Why Are Most College Professors Liberal....

[mm4]

"This year we had an opening for a Professor of Asian History, and I saw that the most qualified candidate was from Stanford. And he didn't get the job. So I asked the Chair of the Search Committee what happened? And he said, 'Well, you're absolutely right, he was the best qualified for the job, and we had a terrific interview. But then we all went out to lunch, and he let on that he was for school vouchers.'"

_"Are Conservative Historians Excluded from Search Committees?"_
History News Network | Are Conservative Historians Excluded from Search Committees?

[SilverBulletZ06]

Originally Posted by candalf

The word "conservative" comes from the word "conserve". Conserve the way things used to be, stop changes or at least slow their rate. It is usually rooted in nostalgia for the past, which is well understood and comfortable, as well as concern about and fear of moving away from that past. Conservatives appreciate traditional ways of being established in the past and see them as superior to all other ways.

One thing that education does is teach one about history and sociology. What one learns is that humanity has adopted many different approaches to society and economics over its history. Most of them arose for a reason, worked well when the time was right and faded away when reality no longer supported them. In other words, through education one tends to lose the notion that his traditional worldview and approach is all that special and unique. He sees that his ancestors' ways are just a drop in the bucket when contrasted with all the ways of humanity that existed before or exist today. He sees that traditions arise from conditions, rather than being things in and of themselves, and when those conditions are gone, there is no more reason for those traditions.

To be a conservative one truly needs to believe that his traditions are unique and special, as that is the only way they'll be motivated to fight for guarding them from change. Education hits that belief hard. That I think is the answer to OP's question.

However, I think that an educated person can and should support conservative positions at times. Conservativism is a bit like society's immune system, preserving its wholeness in the face of an attack by external agents. Sometimes the rate of change is just too high, at which point society needs protection. That is when conservativism is a good thing. Yet ultimately a successful organism must embrace its environment, change to fit into it or else be broken down by forces much greater than itself. That is why I think a truly educated person can be a conservative tactically but never strategally.

Or conservative means to not squander. As in let's not squander the taxpayers money on fixing idiots personal mistakes.

[Sharks With Lasers]

Originally Posted by InformedConsent

No. There are a HUGE and unemployable plethora of humanities and liberal arts majors. NEWSWEEK did an article on that.
Millennial College Graduates: Young, Supposedly Educated, Jobless - NEWSWEEK

I've been kind of busy over the past two days, so sorry for taking so long to reply to this.

The whole idea that there are a bunch of unemployable humanities and liberal arts majors is mostly a myth. This is because if you major in art history or women's studies or something like that, the expectation is that you're probably studying that for learning's sake and while those majors may provide some specialized thinking skills that could be valuable to employers, you're probably not going to do that as a job, or if you do, you're probably not making much money from it.

The main issue seems to be that way too many people are going to college in areas where they don't have the skills or the passion because they're told to be business, healthcare, or STEM majors. But they're sold up the river that majoring in one of those areas will bring them instant success after graduation. It's simply not true. I have a STEM background and while I've been fortunate enough to find some work in a science lab, my experience (and many others have had similar ones) hasn't been jobs growing on trees. This is true for both domestic and international students from what I can tell as well.

Of course, the pro business publications and media don't want people knowing the truth. They'll show somebody who wants to be an actress and a poet having to work as a bartender. Because clearly, that's what everyone wants to do. I mean, if you want to be an actress and a poet, isn't it kind of expected that you'll bartend?

But, this doesn't really have too much to do with why most college professors are liberal....