We Must Save America's Colleges from WOKENESS
Townhall guest Oliver North says:
Too many of our colleges and universities have become "woke" institutions governed by political correctness rather than a commitment to free speech and genuine scholarship. By allowing themselves to fall under the control of leftist ideologues advancing an agenda at odds with the purposes of higher education, many colleges and universities have become academic gulags focused primarily on leftist indoctrination. Many now operate more like the "reeducation" camps associated with communist nations than institutions of higher learning.
Too often, college graduates have been taught what to think, not how to think; sheltered from differing points of view; encouraged to supplant logic and reason with feelings; and given dubious degrees without having to work for them. Too many have majored in meaningless academic programs meant to advance a leftist agenda, such as critical race theory, rather than develop skills necessary to become the leaders, innovators and entrepreneurs of tomorrow.
In short, too many college graduates have spent four or more years in adult day care rather than higher education. As a result, disillusioned graduates now ask themselves if pursuing a college degree was worth it. Many now believe they paid too much, got too little and wasted four or more years of their lives majoring in pseudo-degree programs of no value except in the minds of leftist indoctrinators masquerading as college professors.
Can America's colleges and universities be saved from the left? Perhaps, but major changes will be necessary. First and foremost, the academy must return to the values that made it great, including the pursuit of truth, free inquiry, free speech, free thought and respect for a wide range of opinions and worldviews. Next, professors must be hired, promoted and granted tenure on the basis of competence and merit. Holding political or religious views at odds with leftist orthodoxy must no longer bar qualified professors from holding faculty positions. Restoring intellectual pluralism to the academy is essential.
Photo of then elected office holder Eugene Delgaudio with Oliver North from a 2015 political state convention in Richmond, Virginia. (Not An Endorsement of any candidate)