AVOT: COLLEGE STUDENTS SPEAK OUT

Americans for Victory over Terrorism ^ | 6/20/2002

[rmlew]

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OPINION | EDITORIAL


:: New world realities

:: Tales of the tyrant

:: The culture of martyrdom

:: Beyond the axis of evil: Additional threats from weapons of mass destruction

:: What next in Afghanistan?

:: If we fight Iraq: Iraq and its weapons of mass destruction (pdf)

:: MORE

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AVOT RECOMMENDS:

The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) explores the Middle East through the region's media. MEMRI bridges the language gap which exists between the West and the Middle East, providing timely translations of Arabic, Farsi, and Hebrew media, as well as original analysis of political, ideological, intellectual, social, cultural, and religious trends in the Middle East.

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CIVITAS

:: President's Joint Session Address 9.20.01

:: President's Address to the Nation 10.7.01

:: President's State of the Union 1.29.02

:: AMERICA RESPONDS - official White House war on terror page

:: PRESIDENT'S STATE OF THE UNION LETTER TO CHILDREN

:: OFFICE OF HOMELAND SECURITY

:: UNITED FOR A STRONGER AMERICA - Citizens' Preparedness Guide (pdf)

:: What Does Democracy Mean to the Young? (pdf) from EMPOWER.org conference, Our Country and Our Future: Educating Citizens for Democracy 6.12.01

:: Why Anti-Americanism? (pdf) - keynote speech from EMPOWER.org conference, Our Country and Our Future: Educating Citizens for Democracy 6.12.01

COLLEGE STUDENTS SPEAK OUT

College Students Lack Knowledge of U.S. History and Government; Reject Notion of U.S. Superiority

The lack of historical knowledge among the American people has been well documented in various reports and journals. Following are poll results based on a telephone survey of 634 college students nationwide conducted May 2-12, 2002, spanning all fields of study.* This is the single most extensive survey of college students' attitudes about terrorism, the Middle East and the Bush administration this year.+

When asked to identify prominent leaders in the Bush administration and elsewhere, students were more likely to identify Yasser Arafat correctly than any other major player in the war on terrorism, including important U.S. officials:

37% of Students Say They Would Evade the Draft

37% of all college students said they would be "likely to try to evade the draft," while another 21% would be willing to serve "but only if stationed in the United States." Only 35% of college students today would be "willing to serve and fight anywhere in the world."

OTHER SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS

College Students Do Not Believe American Values Are Superior to the Values of Other Nations

College students do not see America as representing superior values. A barely measurable 5% "strongly agree" that the values of the United States are superior to the values of other nations (20% somewhat agree). By comparison, fully 71% disagree with the statement that U.S. values are superior, and 34% "strongly disagree."

Students Evaluate the War Against Terror

While President Bush receives very high marks for his handling of the presidency (70% approval), a majority of college students (57%) believe the policies of the United States are "at least somewhat responsible" for the September 11th terrorist attacks.

A clear majority of college students (60%) believe "developing a better understanding of the values and history of other cultures and nations that dislike us" is a better approach to preventing terrorism than investing in strong military and defense capabilities at home and abroad" (33%).

-- 66% of arts & humanities students would embrace the "understanding option" while 28% would prefer the "military option." By comparison, 55% of economic and business majors would chose the "understanding option" while 41% would prefer the "military option."

-- Despite a very limited willingness to serve in the military and fight overseas, fully 66% believe the U.S. government "has the right to invade Iraq because Saddam Hussein is still attempting to build weapons of mass destruction" and 79% believe the U.S. "has the right to overthrow" Hussein. Although the questionnaire wording does differ, support for removing Hussein from power is at least as great, if not actually greater, among college students than among the adult population. That support for such an invasion is 58% among those who acknowledge that they would personally "evade" the draft is particularly noteworthy.

Attitudes About Western Culture

College students are known for their tolerance and occasional practice of alternative beliefs, value systems and cultures. But this tolerance has led to a state of belief where American college students are unwilling to make a moral judgment about their value systems and culture.

-- American students intensely and overwhelmingly disagree with the statement that Western culture is superior to Arab culture. Only 16% believe Western culture is superior to Arab culture but 79% do not.

-- Just 3% of college students "strongly agree" that Western culture is superior to Arab culture, while 43% "strongly disagree."

Attitudes Toward Israel & the Palestinians

The college population's support leans toward the Israelis in the current conflict, but the results are definitely not overwhelming. In most national surveys, Americans tend to take the Israeli side over the Palestinians by ratios of 2 or 3 to 1 and margins of about 25%. Among college students, the ratio is only 3 to 2 and the margin is just 13% (35% pro-Israeli; 22% pro-Palestinian). No national poll of adults conducted since 9/11 has shown such a close ratio or margin.

The only two college sub-groups that are more pro-Palestinian than pro-Israeli are private college students and students from Northeastern colleges. Fully 34% of private school attendees back the Palestinians, while 26% support the Israeli position. The Northeastern regional difference is even greater: 38% support the Palestinians while 23% back the Israelis.

Only a bare majority (53%) believe the recent Israeli military action against Yasser Arafat and the PLO is no different than the U.S. taking military action against Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda, while 38% reject the comparison.

Knowledge of Political Leadership:

Students were given some of the most prominent people in the news since 9/11 based on their titles:

-- Yasser Arafat More college students (55%) correctly identified Yasser Arafat than any member of President Bush's cabinet, and he is much better known than his Israeli counterpart. Nonetheless, 4% of college students think Arafat is the prime minister of Israel. Only one-third (35%) of America's college students correctly identified Ariel Sharon as the Israeli prime minister. (One individual named Yitzhak Rabin as the current prime minister, even though he was assassinated almost a decade ago, while another said Vladimir Putin, the current Russian president, was the prime minister of Israel.)

-- Condoleezza Rice Only 19% correctly identified Condoleezza Rice as the national security advisor. Other responses included Dick Cheney, Tom Daschle (also identified by one person as defense secretary), Robert Byrd, Dick Armey, Alan Greenspan, and Ari Fleischer.

-- Colin Powell While half (49%) of all college students can name their secretary of state, 12% incorrectly think he is secretary of defense and 6% wrongly guessed that he is the national security advisor. By comparison, only a third (32%) correctly identify Donald Rumsfeld as secretary of defense, while 5% think he is the national security advisor and 1% named him as the secretary of state. One student thought British Prime Minister Tony Blair was the American secretary of defense.

COLLEGE STUDENTS & THE AMERICAN PUBLIC

In the dispute between Israel and the Palestinians, which side do you sympathize with more: Israel or the Palestinians?

Source for American Public data: CBS News Poll. April 15-18, 2002. N=1,119 adults nationwide. MoE +/- 3

Would you say you generally have a favorable or unfavorable opinion of Islam?

Source for American Public data: ABC News Poll. Oct 8-9, 2001. N=1,009 adults nationwide. MoE +/- 3 by TNS Intersearch.

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*This poll was conducted by The Luntz Research Companies
+The margin of error is +/-4%.

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[rmlew]

The 60's radicals were right when they said tha thtey would get us through our children.
The Lefties have indoctrinated a generation, using US funding. God help us.

[Pyro7480]

Aw man! You beat me! I was about to post this. Thanks for posting this though. I heard about this on Sean Hannity's radio show today. It makes me more ashamed of my college peers, but it doesn't surprise me one bit.

[Travis McGee]

American students intensely and overwhelmingly disagree with the statement that Western culture is superior to Arab culture. Only 16% believe Western culture is superior to Arab culture but 79% do not.

[demkicker]

"The 60's radicals were right when they said tha thtey would get us through our children. The Lefties have indoctrinated a generation, using US funding. God help us."

Yep, this is sad... VERY sad. The future looks very bleak.

[DCBryan1]

This is breaking news? Jeesh. Hey..why not post the weather forecast here?

[agrace]

Scary stats, thanks for posting. Speaking of Sean Hannity, ever hear his "man on the street" interviews, where he sends Flipper down to the street to ask passersby if they know who the VP is, or the Sec of Defense, etc? The results are frightening.

[Travis McGee]

When 79% of American collge students believe that Western culture is not superior to Arab culture, that means that a heckofa lot of college women are either brain dead, or would not mind being beaten on a husband's whim, wearing a Burqua, giving up driving or even traveling without her hubbies permission, etc etc.

Incredible.

[rmlew]

This is breaking news? Jeesh. Hey..why not post the weather forecast here?

The sentiment is not new. The PErvasiveness is alarming.
The article is a study that was just released. I only heard about it when Sean Hannity had Bill Bennet on his show.

[Pyro7480]

Either they really didn't care when asked the question, or they really have been brainwashed by cultural relativism. I'm willing to believe either explanation or a mixture of the two. But that figure is just mind-boggling.

[TheMole]

I read this earlier when National Review Online linked to it. It's extremely sobering reading. Without trying to put any kind of varnish on it however, it may not be as bleak as some think. How would college students of the 1970s have responded to similar questions? Things might have looked pretty dismal then. The college students of 2002 may learn a few things quickly after they graduate.

That said, I admit that parts of that survey are a kick in the head. Note the yawning gender gap in the responses to the question about a possible military draft. Among male students, 47% would serve anywhere in the world compared to only 22% of women. 26% of men say they would try to evade the draft, compared to 48% of women. Now I realize that the armed forces don't need any more women personnel - what is needed is many more combat special forces and security forces to guard bases and installations. Nonetheless, the low number of women who give a hoot about national security is disconcerting to say the least.

What's also disconcerting is the gap between college students and the general population. Assuming that the figures given for the general population include college students, it's reasonable to assume that the population of everyone else but students is even a few percentage points more pro-military and pro-Israel than the figures show.

Oh, and the northeastern students. No freaking surprise there.

[Teacher317]

Why do the "evade the draft" pie charts all add up to 92% and 93%? A proper pie chart represents a "whole", adding up to 100%.

I am glad to see the "support Israel / Palestine" polls, though. Those are conspicuously absent from the evening news. For those who have a preference, it's over 3-to-1 for Israel in the American public. Woo-hoo!

[Teacher317]

Fascinating... I just asked the family and some friends online about the statement: "the values of the US are superior to the values of other naitons", and they ALL said disagree, or somewhat disagree.
I then changed the statement to "Western values are superior to the values of other cultures", and they all agreed or strongly agreed. The main sticking point was the view that ours were not superior to other nations like Australia and England, but equal.

Wording is very important.

The most interesting statement was, "EVERY nation feels that their values system is superior"... and I then pointed out that EVERY American I just asked said the exact opposite, that ours isn't superior.

I also liked seeing that they asked women about the draft, even though they are not (yet) subject to the Selective Service system. Maybe if they were (with 50% ready to 'evade') there might be some changes to the concept of the non-equality-equality co-ed military units.

[Travis McGee]

I think it's a combo of too much Hate America and Cultural Relativism 101.

[rmlew]

The Students of 1970 were culturally further to the left than their parents. The current generation is further to the left than their parents.
We are seeing a shift, with the center moving ot the left. Assume a set of points represented in the alphabet moving to the left.
Say those turning 18 in 1964 started at point "A". By the end of the decade, they had moved to "E". After a few years in the real world they move to points "D" or "C" as an average. Now assume their kids are raised by their parents at point "C". At school they are taught by leftists and the media is no better so they move to point "D". At college, they are re-indoctrinated and move to point "G". When they get out of school, they move to the right, back to points "D and F".
In two generations, we have moved from A to F. Meanwhile the new teachers are at "G". Play this out for 2 more generations and we are at "K".
Frankly, I'm being simplistic and optimistic here. I am siomply dealing with whites. Add new unassimilated immigrants and Ethnic Balkanization and the move away from "A" goes even faster.

[rmlew]

7% failed to respond?

[Teacher317]

Could be, but that should be included in the circle graph. My students would lose quite a bit of credit if their pie charts did not add up to 100%! =^)

You'd think the college polls would have the basics covered. If they didn't want to use the inconvenient "Did not respond" category, they should've used another bar graph. You'll notice the "Values" graphs don't add up to 100% either, but that didn't get any major amounts of red ink on my monitor. ;^)

[mrmeyer]

If they won't fight for the freedoms that others have fought and died for them to have, they don't deserve to call themselves Americans. Freedom is most certainly not free. It has a price, and it's a shame that many people today feel that freedom is a birthright.