And here I thought I got vitriolic about the state of modern higher education. An editorial in the The Cornell Daily Sun (courtsey of Discriminations) points out the increasing liberalization of the college campus. Having spent a lot of time on campus in the past ten years, I can honestly say that the concepts of freedom of speech and academic expression are endangered species at most schools. Long gone are the days when a college degree represented a symbol of achievement as a thinker or an active, engaged member of society. More and more, the degree is a symbol of indoctrination (or in some case faux indoctrination) at the feet of some egg-headed pseudo-intellectual who can no more accept dissent than a five year old.
While I am certain that, over time, the scarily liberal make-up of college and university faculties will shift back toward the right, I wonder whether the current make-up of faculties is doing a much larger disservice to our young people than was orignially thought.
A college professor should encourage dissenting viewpoints and more over help the student to develop their thinking and critical analysis skills. Just because a student's viewpoint does not agree with their own is no reason to persecute them. After all, the student's attack on your belief system may just serve to sharpen your own opinions.
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