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12019 / Pixabay Universities Indoctrinating Class of Intimated Socialist censors ; No Surprise Given Overwhelming Percentages of Liberal Professors
Universities Indoctrinating Graduates To Favor Censorship
WASHINGTON, D.C. (December 8, 2023) – A new survey shows that universities are turning out, and probably indoctrinating, graduates who are too intimated to speak out, strongly favor censorship, and are increasingly socialist, says public interest law professor john banzhaf .
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The survey, which largely corroborates other similar surveys, shows that:
63% reporting feeling intimidated in sharing opinions different than their peers, while 58% feel intimidated in sharing an opinion that was different than a professor's 67 percent who would require all professors and administrators to make statements in favor of diversity, equity, and inclusion 50% have accepted that“America is inextricably linked to white supremacy” 50% of students, faculty and staff introduce themselves with their preferred pronouns 33% favor socialism and would prefer to live in under a socialist system
None of this should be surprising, since many studies show that most faculties are overwhelmingly liberal at most universities, and actively teach that drowning out speakers or otherwise preventing them from speaking is part of freedom of speech, as is the use of violence against those with whom one disagrees.
Another important trend is that today's university students refuse to spend much time studying, insisting that tough courses be dumbed down to help them pass, and then expect no to pay back student loans .
'The inmates are taking over the asylum, or in this case the campus,' says Banzhaf, noting that a major university [UCSD] has endorsed and now offers the ultimate gut course in the name of decolonization, another top university [NYU] fired a professor because students found his course too difficult, and a third university [GWU] has decapitated its long-time mascot to also fight colonialism.
The University of California, San Diego now proudly offers the ultimate gut course - a/k/a 'snap course,' one so easy it's almost impossible to fail - in which every student is guaranteed an 'A' grade, there is no homework and virtually no attendance policy, and the views of students are accorded the same weight as those of the professor, This unusual policy was adopted to“decolonize a classroom.”
Dr. Chandler Puritty explained:“We do not grade over here. Anyone who takes my class automatically gets an A. They're told in the first week that they're going to get an A. The only thing that's required is attendance, and I have weeks of excused absences built in, so that if people are sick or they have family obligations it won't affect their grade. . . I also don't give homework, surprise surprise.'
As another stark example of how universities are caving in to student demands, New York University has just fired a world renowned professor of chemistry because a minority of students complained that his class was too difficult, and remained too taxing for them even after the Dean made major concessions to the complainers.
NYU Fires Professor
Professor Maitland Jones Jr. has published 225 scientific papers in his 40-year career, is the author of the gold-standard 1,300-page textbook 'Organic Chemistry,' and is credited with developing an entirely new method of teaching the subject; one which relies less on memorization and more on practical problem solving.
Yet, NYU fired him from teaching his course in organic chemistry because 82 of the 350 students in his class (less than a quarter) said it was too hard for them, even though many of the other students praised the professor for his rigor.
But Jones pointed out that many of the students were simply refusing to put in the effort necessary to understand this challenging subject, and had become disengaged, anxious, and even indolent as a result of the pandemic. 'They weren't coming to class . . . They weren't watching the [instructional] videos, and they weren't able to answer the questions,' he reported.
Indeed, it went even further.“Students were misreading exam questions at an astonishing rate,” he said, noting that grades fell even as he was forced to reduce the difficulty of his exams.
Finally, George Washington University recently agreed to change the name its sports teams have used for almost 100 years because some students don't understand that the 'Colonials' were the brave early Americans who successfully fought against the British colonizers.
As Banzhaf wrote in opposition to the change: 'It's bad enough when students confused about history want to replace a man wearing a colonial patriot-style hat with a hippo, and change the teams' names from 'Colonials' to 'Hippocrites' as has been suggested, but it clearly crosses the line when they refuse to tolerate any dissent, and try to silence their opponents by illegally ripping down their posters which simply explained that 'Colonials Fought Tyranny - Built Our Nation!' and 'Colonials: The First American Soldiers.''
But this fundamental misunderstanding by students at GWU should come as no surprise, says Banzhaf, who noted that many GWU students signed a petition which demanded that the white male crosswalk figure at traffic lights be replaced by a woman of color.
As the petition explained:“As we students cross the street, we are told by the symbol of a white man when it is okay to cross, . . Many students from diverse backgrounds, including individuals of color, gender fluid individuals, and LGBTQA+ individuals, feel oppressed by this.”
So, in addition to epidemics of political correctness and cancel culture now overwhelming even our top universities, there is now a mad rush to the bottom. In perverse examples of Gresham's law ('bad money drives out good'), and sociologist Daniel Patrick Moynihan's warning about 'defining deviancy down' (lowering standards and expectations), universities and individual professors are being pressured if not forced to slash their standards, argues Banzhaf.