Academic orthodoxy and the lawsuit against UC

Here's a recent news article in last Thursday's USA Today on the same subject as my last post, UC Riverside academic standards for high school courses.

In the article, it says, 'The lawsuit against UC alleges that the university accepts courses from other schools taught from a particular viewpoint, such as feminist, African-American or countercultural, so the school can't discriminate against "a viewpoint of religious faith."'

Hmmm. Some issues:

• Is UC willing to do the same for other types of schools?
  
• Are they willing to deny credit for someone who may have learned world history from the Muslim perspective?
  
• Is UC willing to do the same for bad textbooks whose problems don't stem from a religious viewpoint?
  
• What about homeschooled students whose parents focus on Christianity or some other religious viewpoint?
  
• Has it been demonstrated that students who took "biased" high school courses perform more poorly in college than those who took "non-biased" courses?
  
• Can I drop the "sneering quotation marks" and still get my point across?
  

When I read the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, I don't see it as permitting public institutions to uniquely disfavor a religious viewpoint compared to others. Instead, I see it as saying that public institutions cannot uniquely favor a religious point of view, something very different.

In any case, I can see the UC arguing that they are not uniquely disfavoring a religious viewpoint. Instead, they have an obligation to set high academic standards, by which I suppose they mean that courses approved for UC admission must be consistent with viewpoints and knowledge generally accepted among academics. University professors set the standard, and if you want to go to college, you must learn knowledge in accordance with the established standards. Christian, Muslim, and Buddhist viewpoints are not in accord with established standards, whereas feminist, African-American or countercultural viewpoints are. I hate to say consensus equals truth, but isn't that kind of what "academic standards" are all about? i.e., teaching in accordance with what the majority of (university) teachers believe. Perhaps academic orthodoxy would be a better term.

The UC could also say that no one is forcing the students from religious high schools to go to UC Riverside or any public institution for that matter. Let them go to a private college that accepts their biased, sub-standard high school education.