Every day I read another poll that says something or other. Now, the last election showed that pollsters (or at least the media) can outright lie about the results, but even if pollsters were honest (stop laughing!) about the results of their polls, they can still be dishonest about what they are doing.

“Three out of four people prefer flame broiled burgers to open gas!”

A fast food chain used the above line to say their burgers tasted better, but it was dishonest. The “open gas” referred to the flame coming from burning natural gas…meat cooked by flame is meat cooked by flame, for the most part. The simple phrasing of the poll created the desired result…the chain’s burgers were indistinguishable from any other chain, but people were just turned off by the phrase “open gas.” You can easily manipulate poll results by using the right phrasing.

So, we have polls on higher ed that show Republicans don’t like higher education, whileDemocrats do:

Well, the articles, based on separate polls from Pew and Gallup, found some strong partisan disparities. According to Pew, 58 percent of Republicans say that colleges and universities have a negative effect on the way things are going in the country (36 percent said they have a positive effect), compared to 19 percent of Democrats with a negative view of colleges and universities. 

I’m quoting Reason magazine above, and they’re often worth reading. Unlike mainstream news, they do more than just read off the party line, they ask questions and think about the information being spoon-fed to them.

The polls make it look like Republicans want people to be ignorant, that Republicans don’t believe in Education, even implying that Republicans are “against science” and free thinking and all that…because the headline news says Republicans don’t like higher education.

I’m no Republican, but kudos to Reason for thinking about things:

Wait a minute. Those headlines said “higher education,” but poll respondents were asked about “colleges and universities.” That’s not necessarily the same thing.

Note the twisting of the results of the poll: a different phrasing would likely get a different result. It’s no secret that colleges and universities are openly supportive of Left wing Hate/Democratic ideals, shoving them into courses which have no need of them:

“Why am I f$(&ing reading The Communist Manifesto in an English Lit class?”

–a student records her issues with higher education, and asks this question, among quite a few others. Her language is foul, but you can hear her address this around 3:10 of the video.

It is unconscionable that Karl Marx is basically the #1 author in our colleges and universities right now. Students are heavily exposed to him in philosophy, political science, economics and, yes, even in English Literature courses. To clarify, they’re very heavily exposed. While students might read snippets of other books, Marx’s entire books are used in many of these courses. I’m not pro-censorship, but the writings of Karl Marx should be studied by students about as often as the works of Hitler, Mao, Charles Manson, or Ron Jeremy—there are times and places for such things. Honest, Karl Marx belongs in college courses exactly as often as Ron Jeremy: in very specialized courses covering extremely particular topics, not in foundational courses for education.

Karl Marx was not an Englishman, and didn’t write literature, but he’s now assigned in English Lit courses. Why might thinking people see this and suspect something is awry in our universities?

Now, Republicans see that colleges and universities today are indoctrination centers, and, probably more importantly, indoctrination centers for an ideology that does not support the Republican party (the gentle reader should note carefully: I hold no illusions about what Republican support would be like if colleges/universities solely advanced Republican ideology).

That flip occurred during years when colleges and universities have frequently featured in wince-worthy headlines about ideological intolerance, politicized instruction, and eroding due process.

It wasn’t always this way, there was a time when Republicans supported colleges and universities as much as, well, the only other political party Americans are allowed to have. It’s a simple fact that things have changed on many campuses. Between the open fraud at many of our community colleges, the horrific fraud at many of our for-profit schools, and the blatant indoctrination at many of our state and non-profit schools…I think it’s fair for someone to not be supportive of the current environment in colleges and universities.

But colleges and universities are, to a great extent, not higher education. Our media conflates these concepts since it’s to the detriment of the Republicans (again, to be fair, the media is also pro-Democrat to a huge extent, and, I reiterate, if it were as biased towards Republicans as it currently is towards Democrats, I’m sure their opinion would flip accordingly).

“Higher education” as most people think of it has changed, it’s that simple. The gentle reader might recall the conservative professor at Evergreen college, who stood up and said it was time to end racism. He did so by speaking out against the racist policies there. The students rioted, of course, because admin tried to appease them the last time they rioted. While any idiot could predict what further appeasement would bring, admin, despite their Ph.D.s in Leadership, had no idea it would cause more riots.

It’s no surprise how they’d respond to more riots:

Evergreen settles with Weinstein, professor at the center of campus protests

No, not that Weinstein

Only tenured faculty can dare stand up to what’s happening on our campuses, but, as Weinstein has learned, tenured faculty are nearly extinct on campus…there just aren’t of them of them to stop what’s happening here. While I’ve documented the myriad underhanded ways admin has removed tenured faculty, they’re not above a straight payoff just to get the last scholars off campus.

Again, this is a slur against colleges and universities, not higher education.

One of the many evils on campus is our kangaroo court system; as a former insider to this system, I assure the gentle reader it’s a joke of a system, and, much like everything else on campus, is being abused to further advance and instill ideology.

Nevertheless, many university administrators seem averse to restoring some legitimacy to campus judicial processes. University of California President Janet Napolitano and Stanford University Provost Persis Drell both expressed doubts about efforts to restore due process.

Seriously what hope is there for our colleges and universities, when the “leaders” of the system have no interest in legitimacy?  So, sure, Republicans are against colleges and universities…there’s nothing in it for them.

All the indoctrination on our campuses, as well as the kangaroo court system, is paid for by the student loan scam. The day will come when the scam will end, and our campuses won’t be drowning in student loan money.

When that day comes, many of our colleges and universities will wither and die; Republicans won’t shed a tear, and neither will I.

I promise the gentle reader: higher education will not in the slightest be reduced by the death of those colleges and universities, as they are no longer a part of higher education.

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