College grads agree w/ Liberals, while High School dropouts agree w/ Conservatives.

[I Just Believe In Me]

College students are still pretty young and malleable. I suspect there's a fairly good amount of influence by professors in colleges.

As a college student I can assure you the majority of the students stupid enough to believe anything a professor says without question are the ones who are not paying attention anyway.

 

[Caitlin.ann]

College students are still pretty young and malleable. I suspect there's a fairly good amount of influence by professors in colleges.

Not really.

 

[SaintInChicago]

I find this to be very interesting.

I recently read a study that found that at America's IV league and other prestigious schools students actually knew more about government and civics going in than going out. Has anyone else here read that study? If so please link. I think that when we consider that and other factors it reverses initial conclusions from the OP.

Never mind. Here is a news article about it.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/111290/college_seniors_lack_basic_knowledge.html

In general, the survey found that college seniors know less than incoming freshmen about America's history, government, foreign policy or economy

It seems that in those areas colleges dumb people down, ie make them more liberal. So if college entrants, that is, people who are fresh out of the high school environment are more educated in government, history, foreign policy and economics than college graduates then it is understandable that high school dropouts might be more educated (conservative) than college graduates, in general.

I also infer that high school drop outs typically go through the 'school of hard knocks' and learn the most important lessons in life the hard way --making them more conservative, whereas kids who have mumsy and daddy paying their way for them would turn out more spoil-er I mean liberal. For example: Sherry, a high school friend of mine, got knocked up at the age of fifteen and had to drop out to take care of her baby. She had responsibilities like feeding and raising a kid, so she naturally will become more conservative than the weenies whose higher cause is living in (or falling out of)trees like monkeys to keep them from being cut down. People dealing with reality don't have time for that insanity.

 

[flicka]

I'm not a huge fan or believer in polls because they can be spun so many different ways, but logic tells me that people who pursue their education are often more curious about things, more open to new ideas, and more likely to see things different than people who don't share those qualities.

It's not a matter of "liberal indoctrination" but once you step out of the little world you have grown up in and are exposed to new people and ideas it's sometimes hard to put yourself back in the box.

Colleges can be self-selecting with liberal thinkers drawn to traditionally more liberal campuses and visa verse. But there are both conservative and liberal populations on every college campus.

 

[uberd00b]

I would like to think this is the natural evolution of man.
I would like to think this is what Universities who shape the minds of our future are all about.

I'm starting to think the same thing. I used to believe that the left and right ends of the political spectrum were on a level playing field.

Recently I have been considering the idea that the more right wing beliefs are becoming outdated and superceded by more progressive ideas.

 

[uberd00b]

It's not a matter of "liberal indoctrination" but once you step out of the little world you have grown up in and are exposed to new people and ideas it's sometimes hard to put yourself back in the box.

These are my thoughts too. People who are exposed to many different ideas, and are taught to think and evaluate them, seem to become more liberal.

This "liberal indoctrination" that people talk about seems simply to be education.

 

[RacismIsBad]

In general, the survey found that college seniors know less than incoming freshmen about America's history, government, foreign policy or economy

College is not about learning about American history, government, foreign policy and economy. I went through college, I was in engineering, of the things you listed, I only took economics. You don't seem to know what a college education entails. Most people pick a major and then work on that major. If I want to be a chemist, I'll be taking orgo and not a civics class. It's just plain sense, college is about choosing a field to start a post-graduate career, not learn about America.

Your argument is just replete with bad logic. Have you even met a sizable number of high school dropouts? And how can you even compare them to incoming freshmen, who are going into college. It makes sense they know more about government and history considering they've had those classes for four years in high school. Those are not requirements college, thus it makes sense a person would know less about the subject if they are not studying it and/or not keeping up with politics, government, world news, etc. But I bet you were to ask these seniors about a subject in within their major, they would know a lot more than you or any freshman could ever know.

 

[Harpuia]

I find this to be very interesting.

I recently read a study that found that at America's IV league and other prestigious schools students actually knew more about government and civics going in than going out. Has anyone else here read that study? If so please link. I think that when we consider that and other factors it reverses initial conclusions from the OP.

Never mind. Here is a news article about it.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/111290/college_seniors_lack_basic_knowledge.html

In general, the survey found that college seniors know less than incoming freshmen about America's history, government, foreign policy or economy

It seems that in those areas colleges dumb people down, ie make them more liberal. So if college entrants, that is, people who are fresh out of the high school environment are more educated in government, history, foreign policy and economics than college graduates then it is understandable that high school dropouts might be more educated (conservative) than college graduates, in general.

I also infer that high school drop outs typically go through the 'school of hard knocks' and learn the most important lessons in life the hard way --making them more conservative, whereas kids who have mumsy and daddy paying their way for them would turn out more spoil-er I mean liberal. For example: Sherry, a high school friend of mine, got knocked up at the age of fifteen and had to drop out to take care of her baby. She had responsibilities like feeding and raising a kid, so she naturally will become more conservative than the weenies whose higher cause is living in (or falling out of)trees like monkeys to keep them from being cut down. People dealing with reality don't have time for that insanity.

Uh...

Don't tell me you're glorifying teen pregnancy there.

I went to college, but I had to learn the hard way about many things in my life. I paid my entire way through college, pal. And I still come out, compared to you, an evil liberal.

What I actually learned, was the silver-spoons who had most of their stuff paid through mommy and daddy come out more conservative IF they're devout to the church, and the church treats them well. Otherwise... yeah... they probably do turn more liberal.

 

[KomissarSteve]

or apply rational thought and disregard emotionalism as a first response to all issues.

Uh, no, actually; that's what the Right does, not the Left.

 

[Ryal Kane]

too am not a fan of these kind of biased statistics but an idead just occurred to me.

Let's assume, for the sake of a thought experiment, that almost all people at high school have conservative views. And let's say half drop out, half go on to higher education.
Of those who get higher education and gain understanding of the world, half become liberal and half become conservative..

In the above scenario, it would be correct to say that the majority of liberals have a higher education and the majority of conservatives do not. Even though the spread from university was fifty/fifty.
Or maybe it's just time I went to bed.

But it does remind me of a definition I once saw.
Statistics - Numbers looking for an argument.

 

[JoyJuice]

I find this to be very interesting.

I recently read a study that found that at America's IV league and other prestigious schools students actually knew more about government and civics going in than going out. Has anyone else here read that study? If so please link. I think that when we consider that and other factors it reverses initial conclusions from the OP.

Never mind. Here is a news article about it.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/111290/college_seniors_lack_basic_knowledge.html

In general, the survey found that college seniors know less than incoming freshmen about America's history, government, foreign policy or economy

It seems that in those areas colleges dumb people down, ie make them more liberal. So if college entrants, that is, people who are fresh out of the high school environment are more educated in government, history, foreign policy and economics than college graduates then it is understandable that high school dropouts might be more educated (conservative) than college graduates, in general.

I also infer that high school drop outs typically go through the 'school of hard knocks' and learn the most important lessons in life the hard way --making them more conservative, whereas kids who have mumsy and daddy paying their way for them would turn out more spoil-er I mean liberal. For example: Sherry, a high school friend of mine, got knocked up at the age of fifteen and had to drop out to take care of her baby. She had responsibilities like feeding and raising a kid, so she naturally will become more conservative than the weenies whose higher cause is living in (or falling out of)trees like monkeys to keep them from being cut down. People dealing with reality don't have time for that insanity.

With the shift from high school where, as the article noted, where history is for the better part required all four years in high school; to college where the emphasis is shifted to courses dedicated to a specific disipline and major, couldn't there be a simpler rational rather than the evils of liberalism?

 

[Verv]

Granted that a well educated and articulate professor would be able to change some minds. But that would not explain why the majority of people would think one way or the other.

What professor is not well educated? They have to have a doctrine and be a really, truly certifiable expert in their own field.

I will tell you this: I do not know much at all about physics or zoology, but if someone comes out with some theory that I do not know well but know zero alternatives to and it seems to make even a modicum of sense, it will become something I embrace.

For instance, somebody can teach history in a way which highlights certain events that make it come off as liberal or conservative; one can make arguments that the American revolution was born out of a profound sense of moral indignation or one born out of a desire for economic profits.

If you aren't interested in history that much and you have a professor that you do not challenge, you will come away with a more conservative or liberal view.

Do you see what I am saying?

I know nothing of science and have not much interest, and so if someone were to drill into me a certain perspective I do not think it would soon go away.

Well, like the wedge strategy or the strategy to merge the emotions of religion for the expediatcy of emotional charged political gain, the conservatives are leaps and bounds better at it.

I am not sure...

I think when it comes to the shrill screams of the anti-war crowd it doesn't get much louder than people who even start regarding morons like Chavez as some sort of great guy just because of his challenges to the American government.

I have seen both sides be intelligent and both sides be foolish and emotional.

What can I say?

 

[Yusuf Evans]

So the best idefense against liberalism is to drop out of school and never venture to real civilization.

Negative. I know allot of Marines that are very conservative that have their doctorates and live in more reality, than most liberals in the US. Polls are stupid, as they do not show a true reflection when reporting.

 

[chaz345]

Who cares? That's money. This is education. More important.

One of the main things that makes education important is that it increases one's ability to make money and support one's self. Education strictly for it's own sake is pointless.

 

[chaz345]

Liberalism emphasizes individual rights and equality of opportunity. Different forms of liberalism may propose very different policies, but they are generally united by their support for a number of principles, including extensive freedom of thought and speech, limitations on the power of governments, the rule of law, the free exchange of ideas, a market or mixed economy, and a transparent system of government. (Wiki).

I would like to think this is the natural evolution of man.
I would like to think this is what Universities who shape the minds of our future are all about.

Liberalism as practiced in AMerican politics empahsizes equality of results not equality of opportunity. There is a vast difference. As for limiting the power of government, that may be sort of true is a general theoretical sense, but in terms of real life American liberalism is all about government being big and powerful enough to meet everyone's every need from birth to death. That's not limited, it's all powerful.

 

[poohgirl]

Negative. I know allot of Marines that are very conservative that have their doctorates and live in more reality, than most liberals in the US. Polls are stupid, as they do not show a true reflection when reporting.

I agree. Often the data is a bit skewed.

 

[chaz345]

Granted that a well educated and articulate professor would be able to change some minds. But that would not explain why the majority of people would think one way or the other.

It does when the majority of professors is changing minds in one direction.

 

[BlueAfgani]

If liberals are so smart, then why are so many of liberal views so stupid? Seriously? High taxes, big governemnt, socialism, stripping away gun rights, politicial correctness. Leads me to believe it's indoctrination rather than people freely accepting beliefs they find intellectually superior.

 

[Robbie_James_Francis]

I think when it comes to the shrill screams of the anti-war crowd it doesn't get much louder than people who even start regarding morons like Chavez as some sort of great guy just because of his challenges to the American government.

Well, hatred of the current US government allows him to qualify as sane. What makes him a good politician lies elsewhere.

 

[Robbie_James_Francis]

It does when the majority of professors is changing minds in one direction.

You mean through education? I think conservatives need to realise thay many of their views are not dying out because of some conspiracy to destroy the truth, but because their views belong <staff edit> to the past <staff edit>.