University rot 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

As this interviewer explains, we can disagree with atheist Peter Boghossian on some important things while we agree on other important things.  We stand together with him in the vital importance of truth and the vital importance of free speech (freedom to say what we believe is true).

As a professor, he loved teaching his students how to engage with people who think differently while remaining civil and respectful. After ten years on the faculty at Portland State University, Peter resigned his position because, in his words, his employer made it impossible to continue. According to his resignation letter: 

The university "transformed a bastion of free inquiry into a Social Justice factory whose only inputs were race, gender, and victimhood and whose only outputs were grievance and division. Students at Portland State are not being taught to think. Rather, they are being trained to mimic the moral certainty of ideologues."

(cont'd Thursday)

University rot 1

Harvard's reputation for excellence and "veritas" (truth) is based on the past. If its president - its president - can't tell the truth and steals other scholars' work to pass off as her own (with the Board's approval) . . we learn that truth can be sacrificed here anytime they so choose.

It certainly is not the only American university losing the respect of Americans. 

 

University rot 3

 (cont'd from yesterday's post)

You have to wonder, how in the world did it happen that America's elite universities went from honorable to dishonorable in a few years? Part of the answer is that it's taken decades, not just a few years, to make the transition.

"Merit" has been abandoned. 

Many may assume that students earn good grades by doing good work. That used to be the case. But other criteria may now qualify students to receive good grades, not work at a high level. Grade "inflation" means no poor grades are given, even when poor work is done.

Some probably still assume that university admissions are awarded because the applicant has earned the right to be admitted. That used to be the case. But now admissions are awarded on the basis of other factors such as ethnic group, "oppressed" status, race, money.

Harvard's admissions practices were ruled "unconstitutional" by the Supreme Court last summer. The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) gave Harvard the worst score ever in its free speech rankings, a score of zero percent out of 100%.

from "How Were the Universities Lost?"

(cont'd tomorrow)

University rot 4

Follow up to these posts

In an interview video, Peter Boghossian has the time (one hour+) to explain the poor condition of our woke elite universities from his point of view as an insider who spent ten years teaching at that level. 

photo

Freedom of speech, valued so highly by Americans until about five minutes ago, is no longer valued by some--because there's an overruling agenda. Under the banner of DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion), no diversity is allowed. He says the intolerance is ubiquitous; it's practiced at all American and all Western universities. 

It got so widespread and embedded because the scholarly peer-reviewed journals became intolerant years and years ago. Only one point of view could be published.

What should we do in America with an education system that has gone off the rails, that is impervious to reason, where craziness and madness (his words) prevail? He doesn't engage in wishful thinking: "Burn it to the ground." 

Follow up tomorrow