The politics of my students

And their views on gender, religion, same-sex marriage and parenting

This was a pilot survey that I conducted under the most unusual circumstances. My department (Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Athens) was closed for several weeks because it was occupied by a number of students who were opposed to a new law that would allow the establishment of non-profit higher education institutions in Greece, as long as they are affiliated with non-Greek universities (see here for my views on this issue). The law was passed on March 8, and by the afternoon of March 11, the department was open and I was able to organize the exam.

The course I taught is an introduction to the history of liberal democracy and its institutions. The first part is more historical, emphasizing ancient Athens, the American and French revolutions, and the development of political thought toward the ideas of the rule of law, constitutionalism, natural rights and political liberty from the ancient Greeks to the 19th century. The second part focuses on the legal regulation of morality, with emphasis on individual rights, the harm principle, freedom of speech, gender, and multiculturalism. The semester concludes with a discussion of totalitarianism, especially Nazism, and a screening of Judgment at Nuremberg (1961). [due to the Occupation, the semester ended abruptly and we did not discuss Nazism and Nuremberg]

Well, my students realize from the very beginning that I am a liberal, that I am always ready to defend the principles of an open society, and that I am very hostile to any kind of violation of rights, totalitarian ideologies, moralistic and paternalistic ideas. But we discuss everything thoroughly, the climate is very open and tolerant, even politically incorrect. I am pretty sure that some students (from the right and the left) detest my views, but I am also sure that they do not feel that they are being treated unfairly for having different political views from their professor. The type of the examination and the grading system (multiple choice with grading on a curve) are such that you can wholeheartedly hate me and my views and still get an A+, as long as you understand the material. Of course the exam questions do not require approval of my views.

One of the issues that my students know I am passionate about is same-sex marriage and parenting rights. So I decided to do a survey before the exam to see what my students’ views were. The sample was representative of the student body because this is a required course, so there is no self-selection.

I asked them questions about their gender, their political views, their level of religiosity, their views on same-sex marriage and parenting, and I also ask them how much my teaching has influenced their views on LGBTQ+ issues.

I will not give you numbers, only percentages, in order to fully protect the anonymity of a rather small class for Greek higher education standards.

So these are the results:

A. GENDER

I discussed the results with one of my (female) students and she was very surprised that 7% of the students identified as non-binary. Keep in mind that the ratio of women to men in my department is 2 to 1. I have to admit that I am very proud that my students trust me enough to anonymously or eponymously (during office hours or in private correspondence) declare their n/b gender orientation.

B. POLITICS

I included almost everything I could think of, I checked the alternatives with three of my students and they assured me that nothing was missing. There was only one ex-post complaint: I did not include anarcho-capitalism. I admit that I thought that anarcho-capitalism was completely unknown to the average Greek student and that they would only learn about it in one of my seminars. I was wrong.

I was really looking forward to ponder on my students’ politics and I was very disappointed to find that 27.3% refused to declare them! 4.7% of male students, 20% of n/b and 40% of female students did not declare their political views. I was very concerned mostly about my female students, but I was sure they were not afraid to express themselves. After all, they all answered the religiosity question, and only a few of them declined to answer the questions about same-sex marriage and parenthood. I discussed the results with 11 of my female students (those I have supervised or am currently supervising for their undergraduate theses) and we came up with a number of reasons. I conducted a second survey to a quite large sample (but only to female students who have already chosen to attend my non-compulsory seminar), which yielded some very interesting results that I will share with you in the near future. Let’s just say that young women are alienated from politics, some of them see politics as something male, divisive, boring, exclusive, hypocritical, disgusting, etc. Many of them did not only answer by ticking boxes, but they decided to write their opinion (in handwriting). They were eager to express themselves, they did not refuse to do so.

But let’s take a look at what the 60% of female students who declared a political preference chose.

C. RELIGIOSITY

Another important difference is the level of religiosity between male and female students. Female students are more religious than male students. Non-binary students are the least religious (not surprising given the position of the Greek Orthodox Church on their rights):

Please indicate your level of religiosity on an axis from 1 (not religious) to 10 (my religion is an integral part of my identity).

Female: 3.62

Male: 2.76

Non-binary: 1.50

D. LGBTQ+ issues

Now to the more substantive questions. Most of my students are in favor of both same-sex marriage and parenting. These results are to be expected, but the numbers are much higher than in other surveys.

Are you in favor of or opposed to same-sex marriage?

Are you in favor of or opposed to same-sex parenting?

Well, one contributing factor is my teaching. 40.9% of my students say that. Since most university students are friendly to the LGBTQ+ agenda, I was expected to have little influence - since they do not depend on me to form more liberal views on these issues. I was very happy to find that I did make a difference.

Did my lectures influence the formation of your views on the above issues, or were they already formed?

I won’t go any further, stay tuned for the survey of my female students for some interesting results on women’s disillusionment with current politics.