Republicans Hate College Now, Apparently

[Quetzal]

Many universities have a liberal bias, that is pretty well noted.

Sure, but I do not think your example is common. I know it wasn't at my university.

 

[Father Heathen]

The republicans' success depends on inadequate education in order to get the votes they need.

 

[Quintessence]

The poll is as usual superficial. The "why" question was not asked.

That's not what surveys are for. Surveys are like a thermometer - it will take your temperature, but is not designed to tell you why you have that temperature. Trying to figure out why these results could be the case is the entire reason I created this thread, by the way.

 

[Laika]

In what ways is free speech restricted?

I don't know really. I thought the (second video) gave examples to illustrate the point?

 

[Kapalika]

Honestly, I think Trump has tapped into the American "id" so much, so to speak, that he's literally making us dumber. Add to that not just dumb but also the insecure hate education because they fear it will make people "stray from god".

Most universities are extremely liberal, socially, and this will be, at the very least, disappointing to people like me who feel a bit claustrophobic and outcast almost, suffocated by it all. I know at the university I would have attended the English department was so feminist that it deducted points from essays if the writer disagreed with many of those extremist feminist principles.

I kind of doubt that's how it is. At least in my observations in both conservative and liberal schools... liberals in conservative schools have it much worse. Liberals will at least be tolerant in the sense of they don't agree but respect your right to practice it. Conservatives will just threaten to kick you out.

And I doubt they would deduct points for just disagreeing with them although people might see it that way. I knew a really conservative guy who couldn't write for crap and would accuse his professors of that. No buddy, you just had really bad writing. His stuff was painful to read, no matter the topic.

As we are talking about Republicans, I can take a guess its to do with the idea the colleges and universities are full of Liberals and Progressives and serve as propaganda institutions to promote "leftist"/"cultural marxist"/"progressive" views. Some videos from Prager University may help "explain" how conservatives can reach this view (regardless as to whether its true or not).

Worse, higher education is accused of having "speech codes" that enforce "political correctness" as a restriction on free speech.

They'd also argue that the "liberal" bias at Universities is determintal to the interests of students.

That source, Prager University, is known for making propaganda and outright lying sometimes to fit a conservative Christian worldview. It's kind of like Fox News but worse.

 

[Callisto]

I think this is important. I can't remember where I saw it, but I read that less than 20% of the tuition you pay actually goes towards your education costs. The majority of it seems to go towards athletics, student activities, administrative overhead, student centers, gyms, etc.

Don't forget another money siphon: real estate. E.g.,
Tax-exempt universities are buying up NYC real estate

And colleges nickeling & diming students with fees for things that should (and sometimes are) covered by tuition.

This is a pretty comprehensive article regarding costs and tuition:

Why does a college degree cost so much

 

[Rival]

I kind of doubt that's how it is. At least in my observations in both conservative and liberal schools... liberals in conservative schools have it much worse. Liberals will at least be tolerant in the sense of they don't agree but respect your right to practice it. Conservatives will just threaten to kick you out.

This has never been my experience. In my experience the liberals just shout you down and make fun of you. The minute you mention you are against gay marriage you are labelled a homophobe and any friends you had quickly disappear. Could be a cultural divide between the US and UK.

And I doubt they would deduct points for just disagreeing with them although people might see it that way. I knew a really conservative guy who couldn't write for crap and would accuse his professors of that. No buddy, you just had really bad writing. His stuff was painful to read, no matter the topic.

Could be, but also could not be.

 

[Erebus]

I just... I can't comprehend how anyone could possibly see colleges and universities as a negative thing. Halp! Someone explain this to me!

I'm a little surprised that Republicans disliking higher education is only a recent phenomenon.

Higher education typically demands a few things from students: at least some capacity for critical thinking, an ability to find information for yourself, the ability to examine and detach from one's own biases and the ability to cope in a high pressure environment with (generally) little income.

The outcome of all this is that students couple firsthand experience of adversity with the skills necessary to be less affected by the emotional appeals that are popular with right wing parties. The fact that the higher a person's education, the less likely they are to be right wing thinkers shouldn't be surprising. There doesn't actually need to be some left wing conspiracy among staff for college and university to foster a distrust or even outright contempt for the right wing.

All of this is very general of course and there are bound to be exceptions. As a rule of thumb though? You bet higher education was going to be in the Republicans' bad books sooner or later.

 

[Rival]

I'm a little surprised that Republicans disliking higher education is only a recent phenomenon.

Higher education typically demands a few things from students: at least some capacity for critical thinking, an ability to find information for yourself, the ability to examine and detach from one's own biases and the ability to cope in a high pressure environment with (generally) little income.

The outcome of all this is that students couple firsthand experience of adversity with the skills necessary to be less affected by the emotional appeals that are popular with right wing parties. The fact that the higher a person's education, the less likely they are to be right wing thinkers shouldn't be surprising. There doesn't actually need to be some left wing conspiracy among staff for college and university to foster a distrust or even outright contempt for the right wing.

All of this is very general of course and there are bound to be exceptions. As a rule of thumb though? You bet higher education was going to be in the Republicans' bad books sooner or later.

Generalised nonsense.

I mean really? Right wingers can't think critically? Detach from biases? We rightists could say the exact same about liberals and it would also be nonsense.

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

So far, the GOP has demonstrated that they don't really like nonprofit colleges and universities that much (unless they are run by a religious group, especially conservative religious groups...), and they actively dislike public colleges and universities...but they really like for-profit universities...and in fact, for-profit education from pre-K up through colleges and universities...

 

[Twilight Hue]

Colleges generally appear to have a strong pro-Democrat & anti-Republican bias.
It was so at my school back in the 70s.

Long gone are the days of higher education traded off for fanatical Lyndon LaRouche groupie's.

 

[Erebus]

Generalised nonsense.

I mean really? Right wingers can't think critically? Detach from biases? We rightists could say the exact same about liberals and it would also be nonsense.

Interesting response...

 

[Rival]

Interesting response...

I'm not trying to be mean or aggressive, it just irritates me when people on either side of the political discussion accuse the other of not being able to think properly, being too biased, etc. These traits can be, and are, common across all groups and certainly not limited to one. I think it is unfair to level them against a particular group.

 

[Erebus]

I'm not trying to be mean or aggressive, it just irritates me when people on either side of the political discussion accuse the other of not being able to think properly, being too biased, etc. These traits can be, and are, common across all groups and certainly not limited to one. I think it is unfair to level them against a particular group.

It's alright, I'll admit that I can come across as pretty mean myself when it comes to politics I'll try and elaborate on the point I was trying to make.

Right wingers can think critically, objectively etc. There are certainly plenty of highly intelligent and reasonable people who hold right wing views.

However, as a general rule, the right wing is more inclined to appeal to people on the basis of emotion and/or morality than the left wing. Take the qualities and conditions I described as expected of students and it's little wonder that appeals to emotion (which have absolutely been a major component of Trump's victory even if you disagree that it's a quality typical of the right) are less effective with students.

The other side to this is the whole "living in poverty" side of student life. At this point, I have to admit to my own biases as a Brit and confess that I may be confusing the nature of the right wing on each side of the pond. Here at least, there's a pervasive attitude that "poverty is your own fault" among the Conservatives (the largest of the right wing parties in the UK). To actually live in poverty conditions should make it clear to somebody that this, for the most part, simply isn't the case.

My experience of American politics is that the right wing parties have similar attitudes. However, I'll confess that I'm not in the best position to confirm that.

It's been shown quite a few times that the higher a person's degree of education, the more likely they are to have generally left wing views. All of this is, in a nut-shell, why I think this is the case.

 

[Rival]

It's alright, I'll admit that I can come across as pretty mean myself when it comes to politics I'll try and elaborate on the point I was trying to make.

Right wingers can think critically, objectively etc. There are certainly plenty of highly intelligent and reasonable people who hold right wing views.

However, as a general rule, the right wing is more inclined to appeal to people on the basis of emotion and/or morality than the left wing. Take the qualities and conditions I described as expected of students and it's little wonder that appeals to emotion (which have absolutely a major component of Trump's victory even if you disagree that it's a quality typical of the right) are less effective with students.

The other side to this is the whole "living in poverty" side of student life. At this point, I have to admit to my own biases as a Brit and confess that I may be confusing the nature of the right wing on each side of the pond. Here at least, there's a pervasive attitude that "poverty is your own fault" among the Conservatives (the largest of the right wing parties in the UK). To actually live in poverty conditions should make it clear to somebody that this, for the most part, simply isn't the case.

My experience of American politics is that the right wing parties have similar attitudes. However, I'll confess that I'm not in the best position to confirm that.

It's been shown quite a few times that the higher a person's degree of education, the more likely they are to have generally left wing views. All of this is, in a nut-shell, why I think this is the case.

I agree that the Tories have this attitude. I'm a Labour supporter because I support economic leftist ideas (socialism) but right wing social views (no abortion etc.) and I find I'm far afield of pretty much anyone. It has been my experience that the left appeals to emotion, lol. But when I talk of 'the left' I tend to have what are commonly called 'SJWs' in mind, so I may be veering off the deep end here. Students, imo, tend to be socially left wing and very passionately ideological as young people for some reason are. The left portrays itself as the side of justice, equality etc. and to be honest, I just think the terms 'right' and 'left' are so misleading as to be useless and I keep telling myself not to use them but I do...

I think that many right wingers are simply choosing not to go to uni because of the liberal atmosphere.
College was hard enough for me because of all the deep-end liberals and their posters that were all over the building. We don't want to voluntarily hurl ourselves into what we think is a cesspit.

I voted for Corbyn, in any event.

 

[Erebus]

I agree that the Tories have this attitude. I'm a Labour supporter because I support economic leftist ideas (socialism) but right wing social views (no abortion etc.) and I find I'm far afield of pretty much anyone. It has been my experience that the left appeals to emotion, lol. But when I talk of 'the left' I tend to have what are commonly called 'SJWs' in mind, so I may be veering off the deep end here. Students, imo, tend to be socially left wing and very passionately ideological as young people for some reason are. The left portrays itself as the side of justice, equality etc. and to be honest, I just think the terms 'right' and 'left' are so misleading as to be useless and I keep telling myself not to use them but I do...

I think that many right wingers are simply choosing not to go to uni because of the liberal atmosphere.
College was hard enough for me because of all the deep-end liberals and their poster that were all over the building. We don't want to voluntarily hurl ourselves into what we think is a cesspit.

I voted for Corbyn, in any event.

Ouch! Economically left and socially right. I can definitely see how that would expose you to the worst of both sides!

I've definitely seen what you're talking about. I tend to think of them as "trendy lefties." Basically the kind of people who can tell you that cultural appropriation is all about a colonial attitude but will go blank when you ask them what, in their opinion, a colonial attitude entails. I view it as pretentious at best and actually damaging to the left as a whole at worst... but maybe that isn't for this thread.

I also agree with you that Left and Right as labels are becoming increasingly useless. I find that Left/Right for economics and Authoritarian/Libertarian for social issues is slightly better but still not perfect.

Finally, it would be arrogant in the extreme of me to just entirely dismiss your experience of university. It may not be the only factor in this The Right VS Higher Education royal rumble, but it was a factor for you. I can therefore see it being a factor for others too.

I also voted for Corbyn by the way

 

[Rival]

I also voted for Corbyn by the way

But did you also vote Leave, as I?

 

[Erebus]

But did you also vote Leave, as I?

Ahh there's a tricky one

I voted remain. However, that was more about not trusting the Tories when it comes to human/worker's rights than any great love for the EU

 

[Rival]

Ahh there's a tricky one

I voted remain. However, that was more about not trusting the Tories when it comes to human/worker's rights than any great love for the EU

After this great debacle I'm not sure anyone trusts the Tories full stop.

 

[Quetzal]

I don't know really. I thought the (second video) gave examples to illustrate the point?

Sorry, I was at work and couldn't watch.