University Elitists Force Ideology on Students

[Farm Boy]

Just as !!CONFORM!! stifles the intellectual development and achievement of some people so can a lack of structure. A communal agenda and beat, extended participation and the like, is placing academia first and foremost for some people. It's not like there is a dearth of free-reign university environments out there. Just look at basically any of the big teenager-mill state universities. They couldn't afford to structure 20,000 undergrads that strictly if they wanted to.

 

[warpus]

Eh, that much hand holding is just not necessary at a centre of high learning. The students should be there of their own accord, making decisions as adults, not being dragged to silly assemblies and pep rallies, against their will.

 

[Farm Boy]

Structure and communal activity is by definition hand holding? It sounds more like you are conflating "high learning" with personal social norms.

 

[dutchfire]

Mandatory attendance is likely to be a part of students' future careers.

 

[warpus]

Perhaps, but again, this smells of high-school level education, not university-level. But that's just me.

 

[Traitorfish]

I'm a little disappointed that nobody has picked up on a place called "Liberty" forcing students to attend political rallies.

You are hitting the nail on its head. Of course none of these have anything to do with Marxism. Nor do movies, books or history that have not any explicit endorsement of Marxism for that matter. The problem is that, particularly in the humanities and social sciences, academics these days seem rather hell bent on connecting it with Marxian thought.

"These days"? What decade do you live in? Marxism hasn't been fashionable since the 1980s; it's a weird, slightly disreputable specialization at best.

 

[Farm Boy]

...isn't it one of your schticks that freedom is a communal enterprise?

Did you have a really good retort if somebody had picked up on it? Do you want an alley-oop? Can do if you'd like.

 

[Traitorfish]

Freedom might be a communal enterprise, but ordering people to gather and applaud Great Leader certainly isn't.

 

[Farm Boy]

I always dread getting smacked around for 5 pages when it comes up, but the social nicety of applause, while expected, does not necessarily equal approval of the speakers ideas. JR nailed the Rand Paul t-shirt wearing students. If that sort of thing was present in any significant amount I would guess there is at least some critical thinking going on. Maybe I'm overly optimistic. It's college students after all. Maybe they just sobered up enough to troll for a half hour.

I guess I never really had a problem with teachers demanding attendance. I mean, I had problems conforming to it sometimes, but given how much each lecture cost if you broke it down it seems like it was probably a good idea to force people, largely people learning to be adults for the first time, to attend at least somewhat more frequently for their own good. Adult training wheels, persay. You know. College.

 

[Traitorfish]

Lectures, maybe. But lectures are intended to make people smarter. I don't think that's the result you'd get from an hour in the company of Senator Cruz.

 

[Farm Boy]

Listening to a man that has what is not a totally insignificant shot at carrying around that American doomsday briefcase is something I think more of us should probably do than actually do. It might not make you smarter, but it would probably make you more educated.

 

[warpus]

"So this idiot can be president.. OMG I can be anything I want to, if I kiss enough butt and have rich friends and lose sight of morality"

 

[Traitorfish]

Listening to a man that has what is not a totally insignificant shot at carrying around that American doomsday briefcase is something I think more of us should probably do than actually do. It might not make you smarter, but it would probably make you more educated.

With no sort of scholarly commentary, no reading list, no discussion? That would seem to suggest that the university itself is irrelevant to the process of education, and if that's the case, where do they derive the intellectual authority to suggest that Cruz is any more appropriate a font of education than any other competitor to the Oval Office?

 

[Farm Boy]

Again, I might be overly optimistic, but I would expect some scholarly commentary afterwards(if rudimentary and untrained) as well as discussion around the quads and amongst peers. If almost everyone saw it, almost everyone can argue about it. I never got crib sheets from the theater department when my friends and I went to see a play, but we talked about it amongst ourselves afterwards, and dumb as we might have been it seems like perspective, if not intelligence, was gained. It was an educational experience. Having those experiences spoon fed to me in a format that was easy and convenient to attend with like-minded peers was not cheap. It was a hell of an opportunity. I'd be saying the same thing if a university invited Hillary or the Pope or a state senator. Even in a total absence of the ability to be a font of education, power and influence drive relevancy.

 

[Arakhor]

The Pope is not only Catholic eek, but also supports the theory of evolution. He won't be seen anywhere near Liberty University most likely.

 

[Traitorfish]

Again, I might be overly optimistic, but I would expect some scholarly commentary afterwards(if rudimentary and untrained) as well as discussion around the quads and amongst peers. If almost everyone saw it, almost everyone can argue about it. I never got crib sheets from the theater department when my friends and I went to see a play, but we talked about it amongst ourselves afterwards, and dumb as we might have been it seems like perspective, if not intelligence, was gained. It was an educational experience. Having those experiences spoon fed to me in a format that was easy and convenient to attend with like-minded peers was not cheap. It was a hell of an opportunity. I'd be saying the same thing if a university invited Hillary or the Pope or a state senator. Even in a total absence of the ability to be a font of education, power and influence drive relevancy.

And if the students were attending "Benevolent Despotism U.", that would be one thing. But as it is...

 

[Timsup2nothin]

And if the students were attending "Benevolent Despotism U.", that would be one thing. But as it is...

In the reverse-speak notation of the US conservative movement "Liberty University" does in fact translate as "Benevolent Despotism U".

 

[Farm Boy]

Right. They're more communistic than they'd ever admit. Or is that the other way around. I get so confused by all the quadruple talk sometimes. Especially when people really really mean it.

 

[caketastydelish]

Ted Cruz ads have now infiltrated CFC, and I think this thread might have something to do with it.

 

[Ajidica]

I'm a little disappointed that nobody has picked up on a place called "Liberty" forcing students to attend political rallies.


"These days"? What decade do you live in? Marxism hasn't been fashionable since the 1980s; it's a weird, slightly disreputable specialization at best.

Not to completely derail the thread, but what generally is Marxism in an academic context?