Left Pipeline: Why Conservatives Don’t Get Doctorates

American Enterprise Institute ^ | Matthew Woessner, Ph.D., April Kelly-Woessner, Ph.D.

[ansel12]

“While in school during the 2000 election, I found the faculty to be split about 50/50 politically.

50% voted for Gore and 50% voted for Nader. True story.”

---

That is funny, I would have loved to have heard some of their drunken, heated political arguments with each other.

[CMAC51]

Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach.

[Gingersnap]

LOL! My cousin is a vet. He’s over 50 now so he had to give up his large animal practice and start over with pets. He’s had as much education as any HMO-type MD and his patients frequently bite, give birth abruptly, or eat metal.

He thought about teaching but shelved the idea after exploring it. Too PC for him.

[cookcounty]

"Universities should adopt a more family-friendly approach to recruiting both prospective doctoral students and young faculty."

It is true that Universities are hostile to the idea of family. Their employee abuse through the "adjunct faculty" scam is astonishing. There is no more abusive boss in America than the average College President (hypocrite liberals).

----No, no one in my family is in the category of adjunct faaculty.

[Borges]

Based on my experience, a PhD in the liberal arts is a worthless degree that practically anyone with a functioning brain can attain.

Come on, do you really think that's the case for English or Philosophy? Ever try reading Heidegger?

[JasonC]

Or, you could just abolish stalinist brainwashing seminars and bring back actual objective knowledge in the classroom. Because liberals don't have any of that, never have, never will.

[JasonC]

Ever met a true left-liberal who actually understands Heidegger? I read him, studied him closely, fully understand him, and know what he is at bottom. They mine him for bits of sass and rhetorical dynamite to hurl at the modern west. Actually, about twenty of them do that, the rest parrot what those twenty say, or stick to talking about their body parts and denouncing the oppressive patriarchy.

[Intolerant in NJ]

This conservative got his Ph.D. forty years ago and went into health care far from academia - can’t imagine a worse place to have spent all that time than on a university campus.......

[Godebert]

" from what i've seen, unless you are an MD... for the most part, a dr degree is pretty much useless. and so are the people that have them."

Exactly.

[JasonC]

Correct. It works because there are standards of actual honor involved, as opposed to cliquish stupidity among montebanks. Conservatives do not flee modern academia because it isn't family friendly. They leave it in disgust because it is utterly insipid.

[austinaero]

My husband’s Ph.D is in physics and instead of becoming a professor he is truly a scientist 100% of the time. I wish he would teach. He was a great TA as a grad student.

[keepitreal]

I have a friend who is a brilliant woman who had children during her doctoral studies. Her committee harrassed her constantly about the academic progress requirements. She kept fighting them until she finally finished her degree. I don’t recall one female faculty member who had children.

[montag813]

OR Doctor Micheal Savage..

Savage has two PhD's from U of Cal Berkeley in Epidemiology and Botany. Hannity is a nice guy but I doubt he even finished college.

[BunkDetector]

“Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach.”

Now that is pretty darned witty.
I remember the first time I heard it I found it both amusing AND ironic. As time went by, the 1970s, 1980s, 1990’s on into the 21st century, perhaps less so.
And yet here on the 647th reading of this gem as playfully presented by the always clever CMAC51, I can’t help but wonder
“How is it those same teachers let him down?” Did they fail to couch the young CMAC in the nuances of meter, verse and English admonishment? Was his natural capacity for discernment extinguished rather than nurtured by those foolish, stupid teachers?
How is it that, despite all his wit and perspicacity, CMAC51, felt it worthwhile to post this tired old cliche?
Perhaps he thinks us, the Freeper audience has never heard it. Perhaps he thinks we are illiterate and rarely go outdoors.
Perhaps he himself is only semi literate and just recently stumbled across the phrase (Aha!) and thought it a new discovery he wished to share.
Perhaps we’ll never know. Perhaps it is best to leave this a mystery.

[DennisR]

Where do you work? I work in the aerospace business (bachelor’s in electrical engineering), and have never seen someone with a PhD that was “pretty much useless.” Yes, maybe some of the social “sciences” have dubious PhDs, but hard science? Very valuable, if not indispensable.

[hosepipe]

[ Savage has two PhD's from U of Cal Berkeley in Epidemiology and Botany. ]

True.. and that was when Berkeley was a school and not a re-education camp..

[aruanan]

The focus of this study was on the “Liberal Arts” - there a plenty of conservatives in engineering and a substantial number in the “hard” sciences.

No wonder there aren't a lot of conservatives on the side of the campus the content of which is basically all liberal all of the time.

[brewcrew]

When facing the prospect of being a conservative and going to grad school for anywhere from 2-8 years, only one thing pops out in my mind: Look who I’ll have to be hanging out with for the next 2-8 years. Blee-ech.

[numberonepal]

he regularly talks about the crazy Libs in his department and he knows he has to be quiet about his conservative Christian views at the U of MN.

My wife is trying for a PhD at Emory. She's probably more conservative than me but is good at keeping her mouth shut.

[Antoninus]

Come on, do you really think that's the case for English or Philosophy? Ever try reading Heidegger?

It's especially true for English--anyone can get a PhD in English if they're good at slinging the BS. Philosophy, I'm not as sure about.