Should College Students Become More Liberal In College

Colleges and universities are places of higher education and learning. Part of this learning comes from listening and understanding opposite views from your own. Positively, these zones have allowed students to avoid any ideas they may not want to hear; however, avoidance is not the way around life. Another positive outcome of free speech on campuses is that students are able to bind together

Why are many young Americans so uncomfortable with liberal arts? And why are countless high school graduates shying away from this particular form of education? Just like anything else that is popular, once liberal arts has been accurately, or inaccurately, discredited, the aftermath inevitably spreads. As more information is being mistakenly spread, numerous liberal arts colleges are taking the fall. To combat the onslaught of negative publicity, university officers are beginning to speak out to discredit the invalid claims.

The view of what college is and what the experience of college offers, differ dramatically between an individual and the society he or she lives. College has traditionally been viewed as the place young adults go to find themselves, find their career, and start their adult lives. Some have argued that education has veered too far away from tradition, while others argue that the whole idea of Liberal Education needs to keep evolving to meet the demands of the modern world. Those in favor of change argue for more diversity within the curriculum, such as more non-western world education and feminist thought. However, the traditional educational ideal has not completely vanished. At the majority of colleges in America the Liberal Arts, or

Universities in Texas, specifically UT Austin, have raised the overall education level of the state. As more high schoolers enter college and gain more influence from universities rather than their traditionall ; home lives, there is as inevitable shift in political ideology within some of these students. Students from other states and nations may introduce a variety of different backgrounds and ideologies that influences from colleges themselves which teach classes about gender and ethnicity, promoting diversity both physically and mentally within the student

To begin, college has many benefits, despite the cost. College teaches students more than “book smarts,” but also teaches life skills. Liberal Arts graduates can be seen prominently in leadership positions in areas such as politics and culture (Source B). In this aspect, college holds a key to a prosperous

The topic we decided to cover was a topic that may not be perceived as an issue to some but to us we see it as an issue. This is of course “Safe Space” and how it is viewed bipartisanly which was exemplified when the left wing college student comes across the conservative Trump supporter. We chose this topic because within the past year or so we have all come to the realization that we believe many left wing stereotypical millennial college students believe that they have it all figured out because they’re going to an expensive college, and their professors spit out biased statistics at them. To quote political commentator Tomi Lahren, we believe that many of these students are “Snowflakes”. This is describing them as soft, weak and vulnerable

"The Big Uneasy," by Nathan Heller addresses one of the biggest topics on college campuses today: the safe space vs. the need for diversity of opinions. “Shielding students from unwelcome ideas (is) unhealthy for the workforce and the democratic commonweal.” Students believe they have a right to decide what information they learn and liken it to their choice in diet. However, just as the body needs a varied diet to thrive so too does the mind. Many of the educators struggle how to balance the demands of students with their lesson plans and learning goals. “The trick is to find a way to get us open and receptive rather than defensive,” says Wendy Hyman. The other side of the coin is that many of the students protesting for changes came from

With those that attended college being twice as more likely to vote (Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning & Engagement).

Barbara Millis of the United States Air Force Academy reviewed Richard Light’s Making the Most of College: Students Speak Their Minds. She explained that in recent years, many copies of “Harvard Assessment Seminars I and II” had been issued to professors to develop college student’s education further. As well as these books, Light’s book had also been used to broaden the system. Millis further stated that Light’s book involved lengthy interviews that apprehended student’s college lifestyles. The evidence among the interviews were used to collect various data.

In his editorial, “The Year of the Imaginary College Student,” Hua Hsu asserts that “alarm about offense-seeking college students say[s] more about critics than the actual state of affairs.” Hsu begins his article by discussing James O’Keefe’s attempt at Vassar College to depict that college students are as politically sensitive as they appear. He goes on to demonstrate that college students are getting increasingly more “hypersensitive.” Hsu then questions the “surge of interest in campus life,” wondering why people who are not in college are questioning the behavior of those in college. Next, Hsu states that this panic about “offense-seeking college students” says more about the people criticizing rather than the system. Elucidating, he

Some people think colleges turn students liberal. The Intercollegiate Studies Institute asked about 2500 people more than 100 questions about civic knowledge, public philosophy, civic behavior, and demographics. And the institute found that who had attained at least a bachelor's

I found the video about how college students view Conservatism very strange. Throughout the whole video, I kept cringing because of how these college students thought of Conservatism as a bad thing, when in reality, it is not a bad; it is just a different mindset. These college students could just view conservatism as bad or not progressive because they were taught that if you are not a forward thinker, you are uptight. I was honestly surprised that no one mentioned religion in the video because Christians are typically thought of to be conservative and are commonly made fun of for being conservative.

While the concept of the liberal arts dates back to antiquity, I firmly believe that its relevance and necessity couldn’t be more contemporary. When ancient scholars formulated the intent to inform students in myriad areas of study, their ideology centered around the concept of shaping citizens such that they might be empowered and educated in order to ideally perform their respective civic duties. Being informed was a necessity. More than ever before, my peers and I enter a higher education environment where acceptance of plurality is paramount. No area of study or research is insular, in fact, majors and disciplines are more interconnected than ever. Understanding multiple viewpoints, various belief systems, the way science relates to religion or sociology is inextricable from economics—this is why liberal arts is essential and effective.

According to Neil Gross, a sociology professor at Colby College, there is sufficient evidence to explain why college education can lead to individuals having more liberal views towards social issues, especially on matters of tolerance, difference, and gender equity. However, Gross says that there is evidence that college education only slightly shifts individual attitudes, particularly on issues of broad political views (such as the size of the government). Some reasons for this include “general polarization”, gender, and “insularity”. There is evidence that the entire nation has become more polarized in regards to political ideology due to factors such as distrust in the government, changes in politics regarding race and religion, and even

Knowledge is power and a college campus is the gathering place for those who understand this rule. Properly collecting large amounts of data in the form of opinions and thoughts of those who go to a college is important to evoke conversations and provide answers to various topics. The following literature review will take a look at four surveys that were taken place on college campuses to see how proper survey creation and distribution is needed to collect quality data.