My annual voluntary pledge to students, their parents, and my colleagues (feel free to join me)

With the new academic year now underway, I repeat my annual pledge to my students, their parents, and my fellow professors:

1) I will educate my students, never indoctrinate them.

2) When addressing controversial moral, political, and other questions, I will ensure that my students are exposed to the strongest arguments that have been advanced on the competing sides.

3) When it comes to such questions, my reading lists will include writings by the best scholars representing various perspectives.

4) When I advocate a particular view in class, I will acknowledge that there are reasonable people of goodwill who disagree and encourage students to consider their arguments before resolving the question in their own minds.

5) I will bear in mind that my role as a teacher is not to tell my students WHAT to think, but to encourage and help them to think more deeply, critically, and for themselves.