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12/4/2008
Rep. Nass, it's no time to relax
Far be it for me to question the thoughts of the beloved editor emeritus of the Cap Times! Dave Zweifel intrigued me with his piece the day after Thanksgiving weekend; it was interesting (though pretty pitiful!) stuff.According to a recent story in the New York Times’ arts section, three sets of researchers have concluded that professors have virtually no impact on the political views and ideology of their students. Do you believe that? The NY Times article Zweifel references is a fairly quick read. Here’s a sampling [emphases are mine]:
No one disputes that American academia is decidedly more liberal than the rest of the population, or that there is a detectable shift to the left among students during their college years. Still, both studies… found that changes in political ideology could not be attributed to proselytizing professors but rather to general trends among that age group.
…. But those results don’t necessarily mean there isn’t a problem….
The real issue, said [Daniel Klein, an economist at George Mason[, is that social democratic ideas dominate universities – ideas that play down the importance of the individual and promote government intervention.
…. “A major tragedy is that they’re not getting exposed to the good stuff,” he said, citing the works of John Stuart Mill, Adam Smith, Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman."
K.C. Johnson, a historian at the City University of New York, characterizes the problem as pedagogical, not political. Entire fields of study, from traditional literary analysis to political and military history, are simply not widely taught anymore.
….A number of organizations that have a large base of conservative supporters, like [the American Council of Trustees and Alumni] and the National Association of Scholars, have been promoting a return to traditional courses in western civilization and American history. Imagine that.
Jo Egelhoff, FoxPolitics.net
COMMENTS
Outside of the university system I discovered Philip Wylie, a popular writer of the post war era who was a social critic. Wylie said this:
"Universities were created by monks in the Dark Ages to preserve the dark forever."
Imagine that.
If by returning to traditional studies (and from what exactly-- what is being taught now) you mean preserving the dark of the wisdom of such as Milton Friedman, then I do not agree.
If on the other hand, you mean that higher education should be a place of discovery, then that means that curriculum needs a radical overhaul and that the practices we exercise here:
those of grammar, logic, and clear thinking are required as achieving success in higher education.
But in a world where university education is simply a commodity and the teaching is merely the interlude between Christmas vacation and Spring Break (Yay!) there will be little that
passes for learning.
Or if by returning to traditional teaching you mean what normally passes for history: the history (as history tells us which is written by the winners and conquerors) then here too it is not teaching it is indoctrination.
An interesting factoid: Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States" which has sold well over two million copies is only available at one public library anywhere in Northeast Wisconsin. When I actually went to find it for myself I was shocked at the fact that I had to go through the inter-library loan system to find it.
Imagine that.
This says that there is so little interest in learning history other than the need to pass tests for grades that Howard Zinn is only available from a library at an Indian reservation.
Dave Zirin has recently written a people's history of sports in the United States. Maybe that will be more popular. Ted Nace in his book "Gangs of America" gives the untold
history of the accumulation of power by corporations based on the corrupt practices of politicians and Supreme Court justices: a peoples history of the corporation.
Imagine that.
But these examples are not the subject matter of any sort of American education. Real education might start in the grade school with "The Little Red School Book" written by two Danish teachers. In the 1970's the book was widely banned. It still is. There is one copy in the public library system in the whole state (and very likely beyond.)
Is this erudition? No, it's just my curiosity.
Lon Ponschock (Thu Dec 04 11:52:16 2008)
Everyone should read "Profscam" (available from the library). And if you want your kids to have a REALLY thought-provoking education (University as marketplace of ideas), send them to Hillsdale.
emily matthews (Thu Dec 04 18:23:12 2008)
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