The Majority Of Republicans Think Colleges Are Bad For The U.S., Poll Shows

[Suburbia]

I guess if you say so, but the colleges trot out the evil white male, the cis white male, and then Dems don't understand why they are losing elections?

White males are the majority of the nation. Get it? Yes, there is white privilege, but using it to attack whites isn't working either.

Some colleges do great for the country, some colleges are just another unemployable grievance program.

Actually, they're not...

My bad. They may be dwindling, but hating the white male in the colleges are only creating more animosity.

The left-wing professors don't get it.

[Cactus Jack]

I guess if you say so, but the colleges trot out the evil white male, the cis white male, and then Dems don't understand why they are losing elections?

White males are the majority of the nation. Get it? Yes, there is white privilege, but using it to attack whites isn't working either.

Some colleges do great for the country, some colleges are just another unemployable grievance program.

Actually, they're not...

My bad. They may be dwindling, but hating the white male in the colleges are only creating more animosity.

The left-wing professors don't get it.

In no universe is that what these nebulous "left-wing professors" are doing. Pointing out that certain historical figures may not be worthy of being put on a pedestal and suggesting that certain groups in America have it better societally than certain other groups does not, in any way, constitute "hating the white male". Certain fairly laughable activist circles may make that leap, but they're most decidedly a minority among college hierarchies.

[Devout Centrist]

I really shouldn't blame these people, they probably got duped by University of Phoenix

[Unconditional Surrender Truman]

I guess if you say so, but the colleges trot out the evil white male, the cis white male, and then Dems don't understand why they are losing elections?

White males are the majority of the nation. Get it? Yes, there is white privilege, but using it to attack whites isn't working either.

Some colleges do great for the country, some colleges are just another unemployable grievance program.

Actually, they're not...

My bad. They may be dwindling, but hating the white male in the colleges are only creating more animosity.

The left-wing professors don't get it.

White males have never comprised a majority of the U.S. population. It's not a matter of dwindling, it's a matter of half the white population being female.

[The_Doctor]

Has someone informed the GOP trade schools and college educations are essential to the economic growth of tomorrow?

I thought Trump was in favor of trade schools?

He hasn't really done anything on education. DeVos seems to be running education policy actually.

[The_Doctor]

Trump's budget cut Pell Grants, I believe. He hasn't said anything or done anything w/r/t student loans or such. That's one of the major drags on the millennial spending and likely Gen Z people.

I don't think I've heard anything about trade schools.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     One could write a book to fully address this question. There are many ways in which they contribute positively and many ways in which they contribute negatively. I am not comfortable approaching it as a simple yes or no.

[GGover]

They're just upset about Berkeley not letting Ann Coulter speak and perceived discrimination against conservative students.

I doubt most of those Republicans actually think getting a college education is a bad thing.

[Middle-aged Europe]

I guess if you say so, but the colleges trot out the evil white male, the cis white male, and then Dems don't understand why they are losing elections?

White males are the majority of the nation. Get it? Yes, there is white privilege, but using it to attack whites isn't working either.

Some colleges do great for the country, some colleges are just another unemployable grievance program.

Actually, they're not...

My bad. They may be dwindling, but hating the white male in the colleges are only creating more animosity.

The left-wing professors don't get it.

White males have never comprised a majority of the U.S. population. It's not a matter of dwindling, it's a matter of half the white population being female.

bronz probably never went to college either.

[pbrower2a]

So, according to Republicans, banks and churches = good; labor unions, media, and colleges = bad.

And they're right.

Churches? It depends upon the church. For a smart person with a desire to do real service to humanity and little greed, 'clergyman' is a good career, at least for a Protestant. (I'm not so sure about life for a Catholic priest -- it could be very lonely, and forget about that if you are female). Clergy are the non-family members most likely to make visits to the nursing home, and they are often the people to catch onto a personal problem.

Banks? They may be necessary, but... nobody gets rich dealing with banks unless one owns or has an executive position within a bank. Banks have some value as separating shysters from the ability to gamble with other people's money. They are good places for parking cash. Heroes? No.

Labor unions are often the only institutions that can protect workers from executive despotism and the rapaciousness of ownership. Before unions, the norm for industrial workers was the seventy-hour workweek and the forty-year life expectancy. When unions strengthened, life got better for industrial workers so that when unions were at their strongest in the 1950s, industrial workers had forty-hour workweeks and seventy-year lifespans.

Media? Ruling out the media that tore Obama to pieces and have created a personality cult for Mr. Unmentionable, the news media are our only reliable source of objective information on current events. That's if we have no access to or cannot use peer-reviewed academic sources.

I'm sure that the Right would be content with well-organized, well-disciplined media that laud our current President, right-wing politicians and causes, and Corporate America. But let me tell you about Soviet media. Need I? When leaders are crooks, we need to know about it whether the crook is the late Dan Rostenkowski or a hanger-on of Donald Trump.


Colleges? That's where competent adolescents go to become competent adults. Maybe the Right would prefer that colleges focus more on vocational objectives -- but it is as important that people be able to question the meaning and purpose of life, learn how to write competently (even if only to draft credible reports), develop some historical perspective, and find more to life than crude ways of satisfying the more primitive drives of human nature. There really is more to life than sex, sweets, material gain and indulgence, chemical highs, cheap thrills, pop culture,  and bureaucratic power; poorly-educated people generally do not know that.

A demagogue like Donald Trump plays heavily upon contempt for educated people. People who know their history well could expect very bad results from Donald Trump; they rejected the unmitigated disaster that we have as President. Completion of a degree at a good college or university not only stuffs people with knowledge that they might not need later (which is not the point) but creates good habits -- like the willingness to exercise critical judgment.        

[Suburbia]

I guess if you say so, but the colleges trot out the evil white male, the cis white male, and then Dems don't understand why they are losing elections?

White males are the majority of the nation. Get it? Yes, there is white privilege, but using it to attack whites isn't working either.

Some colleges do great for the country, some colleges are just another unemployable grievance program.

Actually, they're not...

My bad. They may be dwindling, but hating the white male in the colleges are only creating more animosity.

The left-wing professors don't get it.

White males have never comprised a majority of the U.S. population. It's not a matter of dwindling, it's a matter of half the white population being female.

bronz probably never went to college either.

Yes I did. I've seen it.

[mencken]

Amusing how Democrats seem to think a college education causes one to go from an ignoramus to an enlightened individual 

Amusing how conservatives seem to think that humanity's intellectual forward path lies in stripping funds from institutions of learning and ridiculing the educated.

Actually, that's not amusing, that's horrifying.

Where did I advocate either stripping funds from educational institutions or ridiculing the educated? I am waiting?

[Gustaf]

     One could write a book to fully address this question. There are many ways in which they contribute positively and many ways in which they contribute negatively. I am not comfortable approaching it as a simple yes or no.

You're joking? You seriously think that the existence of American universities has an ambiguous effect on the US as a country?

That anyone would even consider that is one of the most moronic things I've heard. Jesus Christ.

[Middle-aged Europe]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiocracy

[TDAS04]

This does not surprise me.

[Mr. Smith]

    One could write a book to fully address this question. There are many ways in which they contribute positively and many ways in which they contribute negatively. I am not comfortable approaching it as a simple yes or no.

You're joking? You seriously think that the existence of American universities has an ambiguous effect on the US as a country?

That anyone would even consider that is one of the most moronic things I've heard. Jesus Christ.

Would you say that still if colleges suddenly started acting like Bob Jones or other Creditless Christian Schools or if University of Phoenix types became even more prominent than they already are?

Not hard to deny the current system is deeply, deeply flawed.

Doesn't mean the positive don't outweigh the negatives of course.

[Goldwater]

I can't wait to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars so that my kid can go to a diploma mill and learn to hate me for being part of the white-male power structure.

So you'd prefer people to be stupid. Got it.

So you assume that a collage degree automatically equals intelligence?

[ProudModerate2]

I cant believe that 5 Atlas members (all R's, of course) would vote to say that colleges are bad for the US.
What do they want ? Our populace to just farm, and work at McDonald's or Walmart ?
No lawyers, no doctors, no bankers, no accountants, no engineers, etc, etc. How could our economy run properly ? How would much of our advancement in technology and medicine happen ?
We can all live like they do in North Korea. That would be awesome .... Not!

[ProudModerate2]

I can't wait to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars so that my kid can go to a diploma mill and learn to hate me for being part of the white-male power structure.

So you'd prefer people to be stupid. Got it.

So you assume that a collage degree automatically equals intelligence?

I would bet that the vast majority of the time, anyone who graduates from a college/university would be "more intelligent" than someone who never attended at all.

[Goldwater]

I can't wait to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars so that my kid can go to a diploma mill and learn to hate me for being part of the white-male power structure.

So you'd prefer people to be stupid. Got it.

So you assume that a collage degree automatically equals intelligence?

I would bet that the vast majority of the time, anyone who graduates from a college/university would be "more intelligent" than someone who never attended at all.

See, I don't think that education is really the same ting as education, but I guess we will have to agree to disagree.

[Comrade Funk]

I can't wait to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars so that my kid can go to a diploma mill and learn to hate me for being part of the white-male power structure.

Stop reading Breitbart. Colleges aren't like that.

[Statilius the Epicurean]

Can't wait for the GOP to start defunding public universities en masse.

[Goldwater]

FWIW, I am not attempting to defend Clash's insanity. I just get annoyed when people take the view of more education equals more intelligent, thus coming to the conclusion that everyone who didn't go to college must be a complete idiot.

[JA]

I can't wait to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars so that my kid can go to a diploma mill and learn to hate me for being part of the white-male power structure.

So you'd prefer people to be stupid. Got it.

So you assume that a collage degree automatically equals intelligence?

I would bet that the vast majority of the time, anyone who graduates from a college/university would be "more intelligent" than someone who never attended at all.

See, I don't think that education is really the same ting as education, but I guess we will have to agree to disagree.

[Chunk Yogurt for President!]

So, according to Republicans, banks and churches = good; labor unions, media, and colleges = bad.

And they're right.

Pretty much all of those things could either be good or bad.