I suppose he may be making a hasty generalization, but of course maybe he has done his research and knows some things others dont know. I suppose we could ask what is the purpose of the university? Are they there to educate us in the typical ways (math, sciences, writing, etc.) or should they be educating us to not only become knowledgeable but productive members of society? Should the universities be using funds to build diversity centers or classrooms or hire more professors... or each of these things?
Where do you draw the line between all of these factors?
I do not agree with:
to screen students for incorrect social views and then re-educate them in something called “cultural competence.”
... unless it allows the students to express their views in a learning environment that is not hostile to anyone's views... aren't we suppose to learn from others and at least hear them out? I was always taught that.
this one was inspired by the multiculturalist dogma, which romanticizes victimhood and proclaims a duty to squelch any idea that some member of some oppressed group, somewhere, sometime, might conceivably find offensive, or pretend to.
This is true, at least in my experience in higher education. If it might offend someone we just cant do it. We always have to think about others, and if we might offend them. Does this stiffle higher education, does it help us learn more, does it inhibit or enhance this or that??
Lincoln University in Oxford, Pa., wants to combat obesity by denying diplomas to its overweight seniors.
Now that is truly ridiculous.
Typical is my alma mater (the University of North Dakota) whose social work department aims “to empower vulnerable, oppressed, and disadvantaged populations,” to “promote … respect for diversity,” and to “act on social justice issues.”
By empowering vulnerable, oppressed, and disadvantaged populations, are they creating other vulnerable, oppressed, and disadvantaged populations... and are they seeing and meeting their needs? I dont know, I am just posing the question.
when campuses devote academic resources to political goals they “deform … the true task of academic work: the search for truth and the dissemination of it through teaching.”
Is that the goal of the university today?
The surest way for higher education to improve the world is by cultivating students who are thoughtful rather than programmed.
The world, he said, “will go on somehow, and more crises will follow. It will go on best, however, if among us there are men who have stood apart, who refused to be too anxious or too much concerned, who were cool and inquiring, and had their eyes on a longer past and a longer future.”