Want To Read An Interesting Liberal vs. Conservative Debate/Argument?

Inside Higher Ed reports on a study that says that despite the overwhelming left-leaning faculty at most colleges, students aren't necessarily undergoing indoctrination because their political views don't seem to change too much between their freshman and senior years. The doubling of the number of students who identify themselves as far left is seemingly "statistically insignificant", although the report explains why that may happen besides indoctrination.

There are some interesting counterpoints, though. My favorite was this, from a comment at the URL above:

‘The student body is white and asian- who cares?’

Double standard, at 6:50 am EDT on March 27, 2008

How true. Diversity only matters when it comes to skin color.

I read another comment on this topic somewhere else (but I can't remember where). That commenter remarked that perhaps the reason students' political leanings don't change so much in college is because the professors there are just continuing the indoctrination that already occurred in the K-12 arena. Food for thought.

I'll close with this statement from the article, which really spoke to me:

“Even if it were true that students totally took a Bart Simpson attitude toward their college professors and were completely uninfluenced by them, I still think it would be a tragedy that during those four years, they were not getting the good stuff,” Klein said. There is an “opportunity cost” when students graduate in four years and haven’t been exposed (or have only been exposed to negative ideas about) Adam Smith and Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman, Klein said. Too many students graduate with a “complete zero” in those and other people worth knowing, Klein said. So political leanings matter, he added, even without the assumption of indoctrination.

It's not about indoctrination, it's about diversity. It's about being with people like yourself. It's about feeling comfortable, knowing that your culture, views, values, and experiences will be validated and valued. Isn't that what diversity is all about?

When you metaphorically hold a mirror up to lefties by speaking their own words back to them, it's amazing how they'll twist and spin to avoid them.

The comments after the article certainly run a gamut of opinion.