Posted on 08/24/2004 2:38:10 PM PDT by Afghan Whig
Dumbing down the liberal way By Anthony Harris
During the Democratic National Convention, C-SPAN covered "Grass-roots Campaign Training for Young Democrats," a seminar in which Democrat strategist Teresa Vilmain asked activists in training for examples of the Democratic Party's base communities (i.e., constituencies). One Dem smugly chimed "educated people," earning a cheap pop from the group.
On another front: According to the Students for Academic Freedom complaint lodger, one professor at Normandale Community College in Bloomington, Minn., told his class that "teachers are more educated, and that's why they have liberal views."
I've spent four semesters in a community college and have served more than two years at the UI; a professor this arrogant would fit in much better at a four-year institution. Thanks to academic elitism, those who don't support abortion and high taxes have been collectively branded "misinformed." If the label is accurate at all, then it logically follows that the lower someone's level of education is, the more conservative she or he is.
For the thousandth time, the facts contradict liberal prejudice. According to statistics compiled from the Gallup Report and the New York Times, the less education one has, the more likely she or he is to vote Democrat (assuming that the person can figure out the ballots in Florida).
In the 1968 presidential election, 43 percent of voters chose Democratic candidate Hubert Humphrey, while 43.4 percent voted for Republican candidate Richard Nixon. In an election almost as close as that of 2000, 52 percent of voters with only a grade-school education voted for Humphrey, and 33 percent of the same group voted for Nixon.
In 1976, Jimmy Carter won 50 percent of the popular vote over Gerald Ford's 48 percent. Carter won the grade-school vote, 58 to 41 percent. When Bill Clinton thumped Bob Dole in 1996, 49 to 41 percent, he dominated the undereducated vote, 59 to 28 percent. When Clinton won his first presidency in 1992, he beat George H.W. Bush, 43 to 38 percent. Undereducated voters that year supported Clinton over Bush by a 2-1 margin, 56 to 28 percent.
Wait, there's more!
In 1980, Ronald Reagan won the popular vote 51 to 41 percent over Jimmy Carter, but the undereducated vote swung Democrat, 54 to 42 percent. In 1984, when Reagan outclassed the Mondale/Ferraro ticket by a 59 to 41 percent margin, 51 percent of undereducated voters chose Mondale. George H.W. Bush beat Michael Dukakis by 8 percentage points in 1988 but lost the undereducated vote to Mister Roger's double by 13 points. Most recently, Al Gore won the undereducated vote by 20 points, 59 to 39 percent.
In fact, in every presidential election since 1972, Democrats have been supported by a majority of people who have been neglected by American schools. No wonder liberals don't like No Child Left Behind - they're losing converts.
This has to frustrate the left, which scored one of its biggest long-term victories in the 1960s in education. Allowing professors to shed integrity in the face of conservatism for decades, all activist educators have to show for their efforts are the soft sciences and the arts. According to the Students for Academic Freedom complaint lodger, in a women's studies class at the University of Calfornia-Santa Barbara, a professor graded a student down for holding conservative views. This isn't particularly shocking, and neither is the department head's alleged response to the situation, as she explained that completely objective teachers do not exist. The lesson: Nothing can deflect responsibility like philosophical trivia.
To be fair, liberals aren't the only dogmatists in academia. One Colorado State University teaching assistant complained that disagreeing with a program director's Christian viewpoint resulted in no classes being available to teach. The difference in this circumstance is that the administration at Colorado State apparently took action, as the director and several born-again faculty members are now gone.
On the right and the left, professors are attempting indoctrination in an illogical environment, one that (ideally) stresses critical thinking skills. Without these skills, one is more likely to defer to popular political clichés. A good education is important, because in an age where Michael Moore has more influence than Robert Bork, critical thinking keeps conservatism alive.
The title says it all
Equally good is
Demcrats are Undereducated Voters
When I was in college, we used to say the first semester of 'Physics for Education Majors' involved:
1) Learning how to insert a plug in a socket
2) Learning how to turn a switch to 'on'
3) Learning you can't push with a rope
Republicans have much higher IQ's than democrats, as proven simply by voter demographics.
I have a degree in Secondary Education, minor in Biology and graduate work in Micro Biology and know a lot of very smart people with Education Degrees, but they tend to be in the 'hard sciences'
http://usconservatives.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2000/epolls/US/P000.html
I suppose you could say that those who are "overeducated" also vote Democratic. There is a sex difference too. College educated women are overwhelmingly Democrat, non college men are overwhelmingly Republican. More:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A56905-2001Mar25?language=printer
The changes have not produced a full-scale reversal of the two parties' traditional constituencies. In the bottom half of the income levels, the Democratic Party remains strong among African Americans, Hispanics and white union members, while GOP support has swelled among nonunion whites. In the top half, there has been a realignment of white, well-educated professionals (lawyers, doctors, scientists, academics), now one of the most reliably Democratic constituencies. But Republican loyalties have strengthened among small-business men, managers and corporate executives.
These changes pose challenges as Republicans and Democrats prepare for the 2002 and 2004 elections.
For advocates of a revived populism in the Democratic Party, the steady erosion of support among lower-income whites is a growing threat. A poll by Democrat Stanley Greenberg for the Institute for America's Future showed that whites without college degrees had significantly more positive feelings toward the Republican Party than toward the Democratic Party.
Asked whether their views were "warm" or "cool" toward the two parties, white women without college degrees were decisively favorable to the GOP, 49 percent "warm" and 27 percent "cool," while their assessment of the Democratic Party was less positive, 46 percent warm to 34 percent cool. For non-college white men, the differences were more dramatic: Their positive view of the Republican Party was 54 percent to 27 percent, and their assessment of the Democratic Party was negative: 38 percent to 41 percent.
D'OH!
Ya think?
Just lsiten to Bevis and Butthead Radio for a couple of days.
But is the education degree really useful for being able to teach? Would the time spent getting the education degree be better spent taking courses in the academic subject that will be taught?
And now you know why the NEA and DNC are so tight with each other. The uneducated masses are easy to control.....
You owe it to yourselves to get children out of public school...
Does anyone have a breakdown of politcal affiliation of people with graduate degrees by academic discipline and the kind of job that one holds? I have met a number of economics professor who are fairly conservative or libertarian. I bet if you look closer, a lot of those with graduate degrees who are affiliated with the DemocRATS are lawyers, or teachers, or college professors.
When I was just a tad Frosh or Soph in H.S. I asked my parents how some very educated teachers etc could not logically assemble three known facts and come to an intelligent conclusion. Their non-college educated reason? ...
"Son, many people are educated far beyond their native intelligence."
Nam Vet
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