What should I expect in a college philosophy class?

To be honest, I think this rumor comes from students not understanding their professors' objections to their views. Some professors want all of their students to be atheists, but most just want them to think clearly. Unfortunately, though, when a student writes a paper claiming to prove the existence of God, and the teacher criticizes the argument, students sometimes take this to mean that the teacher wants everyone to be an atheist, and is biased, and wants everything done "his or her way."

Exactly. In my experience most of such complaints come from students of other programs who have taken 1 philosophy course, and mistake the theories presented to them as mere ''opinions,'' that are qualitatively equivalent to their own opinions. Accordingly the bad grades received for stating unsupported personal opinions are interpreted as proof that ''professors only want you to parrot back their own beliefs!'' I really don't think that the professors care about which side of the debate every random mediocre essay in the correcting pile is defending.

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