It's me, your insider witness to the sort of things that happen in an American college. I think it's valuable that those in the outside world know what college is like, so I'll tell you about my typical day. My day starts off with math. Here you deal with problems such as: "If two capitalists open a train station, hire ten laborers, and don't provide them with the basic health care they need which would cost the capitalists $200 a month for each worker, how much taxes should the city government charge the populace of the town, which is 2000 people, in order to be able to cover the costs?". What we learn here will be of great use to us in economics class, which stresses the merits of both Keynesian economics and communism; and even in biology class, where we're instructed that evolution is simply true, and that we shouldn't question it, about which we must eventually write a ten-page essay. Soon after math, I go to my writing class. Here we read a work by one of the great minds themselves: either Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, or Mao Zedong. We then are assigned an essay on how to apply their great philosophy to everyday life. Any papers which are critical of their ideas are marked down one letter grade, or more, depending on how critical they are. Next is a special studies psychology class, called Psychology of Peace. Here, we've been told that at the end of the term, we will write an essay applauding the dogma of nonviolence (read: submitting to the enemy), and if we don't agree with the instructor, we will get a bad grade. Today, we're told to read an essay by the Mahatma himself, who led the Indian people in a revolution in which they said to the British, "Okay, we give up, you can rule over us ruthlessly", and actually won independence after all their hard work! Isn't that just great? At the end of the day is a non-credit, community-ed class, China: Today and Yesterday. Today, we scratched the surface on how horribly the Chinese lived before Mao and his supporters defeated the nationalists and formed the new government, and how prosperous the communist country is now. It's really interesting. I haven't figured out in which classes we'll have to learn that tradition in marriage is worthless, the occupation of Iraq is immoral, and a just government must stomp out any trace of religion (except Buddhism), but I'm sure we'll be exposed to all of this sooner or later. I hope this was an educational read. Do support your local college in the dumbing down of the American population, please. Education is very important, after all. We greatly appreciate it!
Funny read. I guess colleges feel that they have to counter the brainwashing that is going on in churches. Both sides are just recruiting fanatics for the great American culture war. I felt what you are talking about in college, but it wasn't as obvious or hyperbolic as you state here. And it came as much from the students as it did from the teachers. I remember countless times when I would say something in support of capitalism or democracy during class discussions, and a dozen students would groan audibly and shout things like, "You have GOT to be kidding!", or "What a MORON!". They were most likely the children of conservative parents who were rebelling and not quite sure how to do it. They get their first small bit of knowledge, and it makes them feel like they know everything. I see tons of these people on this very forum. They've read their first philosophy book and are just overwhelmed with how much *more* they know now than they did a month ago. Their heads are filled with utopian dreams of ending all war, ending all poverty, everyone loving each other, humans learning to enjoy being self-sacrificial, etc... I guess I blame the faculty somewhat for not challenging beliefs from both sides, to really teach critical thinking, but the student body deserves most of the blame. Edit: I also remember being ridiculed in class for saying things in support of evolution. So, go figure.
Thanks. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! My post was a satire of the anti-intellectualist attitude that colleges are simply leftist indoctrination factories. They aren't really, you know. Well I have seen statistics that show a plurality of students who go to college are liberal. So I could concede that you could get such a reaction from students. But I don't think you could get this from instructors, unless they didn't know how to separate their personal opinions from their teaching. This certainly hasn't been my experience. Care to elaborate? I don't think it's that. My experience is that you're taught plenty about critical thinking. Exercising your mind is all part of the college-learning experience, I'd say. Weird.
Athelwulf, let me tell you what goes on (or rather, went on) in a real college. Freshman year - literary studies. The professor was a Mexican immigrant who lived here illegally for 6 years before he was a citizen. He never passed up an opportunity to make a political comment, or a derogatory comment about the country in general. One day he was lecturing about religion and its effect on culture and literature. He asked if there were any Christians among us (there were around 80 people in the class). A few of us raised our hands, and then he scoffed at us. He actually said, "I better watch what I say then, or else God will strike me down right in front of class." After that, he never passed up an opportunity to make caustic religious remarks. We didn't have an actual final exam, but the school sets out blocks where professors are supposed to give the exam. We didn't have an exam, but we were told we had to show up (and he did take attendance that day). Guess what we did for the entire time I was there (I left after 20 minutes or so). He brought his laptop and connected it to the PA system in the room, and he played anti-war songs and bitched about president Bush. This story is true, whether you choose to believe it or not. I filed a complaint with the Dean, but I don't know if that accomplished anything. Luckily that fulfilled my literature requirement for graduation. I sometimes see him around campus, and he's probably still spreading his ideologies to his classes. That's been my worst class so far. I've had a few others where the prof would make political comments where they didn't belong. On the whole though, my education has been hugely biased toward the left. I would prefer to keep all politics out my education (unless it's a class about politics or something). I don't care which side it's coming from - I just want it out. So Athelwulf, even though you are clearly exaggerating (possibly even to the point of raising a strawman), I don't think you understand the grain of truth in what you said.
One of my math teachers and I started an atheist group on campus at the College of Charleston. We eventually became affiliated with the national Secular Humanist clubs. We had a very difficult time on campus because of the number of staunch religious students. However, they were just the loud minority. The majority of students were anti-American, anti-capitalism and anti-democracy without really knowing why. Just that it was cool.
How is teaching the works of Marx, Lenin and Mao 'dumbing down?' Ever read any? Dummies couldn't make it past the 1st page. Folks I know think Lenin was a Beatle, Marx was related to Groucho and Mao is that awesome Asian dude on Survivor. I never had you pegged as a rightwingnut. How very disappointing.
I am highly insulted by that comment. I thought it was totally obvious that this was a satire. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I especially like my continuing education class at the community college, How to Stick it to the Man 101.
My education has largely been against humanity, you are all very evil and mean Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! I really thought it was legit!! We've had threads here like this and....:bawl: I'm Sorry Athelwulf! Really.
That class was actually 4 credits more than we're supposed to take. I overloaded credits so I could get ahead in the program. So basically, the marginal cost of that class was...nothing (except for the opportunity cost, which was negligible since I skipped so many of his lectures anyway). The rest of my education, apart from those few bad classes, has been well worth it, even if there are outspoken liberal professors. Essentially, I can tune it out without much problem, but it angers me that I should have to.
