In what seems an eternity ago, I wrote about Minnesota State Senator Michelle Bachman's attempt to pass an "Academic Bill of Rights" and some of the issues I had with her, and the silly movement she was acting as a figurehead for. This issue is a big concern to those of us who teach for a living. My main concern in that post was that students, parents, and legislators often aren't the best judges of what's relevant course material. Those of us hired to teach (and research and write) are expected to have some kind of expertise in our subject matter. After all, why spend a career studying something if it means you still have no more understanding of it than someone who's never engaged in such study?

Michael Berube has posted an exceptional article on these attempts as they relate to the topic of academic freedom more generally. For anyone who takes knowledge production and teaching seriously, this is a must read. (Yeah, it's a bit long--well, for a blog post; for those of us who are consistently reading 30-to-60-page articles and 300-page books, it's not so bad.) Just go read it.