The Threat to Academic Freedom

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Wednesday, March 17. 2021

The Threat to Academic Freedom

The Threat to Academic Freedom: From Anecdotes to Data

Academia has become a closed system, a moral community defined by a set of sacred progressive values. The surge of no-platformings which took off in America in 2015 and hit Britain in 2018–19, or the fivefold jump in the rate of cancelling American academics which took place in 2019, present merely the tip of an iceberg of self-censorship and conformity. In this essay, I present extensive new survey data on the scale of the problem in the US, Canada, and Britain from my new report for the Center for the Study of Partisanship and Ideology entitled “Academic Freedom in Crisis: Punishment, Political Discrimination, and Self-Censorship.”

Posted by The Barrister in Education at 16:12 | Comments (6) | Trackbacks (0)

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In my opinion, the major factor in the politicization of college life has been the growth in "athletic" and "need-based" scholarships, as well as student loans. Years ago, Universities had to be careful to accept only the most qualified students, and to keep prices low. Not anymore. Now College is a free for all. Especially for minority kids. The government spends billions of dollars in tax-money to subsidize the intrusion of totally unqualified students into colleges where they can never academically succeed.

So the answer in Washington D.C. is to abandon academic standards. And the Professors who criticize the new gravy train are in danger of getting fired; after all, there are many billions of dollars involved in social engineering. So really, it's about the money. Every University wants that hot Washington cash.

If there weren't any scholarships, or loans, or grants, then kids would have to pay cash for College. And the cost per credit hour would go back down to $35, where it belongs. A College only needs a few classrooms, and a few Professors. That's it.

#1 Ron Liebermann on 2021-03-17 20:07 (Reply)

As a follow-up to my previous comment, I'd like to also add that University Professors are not required to hold a teaching degree. They teach what they know. But for some reason, public school teachers are supposed to have a degree in "Education" which is essentially worthless. You should see the morons who graduate from the teacher's colleges. The stupidest people go into education because the curriculum is so easy that a ten year old could graduate. It's pathetic. And then those "certified" teacher's get fifty thousand dollar a year jobs, even though they aren't smart enough to drive a school bus. The public school teacher industry is like the Post Office: a dumping ground for morons. And it's the kids who pay the price. As an example, look at this article about a teacher who lied and said that the had a teaching certificate. He had been doing a great job for years, but that didn't matter. He was charged with criminally teaching without a license. And that's what's happened to the West. "Credentials" are what matter now; not actual skill. Did you ever consider that new public teachers could be interviewed on YouTube? Parents could watch three different teachers conduct a class, and then choose one. But that will never happen because actual skill must never be equated with promotion. We have millions of government employees who have a degree in "Social Justice Management' but have absolutely no skill. Therefore "Credentials" alone must be the only thing which matters.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9374669/How-university-dropout-never-obtained-degree-one-Australias-respected-educators.html?

#2 Ron Liebermann on 2021-03-18 01:42 (Reply)

I disagree; I say it's an IMMORAL community.

#3 Sam L. on 2021-03-18 10:51 (Reply)

You are correct; we do live in an immoral society. That's because morals have not been taught or discussed in a long time. The Churches don't teach a moral code, nor do they teach any standards of ethical conduct. And the schools don't either. People today are supposed to be "respected" because of their "qualifications" not their actions. In the Army, they tell you to salute the uniform; not the man. And the Police demand respect from people who hate them. Everything is wrong.

If you look at the article linked below, you'll see a story about a poor guy who got killed skydiving. How? His instructor didn't have the proper "certificate". Skill and experience aren't suppose to matter.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9376683/Heartbreaking-video-teen-skydiver-18-doing-fatal-tandem-jump.html

#3.1 Ron Liebermann on 2021-03-18 13:05 (Reply)

The non-platforming class entering college in 2015 is the same one Haidt and Lukianoff identified as online-device dependent, graduating high school in 2014. That may or may not be causal, but it is probably related.

#4 Assistant Village Idiot on 2021-03-18 19:14 (Reply)

Per SDA, the Chinese call them Baizuo, and their definition is not too far off. I know, I know, but it is not pronounced like Bozo.

http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2021/03/19/word-of-the-day-2/#comments

I like the tie in to BOZO.
I had been labeling them as the Ugly Americans 2.0., whose traits include: priggish, pompous, pretentious, parochial, ethnocentric, arrogant, infantilized, obsessive, shallow, self absorbed and self serving with a bizarre hero complex.
It’s worth hearing from Paglia on this; she eviscerates them. First she distinguishes the Post Modernists from the Counter Culture. She insists that our current crop of Progs does not originate in the hippy dippy college students of the 60s, who were sensory, deeply esthetic, attracted to Eastern religion, psychedelic, Jungian, and ….genuinely ….multicultural, celebrating cultural uniqueness, not using it as a weapon.
She identifies the Post Modernists as careerist, corporatist/bureaucratic types, the “word choppers” who champion “all is mediated by language” and all is reduced to Power. They are materialistic nihilists who indoctrinate their coddled minions into the ideology of resentment, while simultaneously picking their pockets. They were always elitist and the “badge of connection to the workers” was always a sham. They are anti-art and maleducated. Here is the stinging part of her critique. They fantasize that they are visionary and outré, when they are hopelessly middle brow, conformists and the harshest of all DERIVATIVE, or as my sister says, “cookie cutter”.

#5 Exasperated on 2021-03-20 07:47 (Reply)

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Wednesday, March 17. 2021

The Threat to Academic Freedom