Erik Marshall

I promised I would give you my take on politics in the classroom, but it looks like I already did, a year ago. I am having students analyze various types of media to see if they can detect bias, and we are talking about academic bias as well. I get the sense that most students don’t really care how their instructors vote anyway, and the media projects are pretty interesting so far. For me, the goal is simply to make sure each student feels empowered to speak up in class discussion, in writing, etc., without feeling persecuted or marginalized, either by me or other students. Presidential elections bring this out a lot, as questions arise and arguments sometimes threaten to emerge. I remember during the 2004 elections I was teaching an Intro to Film course, and some liberal students had approached me to show “Fahrenheit 9/11″ in class. I told them I was reluctant but open to the idea, but we would have to analyze the visual form of the arguments and reveal the ways Moore manipulates viewers. I opened the subject up to the rest of the class, and few conservative students argued, among other things, that showing F911 would necessitate a documentary from the right. I ended up sticking with the original plan and showed “Fog of War” that week, which also seems to have a bias, but one that is more subtle and open to interpretation. That class remained contentious for the rest of the semester, but respectfully so, and I think a lot of good came out of it, including practice in political argumentation, as well as deep analysis of film and other cultural objects.