Essay Topics For The Rest Of Us

Essay Topics For The Rest Of UsAcademic freedom is a controversial topic that is often confused with free speech. In order to understand the two, you must be able to differentiate between these two issues.First, let's get things straight about academic freedom. Academic freedom does not give you the right to use someone else's words. It does not allow you to take ideas and run with them. The best that it allows you to do is put forth ideas and publish your work in a form that allows you to be critiqued. The best way to define academic freedom is that it protects your ideas.Many would argue that academic freedom is not as protected as free speech. After all, if you are to publish a study that points out the shortcomings of a certain group of people, you might as well say it was a hate crime. Or, if you are to point out that there are problems with the military and present that to Congress, you are showing disrespect to the military and the legislative branch. The point is that the edu cational process can sometimes be rough, and we can sometimes take the course a little too far.For this reason, academic freedom is especially important. It allows individuals to express themselves without fear of retribution from their peers. Instead, it gives them the freedom to develop their own personal ideas and move forward with them. This keeps them learning, creative, and inspired, not chained to a work on a subject they simply have no interest in.We have seen examples of this already on college campuses across the country. Over the past few years, the topic of political correctness has been raised in the political sphere. Universities have received letters from students complaining about how they are being treated by the media, politicians, and even fellow students. One such incident happened at Tufts University last fall. A group of students attempted to have a game change, so to speak, by bringing on the controversial play about gender wars, The Vagina Monologues.It was p ointed out that the play was created as a call for censorship, and in an attempt to curb free speech. But, Tufts officials felt the play was intended to be humorous and was not meant to be taken seriously. And since that time, other students have been able to voice their opinions about the situation without fear of reprisal.Of course, some will argue that free speech does not always have to be funny. However, this is a hypocritical argument. It was recently shown that it is okay to joke about politics, but not okay to joke about suicide. In fact, comedians like Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have been punished by networks for making jokes that are deemed inappropriate, yet they are able to continue to make jokes about issues and subjects that are not related to politics.Academic freedom is indeed important. We need to protect our ideas, not hold ourselves back because someone tells us that we are going too far. It's the only way we will be able to grow and learn.