Saturday, October 27, 2012

Blatant liberal bias in academia and higher education. . What's the answer?

It goes without saying but academia is overwhelmingly liberal and intolerant in the correct use of the term. (The left abuses the word by calling people intolerant merely when they disagree with views on issues like abortion and marriage.) The correct use of the term refers to an unwillingness to allow or permit other views to be heard. On the public university campus this means hiring faculty with only one point of view and allowing only particular points of view to be aired.

A case in point is the University of Iowa law school which refused to hire a highly qualified teacher simply because she was an outspoken social conservative.

Teresa Wagner claims that a less qualified person was hired instead of her because she was a conservative who had worked for social conservative organizations. 
 But Wagner said that claim [she failed a job interview] was fabricated to excuse the political motivations of the 50-member faculty, which included 46 registered Democrats. The faculty hired a much less qualified person instead, even though Wagner had already received positive reviews from students and faculty and the endorsement of a key committee while teaching part-time at the school.

What will turn around this liberal bias? One person points to the economics of higher education.
“We’re unlikely to see a case this clear-cut for a very long time,” said Peter Wood, president of the National Association of Scholars, who said he routinely hears from rejected conservative professors. “What makes Teresa Wagner’s case so extraordinary is she came up with the documentary evidence of what was really going on.”
Still, Wood doubts that the case would force much change. “It [could] make them a trifle more cautious in keeping their biases out of sight, but it doesn’t mean they won’t act on them.”
More likely to bring change, Wood said, are large-scale forces shaking up higher education. Cheaper online programs, skyrocketing tuition, fewer job opportunities, and massive student loan debt that leave more people wondering whether a traditional college education is a good investment. If enough students decide it’s overvalued, the “higher education bubble” will pop, bringing on a financial crisis for many institutions.
On thing is for sure, education is changing with online course and alternative education programs cropping up. Right now the left as a serious strangle hold on higher education. These alternatives will open the door to change without a frontal assault on the left's control of higher education.

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