This is much worse than I anticipated. As we pride ourselves with living in free, democratic and diverse communities (be it on campus or otherwhere) the hollowness and hypocrisy of that claim is becoming increasingly clear. Are we approaching a "westernized autocracy" with the ominous Orwellian society looming in the horizon?
Roger, I read a case history ten or 15 years ago, of a university interviewing candidates for an associate prof of biology position. At one point the hiring committee discusses a well-qualified candidate with good research and teaching credentials. Then one of the committee says, "I can't see him fitting in here with his attitude toward school busing." The candidate was rejected even though his opinions about school busing had nothing to do with his expertise as a biologist. Repeat this consistently for 20 or 30 years and we have to expect that all the voices in that university will be singing from the same sheet music, with no sharps, flats or solo improvisation. So without diversity of thought on the hiring committees, there is no hope of fixing this problem.
It looks like there was a backlash against the bias that college students experience in academia in the recent election. A Tufts analysis of polls shows that 56% of Gen Z men voted for Trump. Maybe students are rejecting the institutional bias that saddled them with high debt for an educational experience of questionable intellectual value, and little or no practical value.
It would be interesting to see what college grads think of their professors and institutions several years after graduation. The recent wave of violent anti-Semitic protests on campuses will probably spark a larger backlash among alumni and revulsion from the general population.
There is a lot of hate under the surface in academia that is being exposed.
When you get to the final (part 5, I believe),it would be constructive to analyze the effects of the politicization of publication and grant processes. I know I've harped on this incessantly, but without corrections in these two pillars of the educational system, I don't see how a balanced professor class could be maintained absent a complete rethinking of publish or perish. I'm not totally convinced who drove whom into the ditch, but each of the three pillars must be righted for the institution of education to survive under the current model.
Nothing like The Honest Broker to shine a brighter light on what is the brain washing of our youth and their politicalization If you can’t turn the country into Marxist at the ballot box do it through the education system. I have to laugh when the left says 25 Nobel prize economists Trump’s policies are inflationary. Some states are battling back like Florida by insisting on more balance or the state money dries up. We need the same discipline at the national level to turn this around. Perhaps alumni should think about the checks they write as well.
"This ideological narrowing is dangerous not just for the creation of new knowledge and research, but also because it does a disservice to the very people we professors are trying to educate and lift upward
Correction - professors by and large are not even trying to educate and uplift, they are merely trying to indoctrinate. Indoctrination is a process of narrowing the mind whereas education is a process of broadening it. I suspect that students typically graduate with a more narrowly defined worldview and less ability to consider other viewpoints than they had as freshmen. Universities are better described nowadays as uneducation establishments.
I don't think it is indoctrination, but something far more subtle. I'll discuss this more in the next two weeks, but my experiences are that most faculty are well meaning and deeply believe that they are conveying a singular "truth" that happens to be aligned with their politics and most everyone they encounter . . .
Those that can, do. Those that can't, teach. Those that can't and teach tend to be malcontents with a chip on their shoulder because they can't. It has always been that way... the kids are stained by their professors but then MOST used to clear it up after launching into a real life of productive doing.
Two things have happened to break the process. One - many more kids are going to college. Two - fewer are launching into a real life of productive doing.
You note that .. Writing in 2017, Samuel Abrams characterized why ideological uniformity can be problematic for teaching and research. Does this refer to uniformity in terms of a uniform bias in one political direction? So ... for research, at least in the science disciplines, is Abrams saying that research is becoming increasingly less rigorous and less ideologically neutral?
I am struggling to read Chris Rufo's "America's Cultural Revolution" which covers some the same ground. It is one the most difficult books I have read in years, not because of the writing or the complexity of the ideas, but because of all the horses**t the man had to wade through to tell the story. The vast majority of it is flowing out from universities across the West. Thanks for continuing to draw attention to it. My son just failed to get a job at a Canadian post-secondary institution. I couldn't be more pleased.
OT Roger, being we are in Dec. now, I look forward to the Hurricane stats for 2024. And a look at how the projections vs actual season worked out. Tx and Happy Holidays
I am enjoying reading this series. Have you read John M. Ellis' book, "The Breakdown of Higher Education?" He documents the same trends. I hope you offer some ideas on how to get back to more balance.
I contend that America's rapidly-diminishing leadership in the sciences and engineering is due, in part, to the rigid orthodoxy at universities.
For example, in my field (weather science) NOAA funds a great deal of research. As Roger has previously documented, NOAA has morphed from a science organization to a climate alarmism advocacy organization. So, even though NOAA is failing at its most important mission (most recently: delayed flood warnings for the southern Appalachians when Helene's flooding threatened), NOAA gets rigidly defended by the people who should be helping contribute to its future.
No one wants to upset the funding apple cart, especially when they share your politics.
Relating to this and the previous posts: So happy to support your work!
Also: With Musk in Trumps cabinet or somewhere around it, is there any chance of moving the needle towards his kind of pro-renewable growth thinking, maybe including nuclear? And what would your cabinet choice for running the department of energy be? Given your critical and realistic stand, someone with your mindset could mediate a transition that brought the workforce and general public along without immediately alienating it, for example.
This is much worse than I anticipated. As we pride ourselves with living in free, democratic and diverse communities (be it on campus or otherwhere) the hollowness and hypocrisy of that claim is becoming increasingly clear. Are we approaching a "westernized autocracy" with the ominous Orwellian society looming in the horizon?
Defund until diversity is achieved, let them live off donations.
Roger, I read a case history ten or 15 years ago, of a university interviewing candidates for an associate prof of biology position. At one point the hiring committee discusses a well-qualified candidate with good research and teaching credentials. Then one of the committee says, "I can't see him fitting in here with his attitude toward school busing." The candidate was rejected even though his opinions about school busing had nothing to do with his expertise as a biologist. Repeat this consistently for 20 or 30 years and we have to expect that all the voices in that university will be singing from the same sheet music, with no sharps, flats or solo improvisation. So without diversity of thought on the hiring committees, there is no hope of fixing this problem.
It looks like there was a backlash against the bias that college students experience in academia in the recent election. A Tufts analysis of polls shows that 56% of Gen Z men voted for Trump. Maybe students are rejecting the institutional bias that saddled them with high debt for an educational experience of questionable intellectual value, and little or no practical value.
It would be interesting to see what college grads think of their professors and institutions several years after graduation. The recent wave of violent anti-Semitic protests on campuses will probably spark a larger backlash among alumni and revulsion from the general population.
There is a lot of hate under the surface in academia that is being exposed.
Roger,
When you get to the final (part 5, I believe),it would be constructive to analyze the effects of the politicization of publication and grant processes. I know I've harped on this incessantly, but without corrections in these two pillars of the educational system, I don't see how a balanced professor class could be maintained absent a complete rethinking of publish or perish. I'm not totally convinced who drove whom into the ditch, but each of the three pillars must be righted for the institution of education to survive under the current model.
Nothing like The Honest Broker to shine a brighter light on what is the brain washing of our youth and their politicalization If you can’t turn the country into Marxist at the ballot box do it through the education system. I have to laugh when the left says 25 Nobel prize economists Trump’s policies are inflationary. Some states are battling back like Florida by insisting on more balance or the state money dries up. We need the same discipline at the national level to turn this around. Perhaps alumni should think about the checks they write as well.
"This ideological narrowing is dangerous not just for the creation of new knowledge and research, but also because it does a disservice to the very people we professors are trying to educate and lift upward
Correction - professors by and large are not even trying to educate and uplift, they are merely trying to indoctrinate. Indoctrination is a process of narrowing the mind whereas education is a process of broadening it. I suspect that students typically graduate with a more narrowly defined worldview and less ability to consider other viewpoints than they had as freshmen. Universities are better described nowadays as uneducation establishments.
I don't think it is indoctrination, but something far more subtle. I'll discuss this more in the next two weeks, but my experiences are that most faculty are well meaning and deeply believe that they are conveying a singular "truth" that happens to be aligned with their politics and most everyone they encounter . . .
It is telling kids what to think vs teaching them HOW to think.
The definition of indoctrination.
Excellent article.
This is fantastic. Thanks.
Those that can, do. Those that can't, teach. Those that can't and teach tend to be malcontents with a chip on their shoulder because they can't. It has always been that way... the kids are stained by their professors but then MOST used to clear it up after launching into a real life of productive doing.
Two things have happened to break the process. One - many more kids are going to college. Two - fewer are launching into a real life of productive doing.
You note that .. Writing in 2017, Samuel Abrams characterized why ideological uniformity can be problematic for teaching and research. Does this refer to uniformity in terms of a uniform bias in one political direction? So ... for research, at least in the science disciplines, is Abrams saying that research is becoming increasingly less rigorous and less ideologically neutral?
I am struggling to read Chris Rufo's "America's Cultural Revolution" which covers some the same ground. It is one the most difficult books I have read in years, not because of the writing or the complexity of the ideas, but because of all the horses**t the man had to wade through to tell the story. The vast majority of it is flowing out from universities across the West. Thanks for continuing to draw attention to it. My son just failed to get a job at a Canadian post-secondary institution. I couldn't be more pleased.
Nice work again, Roger.
OT Roger, being we are in Dec. now, I look forward to the Hurricane stats for 2024. And a look at how the projections vs actual season worked out. Tx and Happy Holidays
Coming Thursday!
I am enjoying reading this series. Have you read John M. Ellis' book, "The Breakdown of Higher Education?" He documents the same trends. I hope you offer some ideas on how to get back to more balance.
I have not, I'll have a look. Thanks for the tip.
I contend that America's rapidly-diminishing leadership in the sciences and engineering is due, in part, to the rigid orthodoxy at universities.
For example, in my field (weather science) NOAA funds a great deal of research. As Roger has previously documented, NOAA has morphed from a science organization to a climate alarmism advocacy organization. So, even though NOAA is failing at its most important mission (most recently: delayed flood warnings for the southern Appalachians when Helene's flooding threatened), NOAA gets rigidly defended by the people who should be helping contribute to its future.
No one wants to upset the funding apple cart, especially when they share your politics.
Relating to this and the previous posts: So happy to support your work!
Also: With Musk in Trumps cabinet or somewhere around it, is there any chance of moving the needle towards his kind of pro-renewable growth thinking, maybe including nuclear? And what would your cabinet choice for running the department of energy be? Given your critical and realistic stand, someone with your mindset could mediate a transition that brought the workforce and general public along without immediately alienating it, for example.
My thoughts on Chris Wright:
https://rogerpielkejr.substack.com/p/energy-realism-and-climate-pragmatism