Liberals vs. Conservatives in Higher Education

[Shotgun 1]

I often shop for my textbooks at amazon.com, and I'll usually read the book reviews just for fun... and, when a book gets a bad review, one of the more common complaints I see is that the author is writing from a biased liberal perspective, or something along those lines. And I have noticed that most of my textbooks do seem to lean toward the liberal side, but none of them lean toward the conservative side.

This made me curious, so I looked up some stats... which varied, as stats do... but it looks like the large majority of faculty at U.S. colleges and universities are liberals, which I guess I've heard before... But why is this? Are conservatives just not attracted to education as a profession? Or do liberals tend to be more likely to seek higher education than conservatives?

Any thoughts?

[AlexCrowley 0]

Conservativism does not have time to intellectualism. It's ineffective and doesnt promote wealth.

While the upper elite are mostly conservative the weight of intellectuals are liberal.

The lower class right (such as those that frequent the internet) are mostly the uneducated, brainwashed into thinking in black and white terms and have learned to not ask questions.

I cite the majority of this forum as evidence.

TV's got them images, TV's got them all, nothing's shocking.

[jumper03 0]

Or educated people tend to be liberal?



Before anyone gets their panties in a twist - I lean conservative more often than not.
Unless you're fucking with my air - then I'm the biggest tree-hugging, lefto-communist pinky you've ever seen. Stop fucking with my air!!

Scars remind us that the past is real

[pajarito 0]

You obviously have a very narrow definition of "intellectual." I doubt your education level exceeds mine by much if at all and I'm sure it doesn't exceed the level of my wife or others in our circle of friends who are most all conservative. Your level of intellectualism isn’t based on whether you work for a college institution or not.

[billvon 2,471]

>Your level of intellectualism isn’t based on whether you work for a
>college institution or not.

But it _does_ depend on the level of your schooling - and people who spend much of their lives working/learning in educational institutions tend to have a lot of schooling.

[AlexCrowley 0]

Unless you dropped out at 16 and were recruited by a shadowy underground network of evil geniuses bent on destruction of the modern world I doubt our backgrounds have many points in common enough for comparison.

But at least they were LIBERAL evil geniii

TV's got them images, TV's got them all, nothing's shocking.

[pajarito 0]

Quote

>Your level of intellectualism isn’t based on whether you work for a
>college institution or not.

But it _does_ depend on the level of your schooling - and people who spend much of their lives working/learning in educational institutions tend to have a lot of schooling.

My wife is an OB/GYN Physician. She spent a hell of a lot of time in school and is in practice now (in the real world). It's still a constant learning process. The difference is, she doesn't work while sheltered in the unrealistic world of the college campus. Doesn't make her less bright. I'd put her up against anyone in this forum.

[pajarito 0]

Quote

Unless you dropped out at 16 and were recruited by a shadowy underground network of evil geniuses bent on destruction of the modern world I doubt our backgrounds have many points in common enough for comparison.

But at least they were LIBERAL evil geniii

I just find the generalization offensive and arrogant.

[billvon 2,471]

>My wife is an OB/GYN Physician. She spent a hell of a lot of time
>in school and is in practice now (in the real world). It's still a constant
>learning process.

Right. And because she spent a lot of time in school, she ended up with a comprehensive education. This makes her more of an intellectual than someone who dropped out of high school and works in exactly the same hospital she works in now.

Had she stayed in school and pursued research instead of practice, she would now be even more of an intellectual.

>The difference is, she doesn't work while sheltered in the
>unrealistic world of the college campus.

Right. And I don't work in the sheltered environment of a hospital. And you don't work in the sheltered environment of a high tech design house. Doesn't mean any of us are less intellectual based on our "sheltering" alone. A hospital, or a university, or a design center, or even a drop zone is a fairly small community that will inevitably shelter people from the 'real world', which is inevitably defined as 'everything else.' It has little to do with how intellectual someone is.

[Shotgun 1]

Quote

Or educated people tend to be liberal?

With those stats, it would seem that anyone obtaining a degree from a U.S. university would at least have had a liberal influence from most of their professors over the years. So perhaps (college-) educated people do tend to be liberal...

But there are highly intellectual people who have not been to college, and there are college graduates who are nowhere near being highly intellectual... so the fact that more college graduates are liberal than conservative cannot be used to say that liberals are necessarily more intelligent than conservatives. (Just wanted to point out that that is not what I was trying to get at by starting this thread.)

[GrendelKhan 0]

I think the difference is that liberals who finish college feel its more important to indoctrinate impressionable younger school kids with their ideals whereas conservatives who are secure in their elitist world view enter the private sector, more content to work to better themselves. What should have been the That is the basic difference between real world liberals and conservatives, one side believes its important to share knowledge and help un-educated inbred rednecks such as myself see how our opinions are either unviable or just plain wrong, and the other side wants to convince us that if you don't fill your life with psuedo-religious morals while breaking your back and stepping on those below you to get ahead then you are an un-patriotic, disinginuous, communist, terrorist fag. Man I hate how the ultra left and right wing idiots that populate our popular culture can completely corrupt what should be two ideals working in conjunction to make the county better.

Grendel Khan-The Official DZ.Com Newbie Forum Nuisance
"They sicken of the calm, that know the storm."

[pajarito 0]

But with all of her education and level of "intellectualism", how is it that she's conservative? I'm sure she'd be even more of an intellectual if she was a liberal. Maybe she should have stayed in school. They'd have more time to convert her. Oh right....and she's also Christian. Maybe, she's not an intellectual after all. At least she’s probably not of the caliber of some of our college instructors in this forum.

[AlexCrowley 0]

I apologize.

Some Evil Genii are conservative, but the majority of liberal.

happy now Pedantirito?

But on the whole most non-filthy rich conservatives are slightly stupid.

I rest my case.

TV's got them images, TV's got them all, nothing's shocking.

[billvon 2,471]

I spent Sunday on a military base (Camp Pendleton) working on some SCUBA stuff. And one thing that really strikes you on a military base is the remarkable uniformity of the people there. It's a result of the military approach to training; everyone is the same, and people are 'valued' instantly by looking at the stripes on their sleeves and what they are wearing. If you see X stripes, you salute and say "Sir!" - if you don't, you accord them less respect. If you see someone with longer hair, not only do you think they are being dumb, it's proven when they are berated for not getting their hair cut.

Compare that to a typical college campus, where the guy down the hall spends a lot of his time drunk because he's very smart and he can _afford_ to spend a lot of his time drunk. Where the 28 year old guy with the ponytail and the Birkenstocks is not only a brilliant physicist, but is going to determine if you pass your materials class. Where the guy in the suit might be a professor or might be a school lawyer who has nothing to do with you. Where the flamboyant gay guy who wears pink fuzzy hats is also the guy willing to help you with that materials class. Where the smartest guy in the school graduates third in his class and then goes on to become a ski bum for five years. You're going to get a different view of the world than the people on that military base will.

I don't think people sit down and say "you know, I want to be rich, drive a BMW, wear a suit and disapprove of gays, so I will become a conservative banker." It happens the other way. They decide to go to college (or join the military) and their experiences change them. If they develop in an enviroment where the number of stripes determine how much respect to give someone, and where everyone looks a lot alike, they're going to be more comfortable in a controlled, structured environment where everyone should act (and look) a certain way. If they go to that college, they're going to be more comfortable with gays, drunks, ski bums, people in suits and people in ponytails.

Now, that's just two examples (a college and a military base) and it looks at just one aspect of the liberal/conservative spectrum (the social acceptance part of things.) But I think it speaks to the issue.

[wmw999 2,170]

There's a difference between being an intellectual and being intelligent. So yes, it does come down to definitions -- but it should.

Quote

1 a : of or relating to the intellect or its use b : developed or chiefly guided by the intellect rather than by emotion or experience : RATIONAL c : requiring use of the intellect
2 a : given to study, reflection, and speculation

Note that two of the definitions make it seem tied a little less securely to the "real world" where your wife lives. Some intellectuals are in the real world, but it's not a prerequisite.

Maybe it's what Alex (I think) said early, not necessarily about the money, but that staying in academia seems less related to the real world, and conservatives tend to prefer the real world -- after all, there has to be something to conserve , right?

Wendy W.

There is nothing more dangerous than breaking a basic safety rule and getting away with it. It removes fear of the consequences and builds false confidence. (tbrown)

[billvon 2,471]

>But with all of her education and level of "intellectualism", how is it
>that she's conservative?

If you define intellectualism as being liberal, then she can't be. I don't define it that way.

[pajarito 0]

Quote

happy now Pedantirito?

Ok... I'm happy...
Thanks buddy...
We can be friends again...

[GrendelKhan 0]

Quote

But on the whole most non-filthy rich conservatives are slightly stupid.

I rest my case.

and most non-filthy rich liberals are slightly pretentious.

I rest my case.

Grendel Khan-The Official DZ.Com Newbie Forum Nuisance
"They sicken of the calm, that know the storm."

[Tink1717 2]

Because conservatives are, in general, too stupid to understand much of anything.

Skydivers don't knock on Death's door. They ring the bell and runaway... It really pisses him off.
-The World Famous Tink. (I never heard of you either!!)
AA #2069 ASA#33 POPS#8808 Swooo 1717

[kelpdiver 2]

Quote

I often shop for my textbooks at amazon.com, and I'll usually read the book reviews just for fun... and, when a book gets a bad review, one of the more common complaints I see is that the author is writing from a biased liberal perspective, or something along those lines. And I have noticed that most of my textbooks do seem to lean toward the liberal side, but none of them lean toward the conservative side.

This made me curious, so I looked up some stats... which varied, as stats do... but it looks like the large majority of faculty at U.S. colleges and universities are liberals, which I guess I've heard before... But why is this? Are conservatives just not attracted to education as a profession? Or do liberals tend to be more likely to seek higher education than conservatives?

Any thoughts?

Youth in general tends towards idealism, and you can crudely equate that with some sort of leftism. (not sure liberalism is the appropriate word) After college, a lot of people start drifting towards the right, particularly after losing 50% of their marginal earnings to taxes. And exposure to the real world tends to blunt some of the idealism. In contrast, children raised in a very intense red state household might drift a good deal to the left when exposed to multiple viewpoints of the world. A friend that worked on the Bush '88 election became a big Clinton fan and career diplomat in the state department.

Cal had more than a few marxist leaning instructors. And a few John Birch types. Neither were as far out of the norm as the student advocate groups. Never have I seen such extreme black and white viewpoints. I hope most of them grew up to see the world in at least 8 bit greyscale.

[AndyMan 7]

Quote

While the upper elite are mostly conservative the weight of intellectuals are liberal.

Strangely, some of the wealthies Americans are quite liberal. Warren Buffett and Bill Gates are both clearly on the left, in the current political climate.

Also, Martha's Vineyard voted overwealmingly for Kerry.

Democrats did better in afluent Aspen than they did in working class Denver.

Odd.

_Am

__

You put the fun in "funnel" - craichead.

[Flygurl 0]

Quote

Or educated people tend to be liberal?

The majority of highly educated people I know, myself included, are mostly conservative.

Most of the self proclaimed liberal people I meet think the term liberal means that they are really outgoing with their opinions.

You know the type... the ones that can't explain WHY they think something, but get really angry and emotional when trying to discuss anything political.

[kallend 1,679]

Quote

Quote

Or educated people tend to be liberal?

The majority of highly educated people I know, myself included, are mostly conservative.

.

My experience is just the opposite

On the other hand, many of the highly trained people I know are conservative.

...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

[juanesky 0]

And of course with the usual, conservatives are "uneducated" comment.

"According to some of the conservatives here, it sounds like it's fine to beat your wide - as long as she had it coming." -Billvon

[AlexCrowley 0]

I'll take highly intelligent yet pretentious for 200 please.

TV's got them images, TV's got them all, nothing's shocking.