http://www.worldwar3report.com/nss.html

THE WAR ON ACADEMIC FREEDOM
Big Brother in the Ivory Tower following approval of H.R. 3077

by Nirit Ben-Ari

Since 1965, the US Department of Education has funded programs in American universities under Title VI of the Higher Education Act. Title VI has provided grants to promote area and international studies centers, as well as Foreign Language and Area Studies (FLAS) grants. This year the House of Representatives moved to revisit the old act and revise it according to "national security" needs. The new International Studies in Higher Education Act (H.R. 3077), approved on Sept. 17, 2003 by the House Subcommittee on Select Education, in effect re-writes Title VI. It has since been passed by the full House.


An "Advisory Board" to Monitor the Classroom

The new Act would create an oversight "advisory board" that will link Title VI funding to students training for careers in national security, defense and intelligence agencies and the foreign service. The 11 members of the new International Education Advisory Board are to be appointed in consultation with "homeland security" agencies. The board has the mandate to dictate curricula, course materials assigned in class, and the faculty who are hired in institutions that accept Title VI funding. The board would make recommendations to make sure programs under Title VI reflect national needs related to homeland security.

In preparation for the rewriting of Title VI, on June 19, 2003, the House Subcommittee on Select Education held a hearing on "International Programs in Higher Education and Questions about Bias." It's worth quoting Dr. Stanley Kurtz of the Hoover Institute, whose influential testimony and recommendations at the hearing translated into the revised act. He focused in particular on post-colonial theory and the work of Edward Said, in which (he said) "Said equated professors who support American foreign policy with the 19th century European intellectuals who propped up racist colonial empires. The core premise of post-colonial theory is that it is immoral for a scholar to put his knowledge of foreign languages and cultures at the service of American power." He also sited Arundhati Roy, Robert Fisk and Tariq Ali as examples to texts being taught that need to be balanced with authors such as Bernard Lewis and Samuel P. Huntington.

So essentially, the federal govt will dictate what will be taught about US foreign policy in universitys that recieve federal funding. Control of curriculum will be taken from professors and given to politicians and law enforcement officials. Aside from the free speech and academic freedom issues, the potential for abuse here is enormous. Can you imagine each new administration having all the professors whose views supported his opponents fired?
This act would be a nightmare.

Hasn’t big brother always been in the ivory tower? It starts with the Pledge of Allegiance in kindergarten. School is about teaching kids what to think, not how to think. If a school tried the latter there’d be a stink about it.

This is wonderful. A big problem the concervative movement has had is that the more educated people become, the more socialy liberal they tend to become as well. I cant help but think that a measure like this has been waiting in the wings for ages, looking for an excuse to come out. Concervatives need to try to be able to control education if they are ever going to perminantly capture America.

School is about teaching kids what to think, not how to think.And we can't have these deadly Weapons of Mass Instruction falling into the wrong hands.

:m: Peace.

Hasn’t big brother always been in the ivory tower? It starts with the Pledge of Allegiance in kindergarten. School is about teaching kids what to think, not how to think. If a school tried the latter there’d be a stink about it.
Although this is generally true, there is sometimes room for good teachers and professors to do the latter if they are so inclined. I've encountered a few of them.
This act would likely eliminate such people.

I've encountered a few too. Just a few. Teachers/professors have long been under strict rules prohibiting expression of opinions or info that wavers from--or is irrelevant to--the curriculum decided at a higher level. The control of the curriculum is not in the hands of the teachers now.

At the college level anyway they do have some flexibility, otherwise people like those described as problems such as Edward Said, would not be able to teach what they do(not that Said necesarilly tought people how to think as opposed to what to think, but its certainly his curriculum.)

here is colorado they are trying to pass some kind of academic bill of rights which is basically supposed to put a leash on liberal professors. at the university of colorado the college republican group there started up a black list website where they claim they are constantly being discriminated against because they are conservative. it is a load of crap.