MAKING “MANCHURIAN CANDIDATES”

The New Role of Colleges and How We Can Fix it

I went to UC Berkeley in the early 70’s and even then, liberal thought dominated the campus and some of the liberal arts classes.  I avoided them when I could, as progressive professors demanded fealty to their politics.  There were other Objectivists (Ayn Rand followers), but much like you see today, we were pretty silent about our values unless we were sure we were with like-minded souls. 

Still, in those days, I left college with three critical skills:  facts, ways to understand, interpret and argue about data and the knowledge of how to keep learning on my own.  I doubt most students can say the same about their education, expensive as it is.  These skills enabled me to change jobs and careers throughout my lifetime, to analyze articles and understand the truth underlying them and to broaden myself with ongoing education. 

The University Today

A big factor in the cost of education now is the logarithmic growth in administration.  Schools have hired thousands of DIE (diversity, inclusion and equity) and ESG staff to comply with the demands of the Left.  The Left has also insisted on subsidizing college with attractive-sounding loans, which causes schools to increase tuition. 

At the same time, standards have dropped both for entry to a program and for grades.  Almost everyone is “cum laude” even if their learning barely qualifies them for the good jobs we all expected at graduation.  Most of us tried to get out in four years—some did better.  Now, it is almost expected that you cannot graduate in less than five or six.  All this adds to the cost.

What are they learning?  First, to join any protest imaginable, beginning with the “Occupy” movement, moving on to BLM and now to harassing any speaker who they don’t like.  Feelings are cherished; being offended or hurt by anything is grounds for it to be cancelled.  Instead of learning how to formulate an argument, argument is not permitted.  There is one “truth” and you must simply learn to repeat it.

Over six years, you can be successfully brainwashed to believe that your feelings must be respected and honored, that you are entitled to a wide variety of free stuff (while not being clear on the fact that the government steals the money from each of us to pay for it), and that you are special, gifted and entitled.  None of this has value to an adult starting out in life.  These snowflakes then spend years living with their parents because they can’t function in a challenging environment where a work ethic is critical. Certainly, some manage to get past this, but you are swimming upstream in a painfully controlled environment which discourages discord.

You are taught to believe that you have a right to demand things from others, such as up-to-delivery abortions.  You can choose your sex, including if you want to take your mediocre athletic performance to new heights by saying that you are a woman.  No one should ever say anything that you don’t like or agree with.  And most important, that if you are Caucasian, you are as damned as the Jews, (the Left still hates them), for simply being born.

What Do We Do

First, defund these schools.  They are violating their charter, which is to provide a home for free inquiry, so they shouldn’t be given public funds.  This should apply especially when they apply DIE standards to employees and shun conservative instructors and employees.  Next, hold them to the law, our Constitution.  What is happening with the DIE rules is racist.  Many of these schools already claim to be racist, which “justifies” spending money to fix it.  They aren’t permitted to be racist, so they should be held to their word.

We need to assess every school to see if people are allowed to be challenged and have the right to free inquiry.  No subject should be off limits.  This is how people learn.  Get rid of ideological conformity and DIE rules.  They aren’t good for anyone.  And tell people – you do not have a right to avoid confrontation and ideas you don’t like.  Otherwise, go work at McDonalds.  Adults need to be able to argue politely and disagree.

Many companies are starting to realize that a college degree is not all that valuable.  More should understand that what constitutes graduation criteria doesn’t necessarily mean that the graduate is qualified for anything.  Obviously, some areas are exempt.  I was protected from the worst of the bias by being a scientist.  But too many degrees are set up to make it easy for the student to (a): be indoctrinated into leftist thought and (b): to only qualify for made-up jobs.  Colleges should be reassessed before being

re-accredited. 

Build new institutions not trapped in these ideologies. Such is already happening, but it could be accelerated if people stopped donating to the old standards guilty of this behavior.  Look at University of Austin.  And only give taxpayer money to schools that support free inquiry.  Too much of that money is going to administrative costs and to support DIE.

We can do this.  Think of who you support with your spending and choose wisely.