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My very liberal neighbor with a bunch of degrees on his wall once called me in a panic because a water pipe burst and he didn't know how to shut the water main off. LOL.
This liberal knows how to shut off the water main. And has multiple degrees, but hey... if it fits the narrative, right?
I think that people tend to become more liberal as they are exposed to ideas that are outside the ones they learned at home, in their local communities, etc.
Even people who label themselves as conservatives or Republicans, but have more education and have been exposed to more cultures, traveled more, etc are going to be more liberal than people who identify as conservative who do NOT have a broader world view gained via education and experience.
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Also, those that diss college grads with a degree in liberal arts, ignore that many of those undergrads go on to graduate school in more technical fields. Those that don't enter the labor market in a variety of fields. They might not be trained for a specific job opening, but when an employer interviews them, they can be reasonably assured that they can communicate effectively orally and in writing in English, and that they are more likely than non-college grads to have some skills at a second language, all of which are salable skills for any job dealing with the public. Can non-college grads also have those skills? Sure, but it is less likely, and those with degrees are more likely to be hired, whether they have training in a specific skill or not.
"Also, those that diss college grads with a degree in liberal arts, ignore that many of those undergrads go on to graduate school in more technical fields."
Sure they do. In my entire 25 year Engineering career, from Special Systems, to Automotive, and then Aerospace Engineering I have not worked with one person who fits this profile.
political leaning is part and parcel with personal psychology. people's political views are typically a reflection of their own lives and experiences.
it always seemed to me like professors live in a world that is insulated from market-based consequences. This is a common theme of contemporary american liberal thought, to ignore or attempt to trivialize markets and their consequences. you might say that they have a different concept of risk, and how it applies to them.
Didn't realize this was such an old thread. You're probably wondering why you got a 'rep' from a six-year-old post, lol.
Contemporary liberalism as iterated in tertiary academia is a remnant of the memory of radical Marxism, which inspired the intellectual elite with idealism and hope in the early part of the twentieth century. In the wake of the abuses of capitalism of the Golden Age, and the callous waste of young lives in World War I perpetrated by the leadership of the conservative Western democracies to serve the interests of colonialism and imperialism, such a reaction among the intellectual classes was understandable. Early proponents of egalitarian left-wing views sought to address the abuses of a system which had become closed to alternative views and voices, and authoritarian in its willingness to silence dissent.
The current senior faculty members of most universities in the United States were the radical students of the 1960s, whose mentors harbored that flame of flirtation with the Marxist orientation left over from the 1920s and 1930s, and encouraged their younger counterparts to rebel. The current younger faculty cohort is largely composed of their former students. Thus are academic attitudes preserved and passed down through generations of educators. That these attitudes are nearly unanimously leftist stems from the orientation of each succeeding wave of tenured faculty, who, following the example of their mentors since to do otherwise would risk their own survival at the institution, eschew any deviation from the received orthodoxy and who effectively blackball and deny tenure to potential colleagues whose views do not reflect their own.
The irony of this, of course, is that the training and inculcation of each generation's students with the ideas and attitude of its predecessors has resulted in American college and university faculties becoming increasingly hidebound and closed to diverse opinions, views, and thoughts. University faculties, in this way, are among the most conservative of American institutions, in the sense of being resistant to change and unwilling to entertain structural or ideological diversity.
Other than in the professional schools and some postgraduate departments, many of our institutions of higher learning, which are meant to be dynamic centers for academic debate and open discussion, have mutated into indoctrination camps for leftist ideology engaged in the active recruitment of new cadres of activists whose goal is to further entrench and enhance the power of the status quo -- thus typifying the very abuses of monolithic, authoritarian power structures which the early Marxists felt compelled to address, and which formed the basis for the reaction of the leftist youth movements of the 20s, 30s, and 60s.
"The irony of this, of course, is that the training and inculcation of each generation's students with the ideas and attitude of its predecessors has resulted in American college and university faculties becoming increasingly hidebound and closed to diverse opinions, views, and thoughts. University faculties, in this way, are among the most conservative of American institutions, in the sense of being resistant to change and unwilling to entertain structural or ideological diversity."
Liberals aren't afraid to think outside the box. The more knowledge we have, the more likely it is that we will challenge ourselves, use critical thinking skills, etc. Conservatives scare easily and tend to be less educated.
"Also, those that diss college grads with a degree in liberal arts, ignore that many of those undergrads go on to graduate school in more technical fields."
Sure they do. In my entire 25 year Engineering career, from Special Systems, to Automotive, and then Aerospace Engineering I have not worked with one person who fits this profile.
I was thinking more of law school or advanced degrees in business related fields. Also teachers and ministers.
Last edited by Bureaucat; 04-06-2017 at 03:15 PM..
Contemporary liberalism as iterated in tertiary academia is a remnant of the memory of radical Marxism, which inspired the intellectual elite with idealism and hope in the early part of the twentieth century. In the wake of the abuses of capitalism of the Golden Age, and the callous waste of young lives in World War I perpetrated by the leadership of the conservative Western democracies to serve the interests of colonialism and imperialism, such a reaction among the intellectual classes was understandable. Early proponents of egalitarian left-wing views sought to address the abuses of a system which had become closed to alternative views and voices, and authoritarian in its willingness to silence dissent.
The current senior faculty members of most universities in the United States were the radical students of the 1960s, whose mentors harbored that flame of flirtation with the Marxist orientation left over from the 1920s and 1930s, and encouraged their younger counterparts to rebel. The current younger faculty cohort is largely composed of their former students. Thus are academic attitudes preserved and passed down through generations of educators. That these attitudes are nearly unanimously leftist stems from the orientation of each succeeding wave of tenured faculty, who, following the example of their mentors since to do otherwise would risk their own survival at the institution, eschew any deviation from the received orthodoxy and who effectively blackball and deny tenure to potential colleagues whose views do not reflect their own.
The irony of this, of course, is that the training and inculcation of each generation's students with the ideas and attitude of its predecessors has resulted in American college and university faculties becoming increasingly hidebound and closed to diverse opinions, views, and thoughts. University faculties, in this way, are among the most conservative of American institutions, in the sense of being resistant to change and unwilling to entertain structural or ideological diversity.
Other than in the professional schools and some postgraduate departments, many of our institutions of higher learning, which are meant to be dynamic centers for academic debate and open discussion, have mutated into indoctrination camps for leftist ideology engaged in the active recruitment of new cadres of activists whose goal is to further entrench and enhance the power of the status quo -- thus typifying the very abuses of monolithic, authoritarian power structures which the early Marxists felt compelled to address, and which formed the basis for the reaction of the leftist youth movements of the 20s, 30s, and 60s.
That has got to be one of the best critiques of liberal academia that I have ever seen. Many of your observations are right on the money. I was in college during the Vietnam War and was a conservative because I believed that protesting that war was aiding the enemy. I also watched my neighborhood deteriorate because of profiteering block busters and resented those who were moving in. I was an ignorant man then and didn't have a good handle on economics or the way things really worked. I also consistently voted Republican because I believed that they would fight to restore things to the way that they were. Then little by little you open your eyes to the way that Republican politicians talk the good old days and then vote to take away any rights that you ever had in the work place. I also went for an advanced degree in business which gave me an excellent nose for the BS that the upper class presented us with, like trickle down prosperity.
I'm a liberal now because wages have stagnated in real terms over the last thirty five years. The minimum wage is four times what it was in 1972 while the cost of living is ten fold. The average janitor who makes twenty eight thousand a year is now classified a manager and denied overtime. I'm a liberal because there is injustice that I can't ignore and so many can.
I was in college during the Vietnam War and was a conservative because I believed that protesting that war was aiding the enemy.
I was in the jungle fighting that war as an infantryman, and your beliefs were accurate. It was. It did. And I have the evidence (dual-language propaganda, featuring photos of protests on US campuses, comments by notable "anti-war" personalities, etc., carried and prepared for distribution by political cadres) which we found on VC and NVA KIAs in III Corps.
Studies show that most professors are liberals. Why do you think that?
What studies?
Some references please.
The fact is the greatest conservative minds in the 20th century came from academia. College is the place where most young folk's politics are formed on both sides of the aisle, and colleges are full of professors who are as conservative as others are liberal.
What you fail to understand is their collegiate nature. Professors disagree sharply with each other over everything under the sun, all the time, but they all understand the difference between intellectual disagreement and personality disagreement.
Like everyone else, they don't hang around with others whose personalities just don't fit with theirs, but when it comes to intellectual disagreement, they don't let that stop close personal friendships from being formed.
A very good example was Antonin Scalia's deep personal friendship with Ruth Bader Ginsburg. They were the closest friends of all others on the Supreme Court, and they very seldom agreed on any case that was brought before them.
They both understood life is a lot more than politics. They saved their disagreements for their job, and once off the job, left it all behind at the office.
Both held every law college in the nation's highest respect. Both were equal in their fine and well thought out responses. That's what college does to any serious person with high intelligence.
More of us could use that kind of balance in our lives, it seems.
Studies show that most professors are liberals. Why do you think that?
Because they are tax receivers.
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