kvrdave

Well, it was much more about political correctness on campus and how the only ideas allowed tend to be leftists' ideas. I can't imagine that there is anyone that went to college that is surprised by that. Definately their best episode to date, and I agreed with much of it.

I see people that went to work for the government (usually a county or state) right out of highschool, and they retire early, and live nice lives. Tough to beat that. And they did finish by saying that college was great if you have a specialized field you are going to enter. Obviously you won't become a teacher without going to one....at least a public teacher.

But otherwise, it was about what I expected, and it was a very good episode. As a Women's Studies minor and Outstanding Student Award Winner in the program, I saw it up close. In the name of diversity, we can have no diversity.

I don't think there is a real answer though. My guess is that while colleges will continue their quotas for ethnicity, sexual preference, etc., they will never have a quota for conservative thinkers. It's Bullshit, but that's the way it is.

Great episode.

dolphinboy

Best episode to date.

No surprise you didn't think it was the one on the bible.

JasonF

Meh. Maybe it's because I was an Econ major, or maybe it's because I went to a southern school, but I always found the whole "political correctness" thing to be way overblown. There were probably more rightists at my school than leftists. There are left-wing schools, there are right wing schools, and there are middle-of-the-road schools. But the indoctrination isn't just coming from the left. I mean, nobody's doing a piece about the right-wing bias at BYU or Bob Jones University, but it's there.

Red Dog

Yeah - UVA is basically Snob U. Yours isn't the typical experience.

Also, when you go to BYU to Bob Jones (religious-based institutions), you know what you are getting. I think when most people go to State U, they really don't expect a political slanted school (nor do I think they should expect it), so your comparison isn't fair.

kvrdave

I must have missed that one. This season?

kvrdave

I went to the most conservative school in the Pac-10 (easily), and it was still incredibly left.

I think pointing out BYU and BJ is like pointing out that Whoopi Goldberg didn't need a college education, personally. Why aren't there private colleges that actively promote that they are to the left? They don't need them.

dolphinboy

You seem like the kind of person who would be looking to find things that you could call leftist while in college.

I TOO went to a Pac 10 school. Maybe I was too busy studying for exams, going out with friends, planning for my future, but I really didn't find my college experience left or right or political in any way. I guess mine wasn't the "typical" experience either.

Again, that's not to say that these extremists aren't there, but I don't think the average student is effected by it. A lot of my college friends are making a lot of money now and, they took the same classes as I did, yet most of them lean conservative. I guess even with all that brain-washing they were still able to find their own way and make up there own minds.

You should really catch that bible episode. I mean, it would seem hard to label an episode entitled college, which really had very little to do with college, as the best episode to date, if you haven't seen the other episodes.

Red Dog

Much of it depends on your major.

I was an International Relations major and almost every professor I had (IR involves taking courses across several fields: economics, history, poli-sci, geography, business, etc) were liberal. The only one who wasn't liberal taught 2 Int'l Business courses I took. Having liberal professors didn't bother me all that much, particularly since most of them were quite tolerant of alternate viewpoints in discussions.

das Monkey

I majored in Electrical Engineering, so it didn't really come up. However, we did have our fair share of nonsensical PC bullshit that I had to put up with while involved with student government.

das

aktick

In my experience, both dolphinboy and kvrdave are right...I've gone to 2 different state schools here in Wisconsin (neither Madison). At the first school, I didn't notice teachers being political at all. I think that was because it was in a more conservative city (liberal professors probably would just assume stay away?) and my freshman year was 2001, so after 9/11 nobody was really concerned with political parties.

The school I've been at for the past 2 years seems much more liberal. It wasn't bad until spring of '04, when the presidential race started heating up. Teachers would openly criticize Bush and republicans, but I just let most of it go in one ear and out the other. Last fall semester, however, a couple teachers would base their entire lectures on why Bush is terrible and how he's ruining the US, etc. Whether you agreed or not, I thought it was just selfish and they had an agenda that didn't belong in the class setting (one of these classes was Bio, the other a real estate class, so they weren't polisci classes). Talking with classmates it was obvious that a vast majority were getting sick of it...some of these admitted they were democrats, but hated that the teachers weren't teaching the subject. So somebody drafted a letter, and a group of us went to the department heads with the letter and asked that something be done. The next class periods, both teachers apologized and politics weren't brought up again.

Bottom line...I think the vast majority of professors are liberal, but most know to keep politics out of the class. Even when they do discuss it in class, most students aren't persuaded by them and are wise enough to make their minds up themselves. And they don't hold a grudge if you disagree with them.

movielib

I went to college way before you kids but I saw Northwestern transformed from a campus that overwhelmingly supported Barry Goldwater the year before I started to a very liberal place by the time I graduated in 1969. But we didn't have all the crappy speech codes and other "politically correct" junk and everyone could always express their opinions openly without fear of reprisal, at least in my experience there.

Me, I started there a liberal and finished a liberal. I didn't go nuts and become a libertarian for another decade or so.

kvrdave

I voted for Patty Murray, and taught a section of Women's Studies 101 while I was in college. I think you might have me pegged wrong.


Ah, there is the misunderstanding. I was talking about the best one this season. The environmental one was easily the best of the series. The Bible one seemed kind of weak to me, and it was really odd....they acted like they were trying to keep from offending people in that episode.

dolphinboy

EASILY? There's that right wing know-it-all, everyone else must be wrong, condescending attitude that I've grown to love.

The bible one was kind of weak, huh? Surprise, surprise, suprise. It is kind of a big book (of lies), so there was an awful lot to cover in a half hour. I think just saying the bible is bullshit, which P&T have done repeatedly through the series, probably would offend a lot of people. Here's hoping they swing back to bashing "lefty" (they are due for a right wing bash next) so that you can enjoy the show.

HistoryProf

Talk about bullshit

"Lefty radicals dominate American Colleges!" =

Red Dog

Being a libertarian makes almost every episode enjoyable.

Breakfast with Girls

The vast, vast majority of education workers -- administrative staff, teachers, professors -- are liberal. Anyone who argues otherwise either has no experience with the education industry or is in denial. The good teachers and professors are the ones who make it hard to tell.

Red Dog

I thought the GOP had the teacher's unions in their hip pocket.

movielib

Doesn't hurt to be a nontheist and unbeliever in the paranormal either.

Best of all Penn & Teller worlds.

movielib

The "Big Brother" topic in the next episode on June 13 looks to bash "righty." Then two weeks after that I expect them to go after "lefty" in "Gun Control." The episode in between, "Hair," I don't know what they're going to do.

As kvrdave, I think "Environmental Hysteria" was one of the best. I also loved "Recycling." "War on Drugs" is another personal favorite. I don't disagree at all with their point of view in "The Bible" but I'm not sure the show was done all that well.

dolphinboy

Hey, I'm a liberal and I love when they expose liberal nuts like that guy teaching that class with the name so long it went on forever. I would like to see that guy fired and I couldn't care less if that "hurts my side".

My major disappointment is that I thought they'd be specific about what they were doing. College Political Correctness or Liberals Running Colleges in America. But just College kind of made me think they were taking advantage of how general that title was and then they ran with an issue that could have had its own show. How about a real show on college? Financial Aid/loans, the book scams, tuition, the fact that there is so much of an emphasis on "liberal" arts that we have to take way too many courses in things that will never come up again in our lives, when we could probably drop an entire year and get our Bachelors in 3 years. And then debate whether we need THAT much exposure to SO many different things. Architecture was simply a waste of my time and I remember nothing about it except how much I hated going to it.

I felt they wasted an opportunity to talk about college in an episode called college. Go after the liberal professors in another episode.

das Monkey

Yeah, it just wasn't that good a show. It seems some people too often confuse a good episode with one that happens to agree with their politics. I agree with P&T on most topics, but the episodes themselves can be hit or miss.

das

Red Dog

Of their religion-bashing episodes, I think Creationism was the best.

kvrdave

What the hell are you talking about? Did I piss you off in some other thread or something? I give my opinion that I thought the environmental episode was easily the best of the series and you go off on some comment making it sound like all must agree with my opinion or die?

Whatever.

You are honestly irritated that I said that there was an episode that was "easily" the best? This bothers you?

kvrdave

And this?

Man, I don't know what I did, but it must have been good. Hopefully we can get past it, but it sure seems to be eating at you, whatever it is.

das Monkey

I miss all the fun until you quote it, you condescending know-it-all.

das