or comments, it either goes ignored (thank god) or is pointed to as inciting the other students. Well hell, if my foundation weren’t more solid I’d say they’re inciting me! Why should discussions of ethics be limited to only Judeo-Christian perspectives? It’s not as if I’ve claimed to be anything else though, despite the woman up above suggesting otherwise (which is really none of her business to assume). I’m just trying to infuse the conversation with an alternate perspective since it was my understanding the purpose of college was to gain a more well-rounded understanding of the world around us. But apparently this cop course would rather not hear anything from those of us who are not 110% on its bandwagon, even when our remarks are kept respectful.
Fine. Fuck it. I’ll post as little as required to get through this course and will be extra careful so as not to ruffle their feathers. Nothing I say matters to them anyway, which is just dandy. I want to graduate at this point…nothing more. I can argue and chat with cops about this sort of stuff on my free time at a later date.
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wakemenow said
I’ve been in school long enough to know the ropes and expectations. This class feels like a rowdy kindergarten class compared to everything I’m used to and is not the note I wanted to go out on. Difficult classmates aren’t the issue here; you’re gonna deal with that anywhere. It’s the professor backing them and getting on to me that I’m shocked by. Most professors get along with me, even when our views differ, because I take my education seriously. But then this lady takes forever responding to email, is barely involved in class discussions, and hasn’t structured the course in such a way that it’s clear in order to keep us on track. So people post whatever, throw around scripture (of all things), and she says nothing. I post something from the U.S. Treasury and suddenly she pops up out of nowhere to reprimand me. That’s just so darn irritating.
If this continues throughout the course, I’ll have no choice but to report this to the university administration. Already it’s starting to look like a pattern and this is only the third week. This is by far the worst course I have taken at this university and will likely be in my Top 3 of all time. It’s just ludicrous how she’s running this show.