Sisyphus and Higher Education
By Jonathan Bean • Tuesday October 27, 2009 2:02 PM PDT • 3 Comments
Those of us laboring for academic reform often feel like Sisyphus, rolling a rock up the hill only to have it come crashing down again. The gods of academe seem to have condemned higher education to inevitable decay.
That thought came to me as I read about the demise of an institute (at Hamilton College) that did everything right, yet the overlords of Political Correctness purged themselves of enemies and “deviationists.” I use these terms because the notion that all-is-political, enemies-must-be-destroyed is linked so strongly to communism and its close cousin national socialism.
In the above unhappy story, Mark Bauerlein tries to see a silver lining by noting that the Institute survives outside the college. Students can go there and read books for which they receive no academic credit, of course. If ever there was a case study in how much the Left prizes control of higher education, this is it.
The next time you are tempted to think that much of what happens is a “misunderstanding” or “good intentions gone awry,” please banish the thought. When push comes to shove, there are those who would put a bullet in your head if this were a different place and time. Instead, they kill ideas by depriving them of air space on campus. No institute, no nonconformist faculty.
Or, as Stalin put it: “no people, no problem.” We, the few, will retire some day and then there will be nobody to speak out against the barbarians.
That is our problem.
Postscript: Robert Weissberg nails the problem(s) exceptionally well in this article.
Tags: Civil Society, Education, Socialism 
Jonathan,
The Weissberg link doesn’t appear to be working.
RickC | Oct 28, 2009 | Reply
@RickC: FIXED! Click it now. Thanks for letting me know.
Jonathan Bean | Oct 28, 2009 | Reply
This is interesting. I was thinking about education after reading Dr. Higgs’ article from Oct. 27 (“Democracy’s Most Critical Defect”).
I think college is way too late to try and educate people on liberty. You need to get them while they are young–about 3rd through 8th grade. This is when people’s intellectual foundations are laid and the state fills their heads with its own fabrications. Trying to change their minds in college is like pulling the rug out from underneath all they know and understand. They will resist stubbornly, and rightly so.
If we truly want to teach the principle of liberty, we must act where it will make the difference: become an elementary or middle school teacher. It is not as glamorous as being a PhD at some prestigious university, but it would make a great deal more difference.
Sonic Ninja Kitty | Oct 31, 2009 | Reply