Welcome to college, the beacon of learning, where you will walk the halls of enlightenment and wise teachers will teach you in the ways of the world.

I know this will shock you, but your professors are not always right. Shhhhhh, this is top secret, insider info, sort of like when you realized mom and dad got it wrong about Santa, candy rotting your teeth and your face getting stuck like that.

They look so intelligent down there during class, behind the lecturn with their power point and those fancy Ph.Ds after their namse. This is probably because they are. However, professors are not infallible. They come to the classroom with their own set of experiences, opinions and biases.

In fact, some may be more biased on their area of specialty than just your average smart guy. They have spent years immersed in a specific area of study, so it is pretty easy to form strong opinions about certain aspects of the subject.

Just think, you most likely know more about your favorite sport than your mom, but you probably have some preconceived notions that are debatable among other sports fans.

Ladies, if you walk out of your women’s studies class and don’t feel oppressed by the evil male patriarchal society that defines your gender, won’t let you open your own doors or pull out your own chairs, and then pays you only 76 percent of what they make for your work- there is not something wrong with you!

Maybe you aren’t oppressed, and perhaps women don’t make less because those numbers are not adjusted for comparable time and responsibility. In fact, some studies show women make as much or even more than their male counterparts in the same occupation.

If your political science professor tells you that government is never the problem and always the solution, feel free to disagree.

If a visiting speaker tells you that if George W. Bush wins a second term, then there is a secret plan to immediately implement a military draft, well, I didn’t get my draft card in the mail, did you?

Did your science professor tell you that the scientific method is actually a specific philosophical way of looking at science? Empirical observation used to support hypothesis within a theory is not neutral because it is actually an element of the theory it is trying to verify or falsify. Science is inevitably tainted by the paradigm of the universe that the scientists ascribe to because ultimately the scientific process relies on human reasoning. Maybe scientific ‘fact’ is not foolproof, and it is a lot more interrelated with philosophy and sociology than you thought.

What about the professor who tells you that you are not worldly-wise because the non-diverse atmosphere of the mid-western Bowling Green State University has a relatively ‘homogenous’ student body with around 13 percent minority students? Should you feel like your college experience is less valid because of this?

Perhaps diversity isn’t only about the color of one’s skin. Perhaps experiencing diversity is about interacting with people who come from different towns, with different families and different experiences. Perhaps you make your own diverse experience by going out of your comfort zone, putting aside old habits and choosing to get to know people in your life better.

Or, then there is the foreign language professor who tells you that all Hispanic people should be loyal to a particular political party for the obvious reason that only one party looks out for that groups interests. Maybe to those ‘obvious’ reasons are debatable and differ by the individual. There is more to what shapes a person’s political views than their ethnicity.

Maybe that avant garde piece of artwork that the professor gushes over is really just what you think it is, for lack of a better word, really artistic crap.

If you are at all engaged with your class work, you will invariably come across some inconsistencies with your professors’ outlook and your own. Trust your judgment. Don’t cast those questions aside too quickly. Learning to think is more difficult than just memorizing and regurgitating fact.

In the classroom, respecting your professor is essential. Learning from them is expected. Truly processing the information they pass on to you and making educated conclusions is ideal.

Of course, the first step for some of you is staying awake.

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