Academic Freedom and Duty - Essay Example

 Academic Freedom and Duty Question: How do you define Academic Freedom and Academic Duty? How might these concepts contrast and what are some of the dilemmas that may arise as a result? Introduction This essay gives the definition of academic freedoms and academic duties. It states the difference in the two terms while explaining what they entail precisely. There will be examples of the freedoms and duties with their relation to conducting research. While stating the duties and freedoms, I will explain the significance of each of them for the improvement of the society. Content Academic freedom refers to the rights given to scholars to teach concepts without facing oppressions at workplaces that relate to what the scholar said. The right gives scholars to use and improve concepts and knowledge that previous scholars passed in writing and experiments. Knowledge should improve, with the coming of new ideas and facts every day. This freedom is important for the better good of education. Without this freedom, it would be difficult for the public to know the truth concerning concepts to enable them improve their understanding of academic concepts (Nelson, 2010, p 2. L 20). The first freedom states that teachers have a right to conduct research in whatever area they desire to improve on their performance when exercising academic duties. Research is a basic tool of learning through which scholars expand their knowledge and come up with related concepts. It is through research, that scholars could identify flaws, which could have been present in texts. Knowledge represents ideas that one researched and presented depending on the evidences and findings. There could have been flaws in the past that occurred due to the poor methods of research then. With modern technology in place, scholars can revisit the concepts with new hypothesis and ideas (Nelson, 2010, p 1, L 15). The second freedom is that the teachers have a right to discuss their own relevant ideas in class. With good research in place, the teachers could come up with ideas that relate to the topic in class. Such ideas could be absent in the course text, but still be a matter of importance for discussion in class. The teachers, however, should be keen not to introduce irrelevant material during lessons in class. In addition, controversial ideas should not come up during discussion in classes. Topics relating to religion could be sensitive when discussed in classes. In as much as there is freedom of speech and academic freedom, religion and such sensitive issues could result to complications that limit other people’s rights (Krell, 2010, P 261, L 14). The third freedom states that all scholars, including teachers and students are members of the educational institution. In as such, they still have their position as citizens in the country. They have the right to speak out their minds, as they are still citizens of the country the institution falls. However, they should be keen in their utterances as the society watches and judges them according to the ideas they communicate. The information passed should then be accurate and unbiased in any form. The major aim of allowing academic freedom is to improve knowledge and the same time creates unity in the country. In addition, many people look up for education institutions to give guidance of issues in society (Nelson, 2010, p 1, L 30). In this capacity, institutions act as the eyes of the people at home, in terms of intellectual ideas. The scholars should respect the ideas others in place, and should not be quick to disapprove facts without proper research and consultations at high academic levels. This could help avoid many controversial ideas that may arise due to careless utterances. The scholars should state clearly that when they speak, they speak for themselves and not on behalf of the institution, which one works. This move could take the institution out of the picture when the issue comes to scrutiny. It could save innocent personnel in the institution who have nothing to do with the utterances and findings (Nelson, 2010, p 2, L 13). Academic freedom has led many people to live a creative life. There are those creative people who could do research in areas and come up with good new ideas. When put in practice, the freedom loosens the academic structure, giving room for research that could assist in innovations of various kinds. Unlimited access to educational material that is available for manipulation is quite helpful to conduct good research, which could widen the capacity of knowledge available in books (Nelson, 2010, p 1, L 23). Academic freedom allows students and teachers to engage in debate on ideas without the fear of retaliation. Scholars may have the need to question academic facts based on arguments and evidences that they themselves discovered when studying. Such debates could start in a class where all the students and their teachers scrutinize the facts openly. An open discussion is healthy as all the students could contribute their ideas and come up with the right conclusion for learning purposes. This freedom makes learning in class a lot easier than when there is a restriction on expression in class (Menand, 2011, P 2, L 6). Academic freedom preserves the integrity of the present educational institutions and the system as a whole. The scholars have to remain true to their commitments as members of a faculty. It puts to test whether the scholars can expand their knowledge on issues and at the same time remain true to their commitments as members of a certain faculty. Remaining true to their expectations as scholars, enhances integrity of the nation’s education system. The system expects the scholars to educate the masses responsibly. It protects the right of previous scholars as well as the new ideas that may arise with time because of research (Nelson, 2010, p 2, L 30). The freedom prevents other philosophers from imposing their own beliefs on issues on students or any members of any faculty. The freedom reserves a right to refuse to accept ideas from anybody without proper evidence to back up the theories. Philosophers and politicians could influence certain ideas in academic institutions for their own good. Such beliefs could manipulate the already present ideas and confuse the entire educational system. The freedom is necessary to reduce the number of theories that philosophers introduce each day based on their own personal experience. In addition, the freedom would give students the right to seek hearing from judicial structures whenever one feels that rights to academic freedom rights are under violation. It acts as a shield where scholars could protect themselves from academic abuse from politicians and philosophers with irrelevant theories (Nelson, 2010, p2,L 18). Faculty members enjoy protection from academic freedom when assigning grades to students. The faculty reserves the right to grade their students, according to the university standards. The grades need to be accurate, with no unjust method should be in use to assign them to students. The right does not protect teachers in case there is evidence of the use of unjust methods when grading students. There are facilities in the freedom that would assist students get the right grades in the case of unfair treatment (Nelson, 2010, P 1, L 12). The freedom, however, does not protect faculty members whenever sanctions get imposed on them because of their poor performance in the department or profession issues. The freedom can only regulate the sanctions and fasten appropriate hearings at the relevant authorities. The limit of the freedom at this level would assist the education system have professionals who are accountable in their line of duty (Menand, 2011, P 4, L 7). Academic duty, on the other hand, directly links to academic freedom, as both need to work in conjunction. The two share a relation in that they work together for the better good of the educational system. It is the duty of scholars to provide answers to any predicament in society. Educational systems have the duty to provide knowledge that is accurate and helpful for society growth. The system, however, does not outline the duties of scholars (Kennedy, 1997, P 1, L 48). Academic duties are different from freedoms since they are the obligations that each scholar must bear in mind before conducting research. These duties are an internal description of a true scholar in terms of self-responsibility and that of society. The higher education systems do not job descriptions for their employees. The system expects the employees to have a self-drive that would assist them in performing their duties at work. Therefore, the duties would differ from one teacher to the other. Many at times the public is unaware of the duties that teachers should have as professionals. That is the reason the public is unable to judge teachers according to their academic duties. As a result, the public passes judgment according to the academic freedoms, which are easy to spot. Higher education faces a tough criticism because of this fact. It is a popular reasoning in most parts of the country that higher education enjoys too much academic freedom with little direction of responsibility in place. The society expects higher education institutions to make their students to have more skills as compared to the previous scholars at the same level (Kennedy, 1997, P 5, L 6). Higher education has failed in its duty of producing responsible scholars, who go through the systems. The negative behavior present in the institutions is a clear example of the academic duties that have failed. College is usually the point where many make a turn in their lives. This would depend on the type of duties that students inculcate in their systems. As some remember college as the place where they fell in love, others remember it as the place where they made thoughtful decisions that affected their entire life. Some may have found inspiration that turned their economic ambitions for the better. All these decisions directly relate to the academic duties that their teachers had. The education system should work in a way that it fulfills the students' needs. Without proper guidance, students may not be in a position to make good life decisions concerning their future (Kennedy, 1997, P 10, L 6). Higher education institutions should embrace the changes that occur in society as time passes by. It needs to understand the best way to deal with coming generations at the college level. There is constant change in the nature of students and their beliefs in society. There is a constant increase in the issues, which students deal with. Therefore, teachers have a duty of providing education in a way that makes students understand these issues, and put them in their life decisions (Kennedy, 1997, p5, L 10). It is the duty of higher education systems to provide affordable education to everyone. Presently the tuition fees are quite expensive for normal citizens to access without scholarships. This is a failure of one of the basic duties of the academic institutions. Without affordable educations, a vast part of the society would fail to make it to college (Kennedy, 1997, p 11, L 38). The faculty has a duty in making decisions that directly affect the students. The same body makes decisions concerning grading, research and academic processes in institutions. The faculty has an academic duty to come up with useful decisions that would enhance responsibility in and out of school. It has a duty to society in producing people who will be responsible in the future. The research methods in place should have quality outcomes. The faculty has a duty of giving credit to students for helpful research. College research should involve findings that better life occurrences (Knox, 2009, p 2, L 33). Without proper establishing of the differences between academic freedoms and duties, there will be confusion in claiming responsibility. The society would not know who to blame the irresponsible behavior. In most of the cases the blame would go to academic freedoms other than the duties (Kennedy, 1997, P1 , L 33). Conclusion Academic freedoms and duty differ, but need to work in unison for the common good. The society needs to know the academic duties as they have a greater effect on it as compared to the freedoms. Since there are academic literatures that outline academic freedoms, the education system should come up with the same literatures that states academic duties. This would assist in making institutions responsible for their duty and in conducting research. Reference Read More