The other day, Frederick Hess had an important piece in the Washington Post (“Schools of Reeducation?) about the way Schools of Education are using evaluations of “dispositions” to enforce ideological conformity. I blogged about it, pointing out that the story was not only bad in itself, but stood as proof of the ideological bias running deep through the broader academy.
This evaluation of student “dispositions” (i.e. commitment to “progressive social justice”) by schools of education and social work strategy is a terrible development. Fortunately, someone is doing something to stop it. The good news is that the Center for Individual Rights has just won a landmark ruling on behalf of Scott McConnell, who was expelled from Le Moyne College over a course paper he wrote. CIR is the only organization challenging “dispositions theory” in court. Dragging school officials in front of a judge and putting them under oath is a good way to hold educators accountable for ideological bullying. And it sets legal precedents that will help other students defend themselves against ideological witch hunts in the future. For an update on the Center for Individual Rights’ victory, go to their website (where you might want to make a contribution as well).