This page was last updated on July 23, 2012.
Who is brainwashing who?; Adam Cilli; Beaver County Times; July 22, 2012.
Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.
“Time and again I have heard conservatives say young Americans are being ‘brainwashed’ by colleges and universities.
“There, conservatives suggest, liberal, god-hating, America-bashing professors push their ideologies onto their impressionable students. Aside from the fact that professors come from all sorts of political and religious backgrounds, this argument is problematic for at least two reasons.”
[RWC] In the population at large, self-described conservatives are the largest group [conservative (40%), independent (35%), liberal (21%)] and outnumber self-described liberals nearly 2:1.
College faculties have nowhere near the same ideological mix as the general population. According to a 2005 study reported by the Washington Post, “By their own description, 72 percent of those teaching at American universities and colleges are liberal and 15 percent are conservative. … The disparity is even more pronounced at the most elite schools, where, according to the study, 87 percent of faculty are liberal and 13 percent are conservative.” Can you imagine the stink if we had a similar situation with respect to some protected or “victim/oppressed” group?
“To begin with, the role of higher education is to produce critical thinkers. Critical thinkers question ‘common knowledge.’ They are trained to critically evaluate all claims and reject those not substantiated by evidence and reason. As a result of this training, students not infrequently discard or modify some of the ideas and beliefs they acquired from their families, pastors and teachers.”
[RWC] If “the role of higher education is to produce critical thinkers,” it fails miserably. Otherwise, “72 percent of those teaching at American universities and colleges” would not be “liberal.” You pretty much have to eschew critical thinking to be a leftist.
Though not related, a lot of people confuse critical thinking with critical theory.
“A second point of consideration is the manner in which the very people who bash higher education raise their children. Almost as soon as they can talk, children begin to ask some of life’s most fundamental questions. ‘How did we get here? How did the Earth come to be? Why am I here and what is my purpose in life? What happens to people when they die?’ In many American households the answers to these questions are as follows: ‘God made us, God made the Earth, God put you here to serve Him and to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and if you accept him you go to a special place called Heaven.’ť These answers are repeated in different forms over and over again and become deeply engrained into children’s minds. ‘God made us, God made the Earth.’ť Is that not brainwashing?”
[RWC] Conservatives don’t “bash higher education,” only how some schools and instructors deliver it with a built-in leftist message, point of view, etc.
Parents teaching kids about their religion is brainwashing? Religion is a matter of faith, not fact.
© 2004-2012 Robert W. Cox, all rights reserved.