Posted on 03/12/2019 8:57:10 AM PDT by Kaslin
Every year, many thousands of American parents find that the son or daughter they sent to college has been transformed by college into a leftist. For left-wing parents, this may be a blessing, but for parents who are not leftist -- not to mention conservative -- it is often painfully jolting.
It is jolting because their beloved child now holds America in contempt; prefers socialism to capitalism; regards all white people and police as racist; believes the Bible, Christianity and Judaism are not only nonsense, but dangerous nonsense; no longer believes men and women are inherently different -- or even that male and female objectively exist; is disinterested in getting married and having children; believes the president of the United States is a fascist -- as are all those who voted for him; and supports the suppression of speech that he or she regards as "hate speech."
While this is music to the ears of left-wing parents, most traditionally liberal parents will not be all that happy with this transformation. Unlike leftists, most liberals do love America and think that, despite its flaws, it is worthy of respect. They do not believe male and female are subjective categories, and they believe in free speech -- even for "hate speech."
For conservative parents, the transformation is far worse. "Nightmare" is not too strong a description. Not only does their child hold everything they cherish in contempt, their child, who loved and respected them a year or two before, now holds them in contempt.
It is a nightmare for another reason: Young people who are transformed into leftists almost always become less kind, less happy and more angry.
It's hard to imagine the opposite could occur -- that is, that a young person could buy into all the left-wing views described above and become a sweeter human being.
It is a sad rule of life that whatever the left touches, it ruins; music, art, literature, religion, late-night TV, the Academy Awards, sports, economies, the family structure, the Boy Scouts and race relations are just a few examples. It also ruins people -- their character and their happiness.
How could it not?
One of the prerequisites of good character -- as well as of happiness -- is gratitude, and leftism is rooted in ingratitude. If you are grateful to be an American, you are, by definition, not a leftist. If you are, for example, a black who is grateful to be an American, you are a "traitor to your race," an "Uncle Tom." If you are a woman who is grateful to be an American, you are a "traitor to your gender." Feminist icon Gloria Steinem once called female Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison a "female impersonator" because a real woman cannot be a conservative. In addition, the left drills into every nonwhite and every woman the idea that they are victims, and people who see themselves as victims are ungrateful and angry, two traits that always make a person meaner.
Every parent whose child came home from college (or, increasingly, high school) a leftist should be asked: "Is your daughter or son happier as a result of becoming a leftist? Is he or she kinder? More tolerant? More respectful?"
So it is not only institutions that the left ruins, but also the character of its adherents. Where are the prominent conservative equivalents of Robert De Niro shouting "F--- Trump" at awards ceremonies? Of Sarah Silverman tweeting to the president of the United States: "I'm just gonna go with F--- YOU, and also add that you are a smelly penis hole with balls that touch water. Eat s---, you greedy t---"? Of Rep. Rashida Tlaib telling supporters, among whom were children, "We're gonna impeach the motherf---er"?
Every American should watch how a group of 10-year-old girls recently treated 85-year-old California Sen. Dianne Feinstein. Being indoctrinated into leftism apparently permitted them to treat a U.S. senator, not to mention a woman 75 years older than them, with contempt.
It is inconceivable that a group of 10-year-old conservative kids, accompanied by their teachers, would ever treat an 85-year-old, senator or not, so condescendingly.
When you send your child to college, you are not only playing Russian roulette with their values. You are playing Russian roulette with their character and the way they will treat you. Left-wing parents do not have a similar worry. If their child somehow returns home from college a Christian or a religious Jew, not only will they not be treated with contempt, they will probably be treated with even more respect than before. Leftism makes you worse. Judeo-Christian religions make you better. That might not be the fashionable view, but it just happens to be true.
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I heard Dennis Prager say on his show that observing the left for the last 40 years has been the greatest aid for him to hold fast to his faith. That really rang true for me too. I unashamedly claim Christianity in a way that I might not have if it were not for the manifest evil of the left over my lifetime. It is too bad so few people see it.
If you must send your kids to college, be sure it is a Christian college.
Predicated by 18 years of a Christian conservative upbringing.
A good many of these “conversions” could be avoided had the parents only insisted that their progeny actually took courses of value whilst in college.
Which, naturally, eliminates around 99% of the material offered in lib “arts” departments.
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>>>Unlike leftists, most liberals do love America and think that, despite its flaws, it is worthy of respect<<<
Good try Dennis, but nowadays they are one in the same.
My boys didn’t cow to the peer pressure. They both attended very liberal colleges (but not liberal arts majors). Seeing the idiots around them made them stronger conservatives.
Wholeheartedly agree. When I got my BS in computer science I heard much of the SJW stuff in my liberal arts "core" courses (even in Alabama), but not a peep of it in my math and computer science courses. My young adult son working on a CS degree says the same thing still goes on today.
And my BS in CS has been a profitable degree for me.
...One of the prerequisites of good character — as well as of happiness — is gratitude, and leftism is rooted in ingratitude.
Gratitude is not only the greatest of all virtues, it is the parent of all the rest.
—Cicero—
I handed my daughter National Review's 50 Best Colleges and told her to find some colleges she liked and if we can afford to help her we will send her.
She picked out two colleges: Hillsdale and the University of Dallas. She applied to both. We went to visit both, she was accepted to both and she chose Hillsdale.
Each time she came home she was the same person as when she had left. She thanked us in her first semester for the chance to go to Hillsdale.
Today she is married to a great guy who also graduated from Hillsdale and they have five children that she home-schools.
Your children are your investment in life.
Maybe add another one or two as the kids move to high school. Then about their junior year, give them a list of 4-5 that you would be willing to help then with financially. If their first choice is not on your list, check it out and plan on a campus visit.
Most all campuses will schedule these visits especially in the fall of their junior or senior year in high school. Ask questions. Even ask to see the political science, or sociology department if your student is not majoring in the subject. You can tell the bent of the professors by what is posted on bulletin boards and the like.
I have sent two to a Christian college and two to state schools. One of the 4 slightly veered to the left. She was one of the two who went to the Christian school.
The main issues are she doesn't like Trump's style (he can be crude at times) and she has friends who are illegals (I keep telling her if the left offers to build the wall in exchange for legalizing those who come over when minors, haven't had run-ins with the law, and aren't being supported by the government, Trump takes that deal.
She also is swayed by the sob stories of all the people coming here illegally to escape bad situations in their homelands. I try to explain to her that the aren't leaving the problems of their homelands behind; in many cases, they bring the problems with them. Prior to LBJ, we could afford to bring in more immigrants than we can now.
Verify it is a TRUE Christian college. Many are in name only and are as leftist as can be denying Conservative thought and philosophy.
Agree. The students I have met from Liberty were exceptional.
If your child comes home from college as a leftist, cut off the funds for that child immediately.
1. Tell her or him that she or he must find a job to pay their room and board to you. Charge the same rate as the college they are attending. Be certain to send the child a monthly room and board bill at the beginning of each month. If the child does not pay the bill, evict him or her. (After all, almost all children returning from their freshman year of college are at least 18—that means they are adults.)
2. Tell the child that they need to earn enough money to pay their share and the family’s share of their tuition. If the child does not do so, tell the child his or her college education is over until he or she can pay the tuition, room, and board.
That is an excellent advice and I hope parents will listen to you.
My wife has an older brother who went away to college (all paid for by the parents) and came back spouting values about capitalism and how bad it was. The family was very high upper middle class status and the kids wanted for little.
The dad (who was a very senior VP at a prestigious national retail chain) said something to his son like “Capitalism looks like it hasn’t hurt you a bit”.
True, all too true.
I’m in my mid-20s. The kids I grew up with were poorly educated (I was homeschooled) but they weren’t indoctrinated. And now they are.
There’s almost no one my age I can talk politics with. The common ground doesn’t exist. They don’t know American history, or significant current events. They don’t know how to form a logical argument or defend a position. And however gently you present your own, they eventually overturn the game board and stomp away.
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