Sunday, October 28, 2012

Why should conservatives support higher education?

Sean Sorrentino points us to an interesting fact about how politicized the universities have become:
81 percent of faculty members, however, said they would vote Obama, compared to 15 percent who favor Romney. The margin of error is +/- 6.1 percent.
It's not just NC State, either:
Among full-time faculty members at four-year colleges and universities, the percentage identifying as "far left" or liberal has increased notably in the last three years, while the percentage identifying in three other political categories has declined. The data come from the University of California at Los Angeles Higher Education Research Institute, which surveys faculty members nationwide every three years on a range of attitudes. Here are the data for the new survey and the prior survey:

So nearly two thirds of professors are self-described liberals.  12% are self-described conservatives.  This is a huge disconnect from the American public as a whole:
Political ideology in the U.S. held steady in 2011, with 40% of Americans continuing to describe their views as conservative, 35% as moderate, and 21% as liberal. This marks the third straight year that conservatives have outnumbered moderates, after more than a decade in which moderates mainly tied or outnumbered conservatives.


U.S. Political Ideology -- 1992-2011 Annual Averages
Again, remember that this is self-described political philosophy.  So riddle me this, ProgressiveAgenda Man: why should the 75% of the public that does not share the Profforiat's viewpoint have to pony up tax money to support what seems on its face to be politicized higher ed system?  Please make sure your answer addresses Gramsci's Long March through the Institutions, and make sure to discuss the impact of professors' ability to black ball tenure appointments secretly, for any reason.  Oh and while you're at it, please include an analysis of the social justice implications of student loan debt that cannot be discharged in bankruptcy so that social security checks will be garnished to pay the loans.

Extra credit if your analysis covers the power relationships between tenured and non-tenured faculty.

The hypocrisy is really astonishing, if you think about it.  That's the single biggest reason to de-fund the Universities.  If they pay their own way then it doesn't matter if they're a bunch of hypocrites. 

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Perhaps we should turn the tables on 'em and hoist them on their own petard!

How about some affirmative action here, fellas? I would be happy to serve as the token conservative prof! I would even offer my own program: a Conservative Arts Degree!

Graduates would have to be competent in chit house gunsmithing, back yard chickens, motorcycle maintenance, power tool proficiency and modern BBQ Techniques.

Of course I will need to be supported by a staff of well trained specialists. Think you could help with that, BP? Every young conservative should be able to use the bayonet properly on greasy, funemployed hippies, for example...

Old NFO said...

I think the left's numbers are a 'tad' low in that survey... Just sayin...

Borepatch said...

Careful, Anon. If you don't sign your name (or like me, your pseudonym) to a comment like this, people might think you're trolling.

Midwest Chick said...

The biggest problem is this left-leaning ideology falls through to the K-12 system via Colleges of Education (arguably the most left of all disciplines). They have a stranglehold, via teacher's unions, on the educational system, keeping out those who do not follow their left-leanings or indoctrinating them into their system.

Archer said...

I wonder if part of the disconnect is that many liberals - even FAR-left liberals - think of themselves as "moderate", and wonder why conservatives won't agree to compromise when their definition of "compromise" is typically something like "everything we want, and maybe we'll throw you a bone on something we like".

Geodkyt said...

Exactly, Archer.

Remember, JFK was considereed a major liberal. . . today, he'd be Paul Ryan. . .