How will viewpoint diversity change American colleges?

[Anonymous]

Instead of viewpoint diversity maybe we should talk about actual education? Unpopular opinion here, but I think a lot of companies are looking at ai to replace base level laptop workers in large part because the basic quality of graduates fell off a cliff sometime in the last decade. I consult in tech and one of the recurring conversations we're having is the basic skills issues with new grads, new hires, and interns. For reference, I graduated this century. I'm now supervising people who graduated within the last 5 years from much more prestigious programs from far more prestigious universities. They lack skills that were considered normal a decade ago. Worse, they seem to be allergic to learning. We probably will opt not to retain any of the interns at the end of the year. I genuinely feel sorry for our latest crop of interns. They have degrees, but somehow failed to acquire skills. In a bigger sense I feel a lot of them are deeply uneducated. I think politics has become a crutch for not talking about the basic failure of higher education to maintain standards over the past two decades. So we're churning out graduates who will in many cases always be underemployed because they came out of school with degrees but minimal education.

[Anonymous]

The strawmanning of conservatives is wild

[Anonymous]

This is clearly DEI that right wingers can get behind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look at Trump. He attacks elite colleges because it plays well to his less educated followers. Yet, when it comes to his own family and children, they all attended elite schools. The same is true of his cabinet and administration and throughout government. Of course, they know better and understand the value of an elite education. It amazes me that this nonsense sells to their constituents. “Do as I say, not as I do.” I suppose that it’s effective in keeping the underclass in line.

There aren’t many options. You guys infest almost all colleges in the country.

You’re already dead inside. Why don’t you sack up and finish the job?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Viewpoint diversity = reasserting the dominance of conservative white male viewpoint.

It’s affirmative action for mediocre white men. Majority of doctorates are now earned by women who might be more likely to have feminist ideas etc so it’s very important to set aside some seats in all top university faculties for dinosaurs.

+1

Didn't we get rid of affirmative action?

Don't hire those amoral fkers.

[Anonymous]

I don’t care whether a professor is conservative or liberal. I want them to teach the class. I’d rather they not lean in too much on their personal views but that’s expected outside of the hard sciences. I suppose if I had to choose between all liberal or all conservative, I’d prefer a mix. Let’s hear it all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
There aren’t many options. You guys infest almost all colleges in the country.

Says the traitor cockroach.

Trumpies aren’t conservative. You’re Putin facilitating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A recent article by Claremont Mckenna College Government Professor Jon Shields defends the merits of hiring "conservatives, not Republicans," arguing that party alignment and institutional affiliation with Conservatism is not the goal, but enhancing real viewpoint diversity and improving methodological discourse amongst Academics: https://www.chronicle.com/article/hire-conservatives-not-republicans. Harvard Law School is in talks of hiring Sherif Girgis, known for his work What Is Marriage? Man and Woman: A Defense and his anti-LGBT views in regards to legal protections of marriage. How do you see this improving academia?

Good for him. We need less snowflakes in work force. They’re just lawsuits waiting to happen.

How many lawsuits has the president initiated over his career?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is clearly DEI that right wingers can get behind.

My thought too. It’s basically affirmative action for conservatives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hopefully it results in less leftist indoctrination and more education.

Define leftist indoctrination and why wouldn't right-leaning indoctrination occur? Much of Sherif Girgis's viewpoint is informed by Catholicism, which is a mythical belief in a sky daddy that informs a chosen aristocrat to tell you to love and hate certain people by twisting sacred texts. That isn't very educating, just propaganda sanctioned by a religion.

NP: That's not what Catholicism is and attacking religon is not a very Deomocratic stance. You won't' win any argumetns this way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It probably won't happen. Conservatives both complain that college is propaganda and that they aren't represented. It's also interesting, because the field of academia is painfully conservative and meritocratic, but conservatives won't compete in the den of ideas.

Today's conservatvoe tend to chase the almighty dollar, so there just won't be a lot of them seeking the poverty of academia.

But, as I learned in college and law school, you are made stronger in the process of developing your ideas and ideals when you have heard the best arguments for other positions and leanred them better than the person espousing them. Knowledge is power. Open your minds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a lawyer, I believe that people benefit from hearing different viewpoints. The best way to understand an issue and strengthen your argument is to vigorously defend it. Everyone benefits from having more viewpoints on campus.

That said, I’m astounded when conservatives tell me that their children are being brainwashed by liberal college professors. I had both liberal and conservative professors. It was a thought provoking experience but only a moron is brainwashed by a professor’s political leanings. An intelligent kid can think for themselves.

Same. When people claim their kids were brainwashed in college what they mean is, "I'm angry that my kid learned to disagree with me and support their view with strong arguments." This is usually only said by people known to be fairly controlling parents (of any political view).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look at Trump. He attacks elite colleges because it plays well to his less educated followers. Yet, when it comes to his own family and children, they all attended elite schools. The same is true of his cabinet and administration and throughout government. Of course, they know better and understand the value of an elite education. It amazes me that this nonsense sells to their constituents. “Do as I say, not as I do.” I suppose that it’s effective in keeping the underclass in line.

It has become clear that the attack on wokeness in academia will not stop. It's about the only thing people still like about what trump is doing.

After trump is gone, the next republican president will be abler to make political hay out of attacking wokeness in colleges.

[Anonymous]

Professors are liberal to left because they were all grad students once and therefore lived in abject poverty (unless they had a trust fund) with no labor rights, a completely replaceable cog in the TAing machine. No property, no vacations, qualify for food stamps for almost a decade. Living like that for 5-10 years will turn even the most rock ribbed Republican into a fire breathing Marxist. We don't know how to fix that problem and therefore any feints at viewpoint diversity are just spitting in the wind. Academia radicalizes its young by neglect at a faster rate than we can introduce new conservatives. The pipeline is full of poison.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Instead of viewpoint diversity maybe we should talk about actual education? Unpopular opinion here, but I think a lot of companies are looking at ai to replace base level laptop workers in large part because the basic quality of graduates fell off a cliff sometime in the last decade. I consult in tech and one of the recurring conversations we're having is the basic skills issues with new grads, new hires, and interns. For reference, I graduated this century. I'm now supervising people who graduated within the last 5 years from much more prestigious programs from far more prestigious universities. They lack skills that were considered normal a decade ago. Worse, they seem to be allergic to learning. We probably will opt not to retain any of the interns at the end of the year. I genuinely feel sorry for our latest crop of interns. They have degrees, but somehow failed to acquire skills. In a bigger sense I feel a lot of them are deeply uneducated. I think politics has become a crutch for not talking about the basic failure of higher education to maintain standards over the past two decades. So we're churning out graduates who will in many cases always be underemployed because they came out of school with degrees but minimal education.

What skills are they lacking?