The New Mandarins on College Campuses

There was a time when Chinese bureaucrats were chosen by examination. Theoretically this would allow the nation to be governed by “the best and brightest.” Unfortunately these examinations only tested proficiency in the Chinese classics. In other words, those who passed were scholars conversant in the conventional wisdom.
Something similar—and equally stultifying—is currently taking place in the United States. Our institutions of higher learning have also taken to specializing in the transmission of standardized ways of thinking.
Although ours is a center-right country, the overwhelming majority of universities have drifted to the far left. Despite claims of teaching students to engage in critical thinking, they do anything but. To the contrary, they have become indoctrination centers run by neo-Marxist academics.
In my own field of sociology, the ratio of folks on the left compared to those on the right is thirty-to-one. As a consequence, anyone who attends a sociological conference will be hard pressed to find any presenters who are not committed to the Democratic or more socialist parties.
Mind you, I am lucky. My department at Kennesaw State University is among the most reasonable sociology departments to be found anywhere. I am not only allowed to have conservative thoughts, but have the support and respect of my colleagues when doing so.
Students at many institutions, however, are not as fortunate. They find that if they do not feed their professors exactly what they expect to hear, they will be penalized in terms of their grades. Thus, one professor at a local University (who has since departed) made a specialty of humiliating students who disagreed with him. He routinely cross-examined white undergraduates until they said something that allowed him to brand them as racists.
Moreover, here at Kennesaw State (although it is much more reasonable than comparable schools) I have had colleagues who confided their conservative leanings to me in private. This was often accompanied by a plea that I not make their political inclinations public. They feared that if these were known, it might injure their academic careers.
But how can this be? How can institutions of higher learning—locations that are supposed to be marketplaces for cutting edge ideas—have become so hostile to unconventional opinions? Isn’t this inimical to learning? Isn’t this the opposite of genuine scholarship?
Worse still, isn’t our nation in danger when our colleges have been converted into havens of liberal conservatism? When politically correct ideas cannot be openly questioned, how can new knowledge develop? As importantly, when academic gatekeepers prevent opposing ideas from being expressed, how can mistakes be corrected?
Ancient China went downhill when its leaders assumed that they already knew everything that needed to be known. The question is: Are we following the same path toward destruction? Are we too encouraging our younger generation to parrot the favorite shibboleths of a portion of the older generation?
As dire as this possibility is, at least three factors militate against it. First, college students graduate. When they get into the real world many of them realize that the idealistic ramblings of their professors were misguided.
Second, upcoming scholars have an interest in developing new ideas. Moving ahead in their careers depends on their being innovative. This, however, often entails contradicting the work of their teachers.
Third, the current presidential administration has gone too far. In fostering a host of far left programs it has incited a political reaction. Thus, conservatism is once again becoming more fashionable and assertive. It may not be too long before parents and politicians alike demand more balance from our universities.
Let’s hope so.
Melvyn L. Fein. Ph.D.
Professor of Sociology
Kennesaw State University