So, our colleges are too liberal? We became the greatest nation on earth

[Sara Beverley]

by living standards and modernity and all this under the influence of the "too liberal" colleges and universities.

Now, ain't that somthing?

[Sporadicus]

1. Yes, But...

freepers & fundies would insist that our nation would be even greater if our universities mass-produced good little unthinking automatons.

[Liberal Veteran]

2. Our colleges are too liberal in the same sense that our media...

...is "too liberal."

It really means that they aren't teaching things skewed the way the right wing wants them skewed and therefore it must be "liberal".

Really the only subject I could imagine being "liberal" would be art or history.

Math, science (health, biology, physics, astronomy, etc) simple are.

[GRLMGC]

3. Yes

but the government doesn't want a "liberally" educated person. They want someone who will believe everything they say and be a good little worker bee who questions nothing. That's what our free education system's purpose is. In some countries, students don't even have to pay for college. Here, we do. Guess why and guess what happens to those who can't afford an education? They end up in dead-end jobs without the ability to better themselves. Others end up ignorant and we get working class Bush voters. The educated, rich Bush voters are probably greedy.

[tabasco]

4. There are many conservative professors too.

I had many conservative professors at my university in the Southwest.

Liberals don't whine about conservative professors because we understand college is about hearing a multitude of ideas, developing critcal thinking, and making up our own minds.

Conservatives just want to be spoon-fed what they want to hear. They are too lazy to develop counterarguments to those with whom they disagree. Same reason they prefer constant right-wing propaganda from Limbaugh, etc.

Ben Franklin warned us that a great danger to democracy is citizens who do not think for themselves. Amazing insight in an era before the rise of modern fascism.

[GRLMGC]

5. So true

Yeah, it's not the most pleasant thing to hear but I'm not going to complain or sue that I'm being discriminated against. It's their right to voice their opinions safely without fear of being punished.

[Selatius]

6. Rightwingers will likely not dominate academia ever

It's the choice between a life devoted to enterprise and a life devoted to the mind. You think rightwingers *in general* have more or less tolerance to live a live devoted to the mind as opposed to being devoted to some life where you can actually hold the fruits of labor in your hands? You don't get that with a more cerebral lifestyle. The rewards are more often intangible. The only spots on campus I know that are heavily dominated by rightwingers is the college of business.

To be a leading academic requires that you ask questions, push boundaries, and challenge yourself. To be conservative, by definition, means that one is satisfied with the situation, so there is no impetus to asking questions and pushing boundaries. You need someone with vision, someone open to change in order to innovate, someone who is not happy with the world as is and stands up and says, "I can do better than this; there must be a way," not someone who is satisfied with the world as it is.