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[quote=Anonymous]I'm conservative, not a Republican and while I'm a registered independent I don't think I lean any more towards the Republican side or the Democratic side, since I generally think both of them include things that are unacceptable to me.

I'm not thrilled with the state of higher education, and it looks like I'm in the majority, based on http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/07/26/most-americans-say-higher-ed-is-heading-in-wrong-direction-but-partisans-disagree-on-why/ .

"Among Americans who say the country’s higher education system is going in the wrong direction, 84% cite high tuition costs as a major reason why they think this is the case. About two-thirds (65%) say students not getting the skills they need in the workplace is a major reason, while roughly half cite colleges and universities being too concerned about protecting students from views they might find offensive (54%) or professors bringing their political and social views into the classroom (50%)."

Fairly well describes me. The cost is a big issue for me. I live in Maryland, have a child who is looking at colleges, and even in-state colleges are going to cost DC an arm and a leg. We have to include in that an understanding at a state flagship, DC may be on a 5 year plan due to challenges in getting into required courses, and depending on the program of study college students today can be left with very little room in their schedules to get a broad education which used to be a hallmark of the American University system.

I am also concerned about the skills college students are acquiring, but that's inextricably linked to the costs. My undergraduate degree is in philosophy, but I was able to pay for it myself entirely by working during the summers and school year. I worked more than full time in the summers and almost full time during the school year, since I'm in my 40's and didn't benefit from the apparently very reasonably priced college of the 60's, but even in the 80s and 90s, with scholarships, I was able to pay-as-I-went. When you're leaving college with a degree that's questionable in the job market, like philosophy, it helps to have no debt and some job experience. College students today are often holding significant debt and many have limited job experience because more jobs require a degree than used to.

I'm concerned that we're not teaching students, or people in general, how to use their words to defend their points of view and to convince people who hold theoretically incorrect points of view, but that's unrelated to college. That's the entire culture. I have no problem with profs sharing their political and social views, but I don't expect them to be so blind to other views that they cannot grade or assess work that has a contrary view, which unfortunately happens occasionally. In that case I would expect a college to have a process allowing a student to appeal.

The information I read indicates OP's title is clearly a biased, inaccurate reading. Surprise?[/quote]

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