Washington Times: OLSEN: Dangers of academia’s ‘indoctrination mills’

[Patricia M. McBride]

I think we all know this is happening and know how dangerous this is for our country...............we have student brain washing at all levels in the school system and it needs to be stopped and reversed back to teaching about our economic system, our history and our founding documents.  That the far left is using tax payer funded public schools to brain wash our children is insane and that they are allowed to do so is even worse.

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 April 6, 2012

Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum caused a bit of a stir last month when he labeled college campuses “indoctrination mills” that enforce a strict adherence to “politically correct left doctrine.” For conservatives, Mr. Santorum might as well have called the sky blue. But from the way the media and liberal pundits pounced on his remarks, you’d think he had said something profoundly indecent.

For decades, conservatives have documented and criticized how liberal ideology runs rampant throughout higher education. Hence William F. Buckley’s famous quip from the 1960s: “I’d rather entrust the government of the United States to the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory than to the faculty of Harvard University.” Fifty years later, few conservatives would disagree.

But could the problem be getting worse? The Pew Research Center released a study in December showing that more Americans age 18 to 29 have a favorable view of socialism over capitalism. In fact, this demographic has a net positive view of socialism (49 percent positive to 43 percent negative) and net negative view of capitalism (46 percent positive and 47 percent negative). When Pew released an earlier version of the same study two years ago, this demographic’s views on socialism were exactly the opposite (43 percent positive and 49 percent negative).

Clearly, more than one’s college education goes into one’s opinions on economic systems. But just as clearly, few would deny that a college graduate’s opinions are shaped during his or her four years at college - that’s why they’re called the formative years. So when we engage in a spirited debate about the liberal dominance of college, let’s also remember that there are real-world consequences to this imbalance within academia.

For the 18-to-29-year-olds who have a favorable opinion of socialism, what else does that tell us about them? Can one view socialism favorably and still believe in America’s democratic free-market system? Would these young adults be able to articulate why the social democratic states of Europe and around the world failed to keep pace with the United States in the latter half of the 20th century?

Read more here:  http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/apr/6/dangers-of-academias...