Tee hee!
To answer yer question, the liberal bias is not as big as people make it out to be. 99% of the time, you won't even notice it; some of your profs may not make the US out to be a saint, but that will probably be the majority of it.
As for this,
Quote:I'm afraid that I did not word my initial post very well. I am not afraid of new ideas as much as I was concerned how greatly professors expected students to conform to their political ideologies.
The answer is pretty much not at all. And I went to a liberal university.
Cycloptichorn
rmrrose820 wrote:
The town I live in is actually very liberal (for a town in TX that is) so any "conservative circles" I might be involved in would be composed primarily of high school students in my club who really don't know what they believe and my parents. I'm actually the most liberal member of my household-my father being as Republican as Rush and my mother being somewhere in between my dad and me.
Have I addressed everything? Oh just call me Rose or Rachel if you don't want to type rmrrose820. I don't think my input is required on the color of stains on posters' pants, whether conservatives are dickless or not, or the political preference of pussy. I'll leave that to the boys on here.
Rose - I think you're gonna make it just fine.
That was a fairly sexist shot at "the boys" above, but we forgive you (even if the PC crowd won't).
Don't give up on St Johns. Think of all those Midshipmen!
Cornell does have a high percentage of granola types running around with the dred locked hair and hemp clothing. Very crunchy down there.
rmrrose820 wrote:I have heard from my parents, numerous teachers, students currently enrolled in universities, and family that college makes you more liberal. I was not sure how true this statement was and thus posted here. So yes, most of it is from rumor and personal testimonies from people I know.
I don't think that it is any kind of brainwashing, agenda, or peer-pressure that "makes you more liberal." You go to college, choose your major, choose your classes and profs. You learn. You discuss. You are probably exposed to a lot of ideas. You
make up your own mind.
If this makes you more liberal, so be it. If this makes you more conservative, so be it.
Go read the inscription on the tower of the University of Texas*.
rmrrose820 wrote:I'm afraid that I did not word my initial post very well. I am not afraid of new ideas as much as I was concerned how greatly professors expected students to conform to their political ideologies.
Most professors will not expect you to conform to their ideas. A few might. (I expect this is as true of conservative profs as liberal profs.) I learned to research my professors before enrolling in classes. If you encounter a legitimate case of bullying, then you take it to the Omsbudsman.
*Every University of Texas student has seen the inscription on our tower: "Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free."
rmrrose820 wrote:
I seriously considered St. John's for some time before deciding on Rice and Cornell.
I gave everything I had to get into St Johns but just wasn't qualified.Pity, it's a great school
The pants stain referred to another thread where something sexist was said and Free Duck spilled coffee on her pants in a fit of laughing. Sometimes your threads don't entirely revolve around you.
You seem very mature and have a good perspective on the political scene. I would hope that if you encountered a biased prof you'd stick to your guns whether they be conservative or liberal.
Nice chatting.
rmrrose820 wrote:I have read the majority of that post-although in all honesty I'm not sure it helped me come to an understanding one way or the other considering there were so many contentious political opinions being hurtled that I was a little bowled over.
LOL
Welcome to A2K Rose - I think we're gonna enjoy your presence.
Great signature line, too.
rmrrose820 wrote:I have read the majority of that post-although in all honesty I'm not sure it helped me come to an understanding one way or the other considering there were so many contentious political opinions being hurtled that I was a little bowled over.
Yes, we're a sharp-elbowed bunch in here. It's not all decorous like your debate tournaments in HS and college are compelled to be.
But some of us just might be the smartest people you ever meet. (georgeob1 thinks I'm talking about
him now, but I'm not... :wink: )
Bookmark this place, and by all means, stick around. Post on how your competitions go in that other thread. Answer a question -- or offer an opinion when you have one.
We want to hear from you.
DrewDad wrote:Most professors will not expect you to conform to their ideas. A few might. (I expect this is as true of conservative profs as liberal profs.)
Again, I'm in a different country so it's all probably totally irrelevant anyway, but I've never experienced any professor pushing me to conform to their
ideas. The closest I ever got, I guess, was when our deeply conservative teacher of Russian culture and religion (I dunno if he was conservative politically, I just mean he seemed to have walked straight out of the 1890s or something) seemed slightly perturbed when I decided to explain my class something about the Russian emigre thinkers Zaicev and Bulgakov (not the writer) by making an analogy about the Dutch soccer team and its then-coach Guus Hiddink. Dont know what it was about but it had the professor mildly sputtering from his chair in the corner about whether I was being disrespectful? LOL
Still gave me a good grade tho
rose
We like ya. Stick around.
Lola wrote:Oh, Texas A&M is a very conservative school. The A and M stand for Agriculture and Muffler Repair and it's in the good ole Heart-O-Texas. They're not called Aggies for nothin.......sorry to all those liberal A&M graduates.......but for those of you Aggie liberals out there, I'll bet you're a minority.
Of course it's conservative. I believe it is one of only 4 or 5 schools from which one can graduate with a Regular (as opposed to reserve) Army Commission. Much like VMA and The Citadel. Could be wrong on that, so don't sound too smug if you go around quoting me.
I happen to agree with PDiddie. Some of the smartest people I know do post on a2k.
PDiddie thinks I'm talking about him. . . .
Re: Whew long reply!
rmrrose820 wrote:
Boomerang - Social responsibility is not immoral as long as it does not contradict your idea of personal responsibility. At least that is how I look at it. I think it is influenced greatly by our politics. Or perhaps our idea of social responsiblity defines/influences our politics?
I'm still confused.
How can social responsibility and personal responsibilty conflict?
How can something good for society be bad for me, a card carrying member of society?
Or, the converse: how can something bad for society be good for me?
I'm sure you'll do quite well at whatever college you attend!
roger wrote:I happen to agree with PDiddie. Some of the smartest people I know do post on a2k.
PDiddie thinks I'm talking about him. . . .
I
know you're talking about me... :wink:
Reply to boomerang
Quote:How can social responsibility and personal responsibilty conflict?
How can something good for society be bad for me, a card carrying member of society?
Or, the converse: how can something bad for society be good for me?
Personal responsibility - working for what you receive. That is what I mean. Social responsibility is not bad. I just do not believe that as a "card carrying member of society" I am supposed to support people who do not work (except in certain cases of disability etc.). I do not agree with many of the leftist social agendas which seem to take away personal responsibility and the incentive to work for what you receive. I sometimes feel that many democrats seek to make the social responsibility more important than the personal responsibility and pamper anyone and everyone. Whereas many republicans completely refuse to provide any social care for anyone. Both are wrong. Basically I'm not a "bleeding-heart liberal" but I'm not an insensitive conservative either. I hope this answers your question.
Re: Whew long reply!
boomerang wrote:rmrrose820 wrote:
Boomerang - Social responsibility is not immoral as long as it does not contradict your idea of personal responsibility. At least that is how I look at it. I think it is influenced greatly by our politics. Or perhaps our idea of social responsiblity defines/influences our politics?
I'm still confused.
How can social responsibility and personal responsibilty conflict?
How can something good for society be bad for me, a card carrying member of society?
Or, the converse: how can something bad for society be good for me?
I'm sure you'll do quite well at whatever college you attend!
Do cigarette manufacturers make something that is good for society, or detrimental for society? Manufacturing/selling cigarettes=bad for society, good for cigarette manufacturers.
Progressive tax system=good for society, bad for higher-income individuals.
To get back to the initial question, you may discover in college that the boundaries between liberal and conservative are not as clear as you think. Moreover, the current policy packages offered by the two parties don't necessary represent ideologically coherent schemes. They are designed to attract certain demographics, not to constitute unified philosophies. As a result, identifying oneself along party lines (or on "conservative/liberal" lines) only gives the illusion of consistency.
Does college attendance make a person more liberal? Sure it does, for most. How can a person read and study works like Shakespeare, Freud, Mark Twain, Proust, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, J.D. Salanger, Truman Capote, Hemingway, Philip Roth, Richard Feynman, Ralph Ellison, Dickens, Vladimir Nabokov, Jerzy Kozinsky, Langston Hughes, Ted Hughes, Faulkner, Flaubert, Stephen Crane, George Orwell, Camus, Thornton Wilder, Sherwood Anderson, James Joyce, Tom Wolfe, Dorothy Parker, Henry Miller, John Dos Passos, Thomas Mann, Joseph Heller, John Irving, William Dean Howells, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Thomas Hardy, Lorraine Hansberry, Oliver Sacks, Karl Mannheim, Willa Cather, Emerson, Tennessee Williams, Anne Tyler, E. M. Forster, Kurt Vonnegut, Stokely Carmichael, Charles Hamilton, Albert Einstein, John Steinbeck, Malcohm X, de Tocqueville, Maugham, Nathanael West, Arthur Miller, Mary Shelley, William James, Melville, Thoreau, Kafka, Eugene O'Neill, Oscar Wilde, or the works of great feminists like Carol Tavris and Camille Paglia........I'm running out of breath....but how can someone read and study these great works of literature, philosophy and science, together with the great artists and maintain a resistance to change? It would take one miserable puppy to not move away from a desire to avoid learning, observation and doubt. (My definition of a true conservative.)
Of course university has made many, many of us liberal and well it should. Only colleges like Bob Jones, Wheaton College (Urbana) and a few others avoid such great works for fear their students might develop into people who think for themselves.
If you have a strong foundation, I don't think university can "turn" you into anything. But, as a college student myself, I must say that liberal ideas are far more prevelant than others - in areas of history, politics, womens studies, english and the like... I think that it is important that these ideas are there but, far too often, the profs. fail to present more than one side.
And others yet are dead set on pushing their own agenda and do so to the point of restructuring courses to fit their ideology.
Sometimes quality education is lost in the process and this is unfortunate.
Politics belong with politics.
I think that political identification often comes more from the people you associate with than any outside logical perspective. Simply put, you are likely to adopt liberal principles if the people you hang out with are liberals. The same is true with conservatives. Youth is generally more on the liberal side so you are likely to associate with more liberals in your time at college.
If you are looking to get into the college political scene, then you should expect to be scorned by your liberal counterparts. One of the first steps in brainwashing is to make a person feel that his beliefs are unworthy, idiotic or deserving of disdain. From the liberal hardliners, you'll likely encounter some rancorous and hateful **** if you openly espouse your views. This method will usually backfire on older more set people, but youth is generally more susceptible to peer pressure and emotional appeal/disdain.
Perhaps you should be less concerned about going over to the dark side and instead focus your energies on researching and refining your own political views. You just might be able to bring people to your point of view.
Lola wrote:How can a person read and study works like Shakespeare, Freud, Mark Twain, Proust, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, J.D. Salanger, Truman Capote, Hemingway, Philip Roth, Richard Feynman, Ralph Ellison, Dickens, Vladimir Nabokov, Jerzy Kozinsky, Langston Hughes, Ted Hughes, Faulkner, Flaubert, Stephen Crane, George Orwell, Camus, Thornton Wilder, Sherwood Anderson, James Joyce, Tom Wolfe, Dorothy Parker, Henry Miller, John Dos Passos, Thomas Mann, Joseph Heller, John Irving, William Dean Howells, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Thomas Hardy, Lorraine Hansberry, Oliver Sacks, Karl Mannheim, Willa Cather, Emerson, Tennessee Williams, Anne Tyler, E. M. Forster, Kurt Vonnegut, Stokely Carmichael, Charles Hamilton, Albert Einstein, John Steinbeck, Malcohm X, de Tocqueville, Maugham, Nathanael West, Arthur Miller, Mary Shelley, William James, Melville, Thoreau, Kafka, Eugene O'Neill, Oscar Wilde, or the works of great feminists like Carol Tavris and Camille Paglia........I'm running out of breath....but how can someone read and study these great works of literature, philosophy and science, together with the great artists
Don't hold your breath on any college obliging its students to read
all those authors ... probably not even if you study modern literature ... it's just college. You're idealising.
(Apart from the nonsense about how reading literature's classics will automatically make you a liberal. Plenty of people who are that well-read and are still (or again, or after all) conservative.)
