Indoctrinating the kiddies
by digby
So AEI is upset that liberal universities are indoctrinating little children into the evils of socialism against their will:
For decades, conservatives have documented and criticized how liberal ideology runs rampant throughout higher education. Hence William F. Buckley’s famous quip from the 1960s: “I’d rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory than to the faculty of Harvard University.” Fifty years later, few conservatives would disagree.
But could the problem be getting worse? The Pew Research Center released a study in December showing that more Americans age 18 to 29 have a favorable view of socialism over capitalism. In fact, this demographic has a net positive view of socialism (49 percent positive to 43 percent negative) and net negative view of capitalism (46 percent positive and 47 percent negative). When Pew released an earlier version of the same study two years ago, this demographic’s views on socialism were exactly the opposite (43 percent positive and 49 percent negative).
Clearly, more than one’s college education goes into one’s opinions on economic systems. But just as clearly, few would deny that a college graduate’s opinions are shaped during his or her four years at college – that’s why they’re called the formative years. So when we engage in a spirited debate about the liberal dominance of college, let’s also remember that there are real-world consequences to this imbalance within academia.
Yeah. There are also real-world consequences to events in the real world. It has probably not escaped the notice of young people that the titans of capitalism just screwed the pooch big time and that maybe the system is being gamed in their favor. Silly children:
This is the dilemma that confronts a nation whose youths don’t understand or appreciate what underlies our prosperity. The recent Occupy Wall Street protests presented the perfect irony of this generation and its confusion. While decrying the evils of capitalism, the protesters organized their marches via social networks and mobile devices that were the products of capitalism. No government agency or grant created Twitter or the iPhone.
Funny. Who was Al Gore working for again when he invented thew internets? I keep forgetting.
Also too, there’s the massive student loan debt, even for students at state schools which are slowly being drowned in the bathtub by Grover Norquist. You can’t blame young people for being a little less than enthusiastic about the system. But by all means, blame the universities. If conservatives can find a way to finally eliminate education altogether and replace it with compulsory memorization of Atlas Shrugged and the complete works of Jackie Mason they’ll have it made.
BTW: Has it occurred to any of these people that the youngsters who voted en masse for Barack Obama might also be more amenable to socialism since right wingers have been calling their hero a socialist non-stop since 2008? At the very least they’re likely to consider anything the right wing hates so much in a positive light.
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