Conservatives have a long history of distrusting higher education. In the past, conservatives opposed public support for universities and sought to limit their influence on society. Today, conservatives attack colleges and universities as bastions of liberal thought and identity politics. They are afraid that the left will indoctrinate students into becoming radicalized liberals who will go on to become activists in the Democratic Party.
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The conservative war on higher education
In recent years, conservatives have increasingly portrayed higher education as a risk rather than an opportunityufffdan insurance policy rather than an investment in the future. This shift has had profound implications for how we think about the role of universities in our society.
For generations, conservatives have been critical of universities. They have accused them of bias, elitism, and failing to prepare students for the real world. But they have also recognized the importance of universities as institutions that transmit knowledge and values across generations and cultures. In recent years, however, conservatives have gone from being critical of universities to being openly hostile to them.
One reason for this shift is that higher education has become increasingly democratized. In the past, only a small elite had access to university education. Today, thanks to community colleges and online learning, anyone can get a degree. This democratization of higher education poses a threat to conservative political power.
Another reason for the conservative war on higher education is that universities are increasingly seen as places where young people learn to challenge established authority. In the past, universities were places where young people went to learn about the world from those who knew more than they did. Today, thanks to social media and the internet, anyone can be an expert on any topic. This means that universities are no longer seen as necessary for young people to learn about the world; they are seen as places where young people might challenge established authority figures.
The conservative war on higher education is a direct result of these two trends: the democratization of higher education and the challenges posed by social media and the internet. But it is also part of a broader conservative effort to rewrite history and promote their own political agenda.
Universities are under attack because they promote critical thinking and challenge orthodoxy. We must fight back against this attack on our cherished institutions and defend the role of universities in our society
The conservative fear of an educated populace
There are a number of reasons why conservatives may be afraid of higher education. For one, higher education can lead to critical thinking and a questioning of traditional values and beliefs. This can be a risk for conservatives, who often seek to maintain the status quo.
In addition, higher education can lead to insurance against economic downturns and provide opportunities for community involvement. For conservatives, who tend to value self-reliance and individualism, this may be seen as a threat to their way of life. Finally, universities often rewrite history to valorize social justice causes, which can cause conservatives to fear that their own history and values will be marginalized.
The conservative attack on academic freedom
For years, conservatives have been attacking higher education, claiming that universities are left-wing indoctrination centers. They have called for students to be taught ufffdalternativeufffd viewpoints, for professors to be fired for their political beliefs, and for universities to be governed by ufffdbusiness principles.ufffd
The recent attack on academic freedom is part of a larger conservative effort to rewrite the history of the United States and to roll back progress on social and economic issues. Higher education is seen as a risk by conservatives because it allows people to think critically about issues and to develop their own worldviews.
Insurance companies are also conservatively managed, so they are another source of pressure on universities. These companies see higher education as a risk because it is a community where critical thinking and open dialogue are encouraged.
The conservative attack on higher education is not just an assault on academic freedom; it is an attempt to undermine the very idea of universities as places where critical thinking and open dialogue are encouraged. We must fight back against this attack and defend the value of higher education.
The conservative war on critical thinking
There is a conservative war on critical thinking, and it is being waged on many fronts. In higher education, conservatives have been working to undermine universities for decades. They see them as bastions of liberalism that need to be rewritten in their own image.
In the past, conservatives have attacked universities for various reasons. They have claimed that universities are elitist and that they are catering to the needs of a small group of people. They have also claimed that universities are creating a risk society where people are afraid to take risks and that they are not providing enough insurance against failure.
However, the most recent attack on universities is more specific. conservatives now argue that universities are not doing enough to prepare students for the real world. They claim that schools are not teaching students the skills they need to get jobs, and that they are not providing enough opportunities for students to start their own businesses.
This attack has come from many different quarters. For example, Republican Senator Tom Cotton has argued that colleges and universities are “indoctrinating” students with “left-wing ideology.” Fox News host Laura Ingraham has claimed that schools are “teaching kids to hate their own country.” And Breitbart News editor Milo Yiannopoulos has said that higher education is a “waste of time” and that students should focus on getting jobs instead.
The conservative war on critical thinking is dangerous because it threatens to undermine one of the most important institutions in our society. Universities play a vital role in promoting critical thinking and preparing students for the real world. If conservatives succeed in their attacks on higher education, it will be bad for our country as a whole.
The conservative war on knowledge
The conservative war on knowledge takes many forms. One is the funding of research that reinforces their worldview and the defunding of research that challenges it. Another is an insistence on ideological conformity in academia, whether by denying tenure to dissenting scholars or by punishing students for speaking out against right-wing orthodoxy.
But the most powerful weapon in the conservative arsenal is the rhetoric of risk. The higher education system, they argue, is a playground for leftists who want to indoctrinate young people into their atheistic, communist worldview. Sending your child to college is taking a huge financial and ideological risk, they warn.
This rhetoric has been remarkably effective in convincing conservatives not only to stay away from universities but also to support policies that undermine them. The most obvious example is the tax bill passed by Republicans in 2017, which included a provision that taxes graduate students on their tuition waiversufffdin effect, making higher education more expensive for those who can least afford it.
The goal of the conservative war on knowledge is not simply to make universities more difficult to afford or less welcoming to progressive ideas. It is also to rewrite the history of higher education itselfufffdto present universities as institutions that have always been at odds with community values and only exist to serve the needs of an elite few.
If conservatives are successful, future generations will see colleges and universities not as places where young people go to expand their horizons and learn how to think critically about the world around them, but as places to be avoided at all cost. That would be a tragedyufffdnot just for higher education, but for democracy itself.
The conservative war on science
Itufffds no secret that conservatives have been waging a war on science for years. From climate change denial to the denigration of evolutionary theory, conservatism has increasingly embraced anti-intellectualism and hostility to evidence-based reasoning.
One might think that this trend would lead conservatives to be highly critical of higher education. And indeed, they are. But itufffds not because colleges and universities are centers of liberal indoctrination, as they often claim. Itufffds because higher education poses a genuine threat to conservative ideology.
The evidence is clear: conservatives are more likely to distrust institutions of higher learning than their liberal counterparts. A 2017 Pew Research Center survey found that only 36 percent of conservatives said they had ufffda lotufffd or ufffdsomeufffd confidence in colleges and universities, compared to 61 percent of liberals.
There are a number of reasons for this conservative mistrust of academia. One is that colleges and universities are increasingly seen as places where young people go to be indoctrinated into liberal ideology. This view is driven in part by the fact that most college faculty members identify as Democrats (60 percent), while only 14 percent identify as Republicans, according to a 2015 study by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA.
Conservatives also argue that colleges and universities are elitist institutions that are out of touch with the needs and values of average Americans. They point to the high cost of tuition as evidence that higher education is a luxury good that only the affluent can afford. And they argue that universities are increasingly catering to the needs of special interest groups, such as minorities and LGBT students, at the expense of everyone else.
But the biggest reason conservatives donufffdt like higher education is that it poses a direct challenge to their worldview. Colleges and universities are places where young people go to learn about the world around them, to develop critical thinking skills, and to form their own opinions about controversial issues. In other words, theyufffdre places where young people can learn to think for themselves ufffd something that conservatives find deeply threatening.
The truth is, conservatives are afraid of higher education because it has the potential to rewrite the script they have been following for years ufffd a script in which facts donufffdt matter, evidence is ignored, and critical thinking is discouraged. If more people started demanding evidence-based reasoning and cite facts instead unquestioningly accepting whatever their community or insurance tells them,. then conservatism itself would be at risk.
The conservative war on reason
The war on reason is being fought on many fronts, but one of the most important is the conservative war on higher education. For years, conservatives have been trying to rewrite history, reduce critical thinking, and make colleges and universities into places that they can control.
The most obvious way that conservatives have been trying to undermine higher education is by defunding it. This has been a strategy of both state and federal governments, as well as of private donors. In many cases, the cuts have been so severe that they have put the very existence of some colleges and universities at risk.
In addition to defunding higher education, conservatives have also been working to insurance it. This has taken the form of both making it harder for people to get access to financial aid and student loans, and of trying to make it more difficult for people tosuccessfully complete their degrees.
The conservative war on higher education is about more than just money, though. Itufffds also about trying to control what is taught and how it is taught. This has meant pushing for ufffdreformsufffd that would make campuses more ideologically uniform, rewriting history textbooks to downplay or even erase certain inconvenient truths, and attacking professors and scholars who dare to challenge conservative orthodoxy.
All of this adds up to a very real threat to our democracy. A healthy democracy depends on an informed citizenry, and an informed citizenry depends on having access to quality education. We must not let the conservatives win their war on reason.
The conservative war on progress
In recent years, American conservatives have been waging a war on progress. Nowhere is this more evident than in their attempts to undermine higher education.
For centuries, universities have been at the forefront of social and scientific progress. They have been incubators of new ideas and drivers of change. But todayufffds conservatives see them as sources of liberal bias and ideological brainwashing.
There are a number of reasons for this troubling development. One is that conservatives have increasingly come to see risk as something to be avoided rather than embraced. This is particularly true when it comes to social issues like race, gender, and sexuality.
In the past, conservatives were more likely to view universities as institutions that could be used to help preserve traditional values. But as society has become more diverse and complex, they have come to see them as potential sources of instability and disorder.
Another reason for the conservative hostility towards universities is that they are seen as insurance against future political risks. If people are educated about the world around them, it becomes harder for conservatives to control the narrative and shape public opinion.
This is why we are seeing a growing effort by conservatives to rewrite history, silence dissent, and attack critical thinking. These attempts to undermine higher education are not only dangerous ufffd they are a direct attack on progress itself.
The conservative war on truth
Itufffds no secret that conservatives have been waging a war on truth for years. They have called climate change a hoax, denied the existence of Evolution, and insist that the Earth is only 6000 years old. But why are they so afraid of higher education?
There are a few issues at play here. First, there is the risk that people might actually learn something and start questioning the status quo. Second, there is the insurance issue. If everyone is educated, then who will do the jobs that conservatives think are only fit for low-skilled workers? Finally, there is the community issue. If people are educated, they might start critical thinking and rewriting the rules that conservatives have come to rely on.
All of these issues are valid concerns for conservatives. But at the end of the day, their fear of higher education boils down to one thing: power.
The conservative war on reality
Higher education is under assault from conservatives. They have declared war on reality, and universities are in their sights.
The conservative war on reality is an existential threat to our institutions of higher learning. It puts at risk our ability to educate the next generation and to foster a critical, informed citizenry.
The stakes could not be higher. We must fight back and defend our universities.
Conservatives are often afraid of higher education because they believe that it is a tool for indoctrination. They feel that this is a threat to their values and beliefs. However, higher education has many benefits such as the ability to gain new skills, knowledge, and earn more money. Reference: what is higher education.
External References-
https://www.quora.com/Why-do-so-many-conservatives-want-to-stigmatize-and-demonize-higher-education
https://www.reddit.com/r/highereducation/comments/aekmyi/why_are_conservatives_so_afraid_of_higher/
https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2019/08/republicans-conservatives-college/596497/
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/11/buckley-gamay/620811/
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2022/02/16/republicans-avoiding-college-democracy/6729494001/