Reposting this because I think it's still relevant.
Teaching Ethics
I think that some of the rules and boundaries for professors should be established before DVA opens.
How much leeway should teachers have?
In what context should they present their personal opinions or beliefs, if at all?
What is the standard for factual information?
When, how and in what context should personal tips and techniques be taught?
When, how and in what context should personal theories be taught?
Are the professor's personal beliefs or religious beliefs appropriate in lectures and discussions?
IMO, there should be some leeway for a professor's own personal techniques, tips, and advice, granted that it is presented as just that--something they came up with independently that may or may not work for others.
When it comes to religious beliefs or personal beliefs, I think they should be left out of teaching unless they are directly related to the topic (for example, philosophy course?), and even then presented as solely the professor's belief. To a lot of nontheists, preaching can come across as rude or even bullying when done consistently. On the other hand, if a student has any particular spiritual beliefs surrounding dreaming, I believe that no one has the right to tell them they are wrong. IMO it wouldn't be our place to insist that a person should have no beliefs about dreaming just as it is wrong to push a specific belief system. In other words, if a student has some spiritual beliefs, it is best to just acknowledge them as just that. :)
Regarding personal theories or beliefs about what dreams are, what DCs are, ect., I think that they should also either be omitted or presented with a big huge disclaimer that they are only the opinion of the professor and nothing else.
I believe it is really important to try to be as clear as possible when it comes to personal bias/belief and what is accepted fact.
I think that there is something on the student application regarding whether or not that student does or does not want to hear about BD type material. I've been thinking about that a lot (since DVA was originally suggested), and I'm coming to think that since the focus of DVA is only on lucid dreaming, things like astral projection really don't need to be talked about in the context of teaching. I don't see why students and teachers can't talk about that stuff on their own time.
Alternatively, students could form a group or class that is exploratory, going over various BD topics, but it would be hard to teach since all BD material is at its heart subjective/biased toward the teacher's belief system.
My idea is to have students be set up with teachers interested in BD material based on their own interest. However, that wouldn't mean only those students could be taught by that teacher--they would already have in their records which students don't want to discuss it and which do, so they could simply omit any material and/or discussion in the actual class, but at a certain student's request, explore or discuss anything BD on their own time with that student, preferably in private (for example, via PM, in their DJ, or in the BD chatroom). IF these discussions go on, they should again go with a big disclaimer that they are nothing but personal opinion/theory/whatever, or be cited by wherever they came from so the student can research the material on their own and make their own decisions about it.
I would really like professors and students have the freedom to discuss anything they want, but I also feel that professors have a responsibility to present truth as truth and opinion as opinion.
