Why Professors are Predominantly ‘leftist.’

[Foxfyre]

I have come to realize that one of the problems of those on the left is the echo chamber in which they live. This board may be their only interface with the real world.

I haven't had time to read every post, but did somebody earlier say that those not aligned with the 'Right" aren't necessarily "Left"?

That is the most succinct summation of the problem I think. Most liberals don't believe they are liberal. They believe they are perfectly rational, normal, and have it all together while all the rest of us are out of sync with the real world.

As a journalism major and being part of the media off an on throughout my adult life, I see the problems in academia as the same that exists in most of the mainstream media.

Those anti-establishment, anti-traditional values, and sometimes anti-America children of the 60's eventually put away their hookahs and beads and became productive members of the middle class but they didn't lose all that dogma. And eventually it was they who achieved senority in the news rooms and in academia and were mostly impressed by and hired people who believed and talked as they did. Conservatives were either mostly not hired or found themselves in such a philosophically hostile environment that they left and found other things to do.

And now the Left takes pride that they dominate in both realms and sometimes look down their noses at those on the Right who they see as less 'nice people' or 'less intellectual' or 'less well educated'.

And of course that perpetuates the problem and lopsidedness that exists. As George Will once commented based on that study you cite, the Left values diversity in everything but thought.

 

[geauxtohell]

I have come to realize that one of the problems of those on the left is the echo chamber in which they live. This board may be their only interface with the real world.

This board is the "real world"?

What an idiotic statement in all regards.

 

[PoliticalChic]

I was a business major at Georgia State University and received a BBA in 1985. My last quarter there I had an open 5 hour elective area where I could take any course in the entire university for those 5 hours.
I signed up for Civil War History. The professor I had was an off the wall looney tune liberal. He informed us that this course was not to be about any of the battles of the Civil War or anything about the militaries the first day. I should have dropped it and taken basket weaving but it fit my time schedule so I endured.
The study course guideline was all about the social mores of the people, the scientific advancements of the day and a bunch of other bull shit. We read three books on Booker T. Washington describing him as an Uncle Tom step n fetchit negro of his time. The professor wanted no other opinions in the class. All of his tests were 70 % subjective, essay, and 30 % multiple choice which was against the university guidelines by a long shot.
The kicker was the final term paper that was required. I wrote mine on photography during the Civil War. All through my time in the business school at GSU I had to write a term paper for almost every class. The professor would make corrections, obervations and ideas on a seperate piece of white blank paper and put that in with the returned and graded paper. The paper itself was intact with no marks on it. The last week of this history class I received my term paper back with red ink scribbled all through it. I protested to him and he advised he could do as he wanted. I went to the department head and he stated that he would look into it. The essays I wrote in all of the tests this man gave were all given C at best.
I received a C in this class and it did not really matter as I was graduating. However, I was going to attempt to make life hard for this prick. I prepared my case against him showing how he had violated the test rules, as they were no test could be more than 40% essay, and the department head stated he would get back to me. 18 months later I received a call that the next day at 8 am in Atlanta they would have a departmental "hearing"on my case. I told him to fuck himself.
If you do not want a liberal professor take engineering or business at the university.

A beautiful, and telling post.

It's hard to believe that, as common as this situation is, our friends on the left refuse to conceive of this reality.

It's anecdotal evidence contradicted by other anecdotal evidence elsewhere in this thread. Strange that you'd ignore those that contradict what you want to believe.

Oh and professors leaning left is not proof that they're slanting the curriculum to the left.

You might sound so much more intelligent, or at least close to average, if you limited the words that you use in your posts to words you can actually define.

an·ec·dot·al (nk-dtl)
adj..
Based on casual observations or indications rather than rigorous or scientific analysis.

Now, read the definiton again. And again.

Now re-read this from post #195

"Higher Education Research Institute at the UCLA published a survey in 2002, of 55,521 professors at 416 colleges and universities nationwide. They found that 48% of the professors identified themselves as ‘liberal’ or ‘far left;’ 34% as ‘middle of the road. In 2004, Klein and Western published a study of the voter registration of the professors at U of C, Berkeley, and at Stanford, over 1000 professors, and concluded that the findings supported the ‘one party campus’ conjecture. At Berkeley, 9.9 to 1, and at Stanford, 7.6 to 1 of Democrats to Republicans. Ideological diversity does not exist on most campuses.
In 2005 Klein and Stern surveyed 1,678 professors, and found that faculty is heavily skewed toward Democratic, and the most lopsided fields are Anthropology (30.2 to 1) and Sociology (28 to 1)."



Does this fit the definition of 'anecdotal'?

Do you fit the definition of 'normal'?

 

[JakeStarkey]

Most reactionary whingers think they are conservative: they are not.

 

[geauxtohell]

Those anti-establishment, anti-traditional values, and sometimes anti-America children of the 60's eventually put away their hookahs and beads and became productive members of the middle class but they didn't lose all that dogma. And eventually it was they who achieved senority in the news rooms and in academia and were mostly impressed by and hired people who believed and talked as they did. Conservatives were either mostly not hired or found themselves in such a philosophically hostile environment that they left and found other things to do.

That's a fabulous theory. Now support it.

 

[Father Time]

A beautiful, and telling post.

It's hard to believe that, as common as this situation is, our friends on the left refuse to conceive of this reality.

It's anecdotal evidence contradicted by other anecdotal evidence elsewhere in this thread. Strange that you'd ignore those that contradict what you want to believe.

Oh and professors leaning left is not proof that they're slanting the curriculum to the left.

You might sound so much more intelligent, or at least close to average, if you limited the words that you use in your posts to words you can actually define.

an·ec·dot·al (nk-dtl)
adj..
Based on casual observations or indications rather than rigorous or scientific analysis.

Now, read the definiton again. And again.

Now re-read this from post #195

"Higher Education Research Institute at the UCLA published a survey in 2002, of 55,521 professors at 416 colleges and universities nationwide. They found that 48% of the professors identified themselves as ‘liberal’ or ‘far left;’ 34% as ‘middle of the road. In 2004, Klein and Western published a study of the voter registration of the professors at U of C, Berkeley, and at Stanford, over 1000 professors, and concluded that the findings supported the ‘one party campus’ conjecture. At Berkeley, 9.9 to 1, and at Stanford, 7.6 to 1 of Democrats to Republicans. Ideological diversity does not exist on most campuses.
In 2005 Klein and Stern surveyed 1,678 professors, and found that faculty is heavily skewed toward Democratic, and the most lopsided fields are Anthropology (30.2 to 1) and Sociology (28 to 1)."



Does this fit the definition of 'anecdotal'?

Do you fit the definition of 'normal'?

I was referring to the 'beautiful and telling post' you quoted, not the polls.

 

[geauxtohell]

Now re-read this from post #195

"Higher Education Research Institute at the UCLA published a survey in 2002, of 55,521 professors at 416 colleges and universities nationwide. They found that 48% of the professors identified themselves as ‘liberal’ or ‘far left;’ 34% as ‘middle of the road. In 2004, Klein and Western published a study of the voter registration of the professors at U of C, Berkeley, and at Stanford, over 1000 professors, and concluded that the findings supported the ‘one party campus’ conjecture. At Berkeley, 9.9 to 1, and at Stanford, 7.6 to 1 of Democrats to Republicans. Ideological diversity does not exist on most campuses.
In 2005 Klein and Stern surveyed 1,678 professors, and found that faculty is heavily skewed toward Democratic, and the most lopsided fields are Anthropology (30.2 to 1) and Sociology (28 to 1)."

Which means that, in the best study (by virtue of the largest n value), less than half of professors in this nation consider themselves to be liberal.

What are you guys bitching about again?

 

[Father Time]

Education makes people more liberal and that is just a fact.

Knowing MORE makes people more understanding of other human beings.

Republicans just hate that shit

Depends on the meaning of 'education.' For some, it means the formal setting of grade schoool through college...

For others, experience in the real world.

A modern parable:

Father/Daughter Talk
A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. Like so many others her age, she considered herself to be a very liberal Democrat, and was very much in favor of "the redistribution of wealth."

She was deeply ashamed that her father was a rather staunch Conservative, a feeling she openly expressed. Based on the lectures that she had participated in, and the occasional chat with a professor, she felt that her father had for years harbored an evil, selfish desire to keep what he thought should be his.

One day she was challenging her father on his opposition to higher taxes on the rich and the addition of more government welfare programs. The self-professed objectivity proclaimed by her professors had to be the truth and she indicated so to her father.

He responded by asking how she was doing in school.
Taken aback, she answered rather haughtily that she had a 4.0 GPA, and let him know that it was tough to maintain, insisting that she was taking a very difficult course load and was constantly studying, which left her no time to go out and party like other people she knew. She didn't even have time for a boyfriend, and didn't really have many college friends because she spent all her time studying.
Her father listened and then asked, "How is your friend Audrey doing?"

She replied, "Audrey is barely getting by. All she takes are easy classes, she never studies, and she barely has a 2.0 GPA. She is so popular on campus; college for her is a blast. She's always invited to all the parties, and lots of times she doesn't even show up for classes because she's too hung over."

Her wise father asked his daughter, "Why don't you go to the Dean's office and ask him to deduct a 1.0 off your GPA and give it to your friend who only has a 2.0. That way you will both have a 3.0 GPA and certainly that would be a fair and equal distribution of GPA."

The daughter, visibly shocked by her father's suggestion, angrily fired back, "That wouldn't be fair! I have worked really hard for my grades! I've invested a lot of time, and a lot of hard work! Audrey has done next to nothing toward her degree. She played while I worked my tail off!"

The father slowly smiled, winked and said gently, "Welcome to the Conservative party."

So do you have any good stories or just partisan dribble?

It sounds like something straight out of this
snopes.com: Glurge Gallery (Glurge Gallery)

 

[Father Time]

Now re-read this from post #195

"Higher Education Research Institute at the UCLA published a survey in 2002, of 55,521 professors at 416 colleges and universities nationwide. They found that 48% of the professors identified themselves as ‘liberal’ or ‘far left;’ 34% as ‘middle of the road. In 2004, Klein and Western published a study of the voter registration of the professors at U of C, Berkeley, and at Stanford, over 1000 professors, and concluded that the findings supported the ‘one party campus’ conjecture. At Berkeley, 9.9 to 1, and at Stanford, 7.6 to 1 of Democrats to Republicans. Ideological diversity does not exist on most campuses.
In 2005 Klein and Stern surveyed 1,678 professors, and found that faculty is heavily skewed toward Democratic, and the most lopsided fields are Anthropology (30.2 to 1) and Sociology (28 to 1)."

Which means that, in the best study (by virtue of the largest n value), less than half of professors in this nation consider themselves to be liberal.

What are you guys bitching about again?

They always need something to bitch about it, doesn't matter if it's justified or not.

 

[PoliticalChic]

I have come to realize that one of the problems of those on the left is the echo chamber in which they live. This board may be their only interface with the real world.

This board is the "real world"?

What an idiotic statement in all regards.

This board, and alternative viewpoints that one finds, are the closest that many leftists will ever have to deal with in terms of opposing ideas.

The truth is one that I have found quite often: those on the left know and accept only what the left views as truth.

We on the right know what the left knows, as we are inundated with their views in the media and the more prominent aspects of the culture, and we are aware of the truth that study of history, and experience has revealed.

1. Every totalist regime has caused death, torture, slavery.

2. Geoges Sorel, the father of syndicalism, and major contributor to socialism, fascism, progressivism, instilled in leftist proponents the importance of lies and myths.
"His identification of the need for a deliberately-conceived "myth" to sway crowds into concerted action was put to use by the Fascist and Communist movements of the 1920s and after." Georges Sorel

Based on the acceptance of leftist mythology you folks are, generally, quite easy to manipulate.

As in 'Hope and Change.'

 

[geauxtohell]

They always need something to bitch about it, doesn't matter if it's justified or not.

Hey, if conservatives want to relegate their kids to being a permanent underclass by refusing to support their academic endeavors, I guess it's their right.

I would think it's massively unfair, but their right.

 

[PoliticalChic]

It's anecdotal evidence contradicted by other anecdotal evidence elsewhere in this thread. Strange that you'd ignore those that contradict what you want to believe.

Oh and professors leaning left is not proof that they're slanting the curriculum to the left.

You might sound so much more intelligent, or at least close to average, if you limited the words that you use in your posts to words you can actually define.

an·ec·dot·al (nk-dtl)
adj..
Based on casual observations or indications rather than rigorous or scientific analysis.

Now, read the definiton again. And again.

Now re-read this from post #195

"Higher Education Research Institute at the UCLA published a survey in 2002, of 55,521 professors at 416 colleges and universities nationwide. They found that 48% of the professors identified themselves as ‘liberal’ or ‘far left;’ 34% as ‘middle of the road. In 2004, Klein and Western published a study of the voter registration of the professors at U of C, Berkeley, and at Stanford, over 1000 professors, and concluded that the findings supported the ‘one party campus’ conjecture. At Berkeley, 9.9 to 1, and at Stanford, 7.6 to 1 of Democrats to Republicans. Ideological diversity does not exist on most campuses.
In 2005 Klein and Stern surveyed 1,678 professors, and found that faculty is heavily skewed toward Democratic, and the most lopsided fields are Anthropology (30.2 to 1) and Sociology (28 to 1)."



Does this fit the definition of 'anecdotal'?

Do you fit the definition of 'normal'?

I was referring to the 'beautiful and telling post' you quoted, not the polls.

So, then, where in you post will I find you statement along the lines that most of academia is left leaning?

And your statement that this bias doesn't find its way into the curriculum or classroom, that is an excellent example of 'anecdotal.'

 

[Father Time]

You might sound so much more intelligent, or at least close to average, if you limited the words that you use in your posts to words you can actually define.

an·ec·dot·al (nk-dtl)
adj..
Based on casual observations or indications rather than rigorous or scientific analysis.

Now, read the definiton again. And again.

Now re-read this from post #195

"Higher Education Research Institute at the UCLA published a survey in 2002, of 55,521 professors at 416 colleges and universities nationwide. They found that 48% of the professors identified themselves as ‘liberal’ or ‘far left;’ 34% as ‘middle of the road. In 2004, Klein and Western published a study of the voter registration of the professors at U of C, Berkeley, and at Stanford, over 1000 professors, and concluded that the findings supported the ‘one party campus’ conjecture. At Berkeley, 9.9 to 1, and at Stanford, 7.6 to 1 of Democrats to Republicans. Ideological diversity does not exist on most campuses.
In 2005 Klein and Stern surveyed 1,678 professors, and found that faculty is heavily skewed toward Democratic, and the most lopsided fields are Anthropology (30.2 to 1) and Sociology (28 to 1)."



Does this fit the definition of 'anecdotal'?

Do you fit the definition of 'normal'?

I was referring to the 'beautiful and telling post' you quoted, not the polls.

So, then, where in you post will I find you statement along the lines that most of academia is left leaning?

And your statement that this bias doesn't find its way into the curriculum or classroom, that is an excellent example of 'anecdotal.'

Ok do tell me where I said those things.

 

[geauxtohell]

This board, and alternative viewpoints that one finds, are the closest that many leftists will ever have to deal with in terms of opposing ideas.

The truth is one that I have found quite often: those on the left know and accept only what the left views as truth.

We on the right know what the left knows, as we are inundated with their views in the media and the more prominent aspects of the culture, and we are aware of the truth that study of history, and experience has revealed.

What's really funny about your admitted thought process is that you actually believe this crap.

Why don't you save the bandwidth and just type "Conservatives good. Liberals baaaaaaaaaaaaaad." over and over?

I like to have fun on here, but I don't for a second think one side has all the answers and the other is inherently bad. Perhaps I benefited from my education in that regard.

You forfeit any claims of academic honesty by your absolute statements that are absurd on their face.

I am left to wonder what "real world" you live in where the only people that are actually living in it think exactly as you do.

Based on the acceptance of leftist mythology you folks are, generally, quite easy to manipulate.

As if group-think is relegated to one political ideology.

 

[Father Time]

The truth is one that I have found quite often: those on the left know and accept only what the left views as truth.

we are aware of the truth that study of history, and experience has revealed.

In summary.

Leftists live in an echo chamber convincing themselves they're right.

We on the right KNOW that we're right.

Oh the irony.

 

[geauxtohell]

The truth is one that I have found quite often: those on the left know and accept only what the left views as truth.

we are aware of the truth that study of history, and experience has revealed.

In summary.

Leftists live in an echo chamber convincing themselves they're right.

We on the right KNOW that we're right.

Oh the irony.

"Folks, all I ask is that you tune in three hours a day, every day......."

 

[Foxfyre]

Those anti-establishment, anti-traditional values, and sometimes anti-America children of the 60's eventually put away their hookahs and beads and became productive members of the middle class but they didn't lose all that dogma. And eventually it was they who achieved senority in the news rooms and in academia and were mostly impressed by and hired people who believed and talked as they did. Conservatives were either mostly not hired or found themselves in such a philosophically hostile environment that they left and found other things to do.

That's a fabulous theory. Now support it.

Naw, I'll just cite it as my opinion based on life experience, extensive reading, and based on a degree of a position of authority. I'll just point to the study PolChic posted and another oft posted one from UCLA defining leftwing bias identified in the media as evidence the situation exists and refer you to writings of such historians as Thomas Sowell, Shelby Steele, and others who have thoroughly researched the phenomenon. You'll find lots of leftwing sites who will dispute my theory, but I don't think you will be able to find any objective source to do so.

 

[PoliticalChic]

Education makes people more liberal and that is just a fact.

Knowing MORE makes people more understanding of other human beings.

Republicans just hate that shit

Depends on the meaning of 'education.' For some, it means the formal setting of grade schoool through college...

For others, experience in the real world.

A modern parable:

Father/Daughter Talk
A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. Like so many others her age, she considered herself to be a very liberal Democrat, and was very much in favor of "the redistribution of wealth."

She was deeply ashamed that her father was a rather staunch Conservative, a feeling she openly expressed. Based on the lectures that she had participated in, and the occasional chat with a professor, she felt that her father had for years harbored an evil, selfish desire to keep what he thought should be his.

One day she was challenging her father on his opposition to higher taxes on the rich and the addition of more government welfare programs. The self-professed objectivity proclaimed by her professors had to be the truth and she indicated so to her father.

He responded by asking how she was doing in school.
Taken aback, she answered rather haughtily that she had a 4.0 GPA, and let him know that it was tough to maintain, insisting that she was taking a very difficult course load and was constantly studying, which left her no time to go out and party like other people she knew. She didn't even have time for a boyfriend, and didn't really have many college friends because she spent all her time studying.
Her father listened and then asked, "How is your friend Audrey doing?"

She replied, "Audrey is barely getting by. All she takes are easy classes, she never studies, and she barely has a 2.0 GPA. She is so popular on campus; college for her is a blast. She's always invited to all the parties, and lots of times she doesn't even show up for classes because she's too hung over."

Her wise father asked his daughter, "Why don't you go to the Dean's office and ask him to deduct a 1.0 off your GPA and give it to your friend who only has a 2.0. That way you will both have a 3.0 GPA and certainly that would be a fair and equal distribution of GPA."

The daughter, visibly shocked by her father's suggestion, angrily fired back, "That wouldn't be fair! I have worked really hard for my grades! I've invested a lot of time, and a lot of hard work! Audrey has done next to nothing toward her degree. She played while I worked my tail off!"

The father slowly smiled, winked and said gently, "Welcome to the Conservative party."

So do you have any good stories or just partisan dribble?

It sounds like something straight out of this
snopes.com: Glurge Gallery (Glurge Gallery)

I sure do!
(Just don't read it before bedtime)

The Red Banner Youth Brigade

The Kwan family met the Youth Brigade in their living room, which had shrunk to the size of a prison cell due to the number of shouting youth surrounding the family. They gazed at the youth in bewilderment unable to understand the evil that they had done.
“Do you repent? Do you confess to clinging to the old values?”
“Confess and seek reeducation and we will spare you!”
“You are guilty of old thought, old culture, old values…”
“You have built a lackey’s empire on the backs of the people!”
Kwan and his wife, along with their twelve-year-old son were bound and defenseless.
“You are part of the old…”
The tall leader of the cadre engages in a furious dialectic, spittle flying from his mouth.
“You are part of the old! Do you repent?”
With every line he spoke, he swung the black baton, heavy as a cricket bat.
“You will reform your decadent ways!”
“The old ways are a threat to the collective good of the people!”
“You will die if you retain your old beliefs!”
“Repent! Reject the old! Admit you have been seduced by unbeneficial and decadent thought!”
It continued for endless minutes- until the blows the student rained down stole the life from the family. The iron-tipped baton left bloody forms at his feet as he recited the catechism the students thirstily sought to hear.

From “The Stone Monkey,” by Jeffery Deaver

You might like this one, too.

"Through 1966, secondary schools and colleges closed in China. Students -- many from the age of nine through eighteen -- followed Maoist directives to destroy things of the past that they believed should be no part of the new China: old customs, old habits, old culture and old thinking -- the "four olds." In a state of euphoria and with support from the government and army, the students went about China's cities and villages, wrecking old buildings, old temples and old art objects. To make a new and wonderful China, the Red Guards attacked as insufficiently revolutionary their parents, teachers, school administrators and everyone they could find as targets, including "intellectuals" and "capitalist roaders" within the Communist Party."
Filled with righteousness, the power of their numbers, and support from Mao, the campaigns for revolutionary change became violent. People seen as evil were beaten to death. Thousands of people died, including many who had committed suicide.
Mao's China


Hey, should I add some about the great left-wing heros who infiltrated Democrat administrations????

Just say the word.

See how easy it is when one is educated?

 

[PoliticalChic]

I was referring to the 'beautiful and telling post' you quoted, not the polls.

So, then, where in you post will I find you statement along the lines that most of academia is left leaning?

And your statement that this bias doesn't find its way into the curriculum or classroom, that is an excellent example of 'anecdotal.'

Ok do tell me where I said those things.

Exactly.

You neglected to say 'those things.'

 

[Father Time]

Now I wonder should I counter with stories of people being persecuted for having new ideas and forced to submit to tradition for traditions sake.

Or should I just laugh at the pathetic attempt to associate new ideas with totalitarianism and forced acceptance?

I think I'll choose the latter.