In this recent article by Thomas Sowell titled, Dry Rot In Academia (click here), he makes this statement: “Today one can literally go from kindergarten to becoming a graduate student seeking a PH.D., without ever hearing a vision of the world that conflicts with the vision of the left.”
I’ve coached in high school for decades. My players, most of whom end up just being students in college, tell me about the professors they have. The conversation usually starts something like this, “coach you won’t believe the professor I have for ……” The evidence is overwhelming that academia is biased toward big government central planning. These elites either don’t understand how free markets work, or don’t trust individuals to make their own decisions in a free market.
Here are some excerpts from the article.
“Conservative critics who object on grounds that the views of the left are wrong miss the point. Regardless of whose views become a monopoly, education suffers…. As a young Marxists in college during the 1950’s heyday of the anti-Communist crusade led by Senator Joseph McCarthy, I had more freedom to express my views in class, without fear of retaliation, than conservative students have on many campuses today.”
“Even liberal professors can be adversely affected by the narrow groupthink that prevails. Without an opposition to keep them on their toes, they can develop sloppy habits to dismissing or even demonizing differing viewpoints, instead of practicing and teaching their students how to come to grips with opposing beliefs.”
“There are many examples of the intellectual and moral dry rot on the many campuses across the country where groupthink of the left substitutes for education.”
In this article by George Will titled, Due Process Is Still Being Kicked Off Campus (click here), he states this: “Academia’s descent into perpetual hysteria and incipient tyranny is partly fueled by the fiction that 1 in 5 college students is sexually assaulted and that campuses require minute federal supervision to cure this. Encouraged by the government’s misuse of discredited social science…colleges and universities are implementing unconstitutional procedures mandated by the government.”
These colleges are violating the fourth and fifth amendment rights of students who have had accusations made against them. First of all administrators don’t have enough knowledge to do the job that the legal system is supposed to do. Colleges are going to get their pants sued off for these violations. But it won’t make the people whole whose lives have been ruined.
“The 2006 Duke lacrosse rape case fit the narrative about campuses permeated by a “rape culture.” Except there was no rape. In 2014, the University of Virginia was convulsed by a magazine’s lurid report of a rape that buttressed the narrative that fraternities foment the sexual predation supposedly pandemic in “male supremacist” America. Except there was no rape. Now, Colorado State University at Pueblo has punished the supposed rapist of a woman who says she was not raped.”
“Title IX of the Education Amendments enacted in 1972 merely says no person at an institution receiving federal funds shall be subjected to discrimination on the basis of sex. From this the government has concocted a right to micromanage schools’ disciplinary procedures, mandating obvious violations of due process.”
“In 2011, the Education Department’s civil rights office sent “dear colleague” letters to schools directing them to convict accused persons on a mere “preponderance” of evidence rather than “clear and convincing” evidence. Schools were instructed to not allow accused students to cross-examine their accusers, but to allow accusers to appeal not-guilty verdicts, a form of double jeopardy.”
“Although a “dear colleague” letter is supposedly a mere “guidance document,” it employs the word “must” in effectively mandating policies…..these letters shred constitutional guarantees…..academic administrators nowadays are frequently supine when challenged – it would risk a costly investigation and the potential loss of the 11 percent of their budget that comes from Washington.”
WORDS OF WISDOM
My friend, who had two kids graduate from college tells everyone; “College is the most dangerous place you can send your kids. Not because of any risk of violence. The risk is when they come back, you will not know who they are, unless you’ve constantly communicated with them.”
Related Article – Georg Will Outlines What Should Be In Every Commencement Speech, at austrianaddict.com.
Related Article – Best Commencement Speech Ever? Adm.McCraven Gets My Vote, at austrianaddict.com.
Related Article – Michelle Obama vs. Thomas Sowell On The Politics Of Race, at austrianaddict.com.
AUSTRIAN ECONOMICS ADDICT 