Does college turn people into liberals?

The Conversation ^ | 02/02/2018

[DFG]

Does going to college make students into political liberals?

Conservative activists have claimed that universities brainwash students and indoctrinate them into believing a liberal ideology. The line of reasoning goes like this: Liberal college professors tell students “what to think,” and “what to think” is that conservatives and their positions are to be dismissed. A state lawmaker in Iowa has even suggested universities consider political affiliation in connection with hiring practices in order to balance out the distribution of political representation on the faculty.

Conservatives on campus feel outnumbered, given that about 60 percent of faculty identify as politically liberal. This imbalance supposedly hurts research, stifles open discourse and impairs overall education. Missing in this debate, however, is large-scale empirical evidence on how going to college actually impacts students’ attitudes.

[Blue Jays]

I have degrees and certifications. I am as conservative as ever.
My roommates and hallmates have similarly remained conservative.

[Honorary Serb]

It turns them into liberals—for awhile.

Then they become adults, and need to think for themselves. So then they sort out into conservatives, moderates and liberals.

Really!!!!

[Huskrrrr]

Back 45 years ago, professors had to actually PROVE a hypothesis with solid literature references. Now they simply reference NPR or CNN.

[3boysdad]

You’re spot on there! I’ve never met an MBA that wasn’t brainwashed with damaging business sense and a complete inability to “think outside the box”. Whenever I see those credentials I cringe. Virtually all the “brilliant” crap that comes out of our corporate offices that wastes our time and money can be found to be plagiarized with a quick google search. No innovation or real life OJT experience whatsoever. Yes, these kinds of bull crap “credentials” strike a nerve with me!

[V K Lee]

It helps to form them.
And all this time WE were told they were there to ‘inform’ them.
d’Rats certainly have their way with words.

[A_Former_Democrat]

And Reality turns them into Conservatives

[dsc]

If a man studied Barzun’s “Dawn to Decadence,” and followed his references and studied what was there, that would be the equivalent of a BA in Humanities.

Back in the 60s Frank Zappa was notorious for saying that if a person had any guts, he’d go to the library and educate himself. That was when the left was trying to expand university attendance.

[dsc]

“anyone weak enough to be swayed by liberal ideas is someone that lacks the right tools to know right from wrong.”

Boys “man up” at different rates. Some take a while to get their heads on straight.

Many who once thought themselves liberal have managed to get their heads on straight.

[SamuraiScot]

Does going to college make students into political liberals?

For me, the opposite. Getting a dose of liberal wussiness and hard-left propaganda and drum-beating, it made me realize I was a conservative and a sincere patriot.

[Calvin Cooledge]

I was liberal in high school and college. Part way through college, two things started me on the road to conservatism.

First, I was telling a girl (LBGTxyz type) in the dorm about my father. When I mentioned his Vietnam service, she said "oh, a baby killer." She said that with zero knowledge of my dad. That made me realize that some liberals did not know what the hell they were talking about.

Secondly, I was working at the University with a retired Marine (combat veteran of street fighting in Korean war and two volunteer tours in Vietnam). I was helping him do demographics on minority students. We calculated that black students dropped out of our college at twice the rate of other students. Cold hard facts. When he published his stats, (hoping to bolster the budget for tutors to reduce the dropout rate) the Director of Minority Affairs came in his office and started yelling at him that he was racist. He kept saying, "ma'am, I am just reporting the numbers. That's all." She just kept screeching. I then realized that liberals are insane.

[Redwood71]

No, prior public education does. The indoctrination starts early in the K though 12 level.

It’s no surprise that a system that is a state-funded and state-run advocates for a bigger government, a system that is a microcosm of the socialist system. This is one that is bureaucratic, wasteful, and does not serve its original and intended purpose. Education is the cornerstone of Western society, a place where our youth should be taught to think broadly and develop their own unique worldview. Instead, they are often taught what to believe instead of how to think. Such areas as science, religion, and political policies are often mishandled on purpose to further an agenda of liberal viewpoints. And the Department of Education and lower levels stoke the fires by using union activities and promoting liberal policies in the classroom instruction.

rwood

[Heartlander]

[EdnaMode]

Yeah 60 percent is way too low.

[southernindymom]

All three of my sons are engineers and the engineering department is NOT liberal. My youngest son said that they’d all sit and laugh at the liberal snowflakes go around having kittens over things.

[forgotten man]

You are right. Marxist indoctrination begins in kindergarten.

[SamuraiScot]

Does going to college make students into political liberals?

I should add that my kids who have been to college were Trump campaigners and voters. But they went to a Catholic college with a classical curriculum. Another is in art school, and just as conservative.

[Snickering Hound]

Most of the liberals are in the fake majors.

They're the ones you see at the rallies though, they have lots of spare time.

[tbw2]

Survey shocker: Liberal profs admit they’d discriminate against conservatives in hiring, advancement
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/aug/1/liberal-majority-on-campus-yes-were-biased/

The big review paper on the lack of political diversity in social psychology
http://heterodoxacademy.org/2015/09/14/bbs-paper-on-lack-of-political-diversity/

[x]

A new survey finds first-year students' attitudes toward people with different political views does change after one year of college. The students become more tolerant of both liberal and conservative views.

So what do they think after four years of college?

[skinndogNN]

You are forgetting departments like “business”. Conservative Capitalist business professors are the only business professors.