Academia and young people

Submitted by Diana Nielsen (United States), Dec 27, 2002 at 18:52

I'm sure there are still many students that go straight from high school to college or within a short time of graduating. Instead of professors instilling their own views, colleges should mandate that professors teach students non-concrete subjects in as neutral a way as possible, and encourage students to learn to think for themselves. Young people should be taught how to find and use a wide varity of different resource materials so they can make up their own minds about the subjects and issues they are being taught about. Unfortunately, young people aren't usually aware of the 'ways of the world' nor aware that some people in academia (as well as outside of academia) have hidden agendas. Students are rarely informed about a professors corporate, intelligence, political, or other connections, if any. At the very least, if we are going to send our kids to be taught by radicals, feminists, politicos, country haters, racists, subversives, homosexuals, etc. they should be taught such things as logical fallacies and critical thinking first. Students are rarely informed of a professors corporate, intelligence, political or other pertinent connections, if any.
Many of these 'wet behind the ears' kids look at their professors with awe and next to their parents (as to knowledge), think these people are godlike. In the 1970's communist subversives along with radical, 'hippie' professors used many naive college students to legitimize their political agendas. In the case of Kent U, aversive communist plants got some of our young people killed (it was reported that one of these plants fired the shots that prompted the return shots). We must look at who leads these groups as being responsible also however. Thankfully, the worst persuasion I remember in college is having to let my political science professor assume I was of a certain political persuasion to ensure my A grade. The bottom line is that college is not supposed to be about having a forum for professors; it's supposed to be about the education of the student.

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