Socialism in the Class Room

“Socialism isn’t bad”, my Professor explained in class Friday that the word Socialism has an incorrect negative connotation to it and is not relative to Communism as one is told.

This statement was presented to my peers and I by a well respected, well educated Professor (who is a very proud Democrat) in the middle of his/her lecture, not as a side bar or even afterwords for a discussion, but as part of the lecture on Language Usage. The topic of socialism was mentioned in the chapter that we were going over, but my professor went off from the textbook and used his/her own example.
This comment was presented without intent for a debate. It was instead presented as socialism being an obvious solution to our economic problems in a matter of fact sort of way. I feel that this was a very personal political opinion that should have been presented as such; I am in complete appreciation of encouraging discussions on ideas and having them shared in a comfortable forum. The topic matter was presented in such away that did not allow contrary argument(s).

I do recognize, along with my professor for different reasons, some college students don’t understand the fundamentals of political parties yet we all seem to be voting.
I am not saying that all students don't understand the fundamentals, I am just saying that those who don’t are not necessarily ignorant it’s just seems that they haven’t been taught. I personally and embarrassingly spent most of my high school Economics class watching and analyzing the movie “Gone with the Wind”. In U.S history I received an overall grade of a 93, and yet I still came out of high school knowing more Bushisms (from my teacher's desk calendar) than about the Political Parties in detail or about their voting history.

An example: I was watching the vice presidential debate with my roommate who is also liberal, and the topic of Gay Marriage came up and she turned to me and said that she feels that the decision should be left to the states. I told her that that Republican Party also want to leave Gay Marriage to the states and Democrats want to make it a federal decision.

I am not here to write about my personal opinion on socialism. I just don’t think that political opinions should be mixed in a lecture as irrefutable facts especially to an audience who lack the proper introduction of fundamentals that should have been taught in high school. Instead professors should teach their lectures first and then then share opinions after the facts have been given. I feel that educated banter back and forth should be encouraged for it helps us flex what we are learning. However, I don't think opinions or personal motives should be slipped into the lecture in class.

So if my professor is a Democrat and believes in Socialism, it brings to question; Is Socialism part of the Democratic fundamentals? The answer is Yes, keeping in mind of course that every party has their extremists.
The identifying shared ideals are mainly those of economic factors relating to “Common Wealth” or "Economic Justice". Some Democrat voters may not know the are currently voting for Socialism. When analogized, the Democratic Presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama has been recognized as a “Stealth Socialist” (not because of the sound of his name, of the color of his skin, his height, his hair cut, his smile or his shoe size but because of what he says and his economic motives).

It’s scary knowing that we come out of high school of age to vote with out a clue as to what we are voting on. We know the issues (so we think) but we don’t understand the ramification of our vote or even how each party handles the issues.

My advice to you is to please get informed know what and who you are voting for.