International Law

Legal Eagle has a fascinating post on ideology, law and teaching:

As I am a university lecturer, I was interested to read about the Young Liberals? campaign to ?out? left-wing lecturers. That seems to miss the point to me: it?s a bit unpleasantly reminiscent of a McCarthyist witch hunt.

I have to say that in law school I had a variety of lecturers, from open Marxists to known advisers to the Liberal Party. I had no problem with that. One of my best friends at high school was a neo-Marxist, my other best friend was a Tory. They didn?t like one another much, but I liked them both a lot. I?m still friends with both.

The problem is not that a lecturer has a political leaning. The real problem arises in two situations:

1. When a lecturer is sarcastic and vicious to those who disagree with his or her point of view.
2. When a lecturer allows his or her particular view to skew what is taught away from the curriculum.

...

Teaching is not a personal soapbox - she should make her own soapbox blog if that?s what she wants to do. That?s a private affair. Indeed, one of the reasons why I am anonymous on this blog is because I don?t want my students to know my political views and to feel constrained by them in some way.

So perhaps what is needed is not a McCarthyist witchhunt, but a clear policy that students come from diverse backgrounds and have diverse points of view which should be encouraged by teachers, whatever their own personal leanings. After all, part of the way in which we learn is by taking into account opposing views and criticisms, difficult and painful as that may be sometimes.

Read more here (from The Legal Soapbox).  I couldn't agree more.