Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Professors Are Liberal?

Conservatives are proven right... again. You'd think we'd get sick of it. According to the Washington Post and a survey by two political science professors from the University of Toronto, the American college faculty leans to the left. Way to the left.

Don't take it from me. "College faculties, long assumed to be a liberal bastion, lean further to the left than even the most conspiratorial conservatives might have imagined, a new study says."

"The professors and instructors surveyed are, strongly or somewhat, in favor of abortion rights (84 percent); believe homosexuality is acceptable (67 percent); and want more environmental protection "even if it raises prices or costs jobs" (88 percent). What's more, the study found, 65 percent want the government to ensure full employment, a stance to the left of the Democratic Party." It's safe to say that this crowd isn't in favor of massive tax cuts and doesn't belong to the NRA, but I'm just speculating.

In sum total, 72% of national faculty were liberal, compared with 15% for conservatives. The difference grow at the "most elite" schools where it is 87% to 13%.

That's about as fair and balanced as Fox News.

There's nothing in and of itself wrong with having a liberal faculty, but we're fooling ourselves if it is assumed that professors will not allow their worldview to influence the way the classes are taught. It's inevitable that biases creep into everything we do.

So our institutes of higher learning become hotbeds for leftist thought. Those with a college education tend to vote more liberally. Perhaps there's a connection.

In today's age of tolerance and acceptance, our colleges and universities should embrace diversity of thought and acceptance of alternative ideologies. Provide a forum for open debate and let students come to a conclusion on their own. There's nothing wrong with adapting a liberal mindset.

Sooner or later, everyone comes to see that the conservatives were right... again.

4 comments:

Barba Roja said...

Well, what of it?

College professors have no power in our society. If you're going to be concerned about universities being liberal, you should also be concerned about the media, the corporations, and the government being dominated by conservatives who don't share the liberal values of most Americans.

Tell you what; we'll trade you Cornell for the Pentagon.

A Wiser Man Than I said...

College professors have the power to shape the minds of the leaders of tomorrow. That gives them a great deal of power.

Now, you mention "the media, the corporations, and the government being dominated by conservatives". I'll take these one at a time.

The media is not conservative. Parts of it--talk radio, Fox News and the internet--are, but the mass media is predominately liberal. Any poll of the media has shown that they have about the same liberal to conservative ratio as our schools.

The corporations are conservative, I'll give you that, but they only have power because our leaders choose to be whores to special interests.

As for the government being "conservative" and not reflecting the "liberal values of most Americans". Funny thing, but we vote for our leaders. That being said... well, I think you can put two and two together.

Barba Roja said...

Really? You just did a series of posts about how the American people are far more socialist-minded than you're comfortable with, In fact, they seem to support national health care, full employment, environmental protections, and other left-wing causes at about the same rate as... college professors.

A Wiser Man Than I said...

If Americans were truly as liberal as college professors, Kerry would be president. He's not, and Bush is, so, despite our acceptance of some socialist principles (healthcare for example), Americans are not all that liberal. "Conservatives" have the House, the Senate, and the Supreme Court, too.

Americans are moderates if anything. Certainly, 65% of them don't support full employment and other such nonsense.