Highly Educated Fools
Our universities have become a problem. My entire adult life has been dedicated to education, so it pains me to say this, but we need to deal with them. It is critical for the survival of Canada and the entire free world. Let me be clear. I love school. I was a Canadian high school teacher for 28 years and a college instructor in Japan for eight more, bringing my total time in education to 36 years. I love to learn, and believe that education is important, that the dream of a highly literate informed populace is an exalted one. But something has happened to our universities, and it is not good. To put it in question form, “Why are so many highly educated people such fools?”
The University Problem
Most public universities are now indoctrination centers. Until recently this wasn’t so. Universities were places for the free exchange of ideas, the development of the mind, the promotion of critical thinking and a place where young people could learn about the wider world and the ideas in it. Not anymore. Now, as many of you already know, they are places where left leaning ideology is forced into the heads of the young and free speech is discouraged. Those who want to debate ideas from anything other than a Neo Marxist perspective are silenced, “cancelled” suspended, or otherwise eliminated, and that is the exact opposite of what a university should be.
Degrees Don’t Mean Wisdom
Getting an advanced degree doesn’t guarantee wisdom. As a professor I once had said: “I know PhDs who can barely tie their shoes.” In fact, getting a degree these days might guarantee that you will be indoctrinated and never again be able to relate to common sense. This is especially true at the graduate level where indoctrination is strongest. When I did my master’s degree the first thing, we were exposed to was radical postmodernism, followed by extremist left wing ideology. There was no sense that this was just another point of view. It was presented as truth. If you wanted to do well, you had to accept that. Some of the people I met were intelligent and nice, but they had already bought into “woke” indoctrination, and that was twenty years ago!
What Happened?
So, what happened? The corruption of our universities took place over a long period of time. You must give the radical left credit for their patience, determination, and cleverness. If their motives weren’t fascistic and downright evil, I might even admire them, but there is nothing good about watching their dysfunctional vision of society come to pass. The story begins long ago but takes off in the 1930s with a group of scholars called the “Frankfurt School.” Any conservative who has delved into this knows the story of how a group of radical German Marxist scholars fled Nazi Germany, came to America, got jobs at universities like Columbia and corrupted America’s youth. The movement spread from the United States to virtually every country in the developed world. Chris Rufo, the foremost opponent of Critical Race Theory in the United States, explains it well in the following link, so I won’t go into it in detail. Watch video … It eventually became known as the “Great March Through the Institutions.” By the second decade of the 21st century, much of it had been accomplished, and wokeism was everywhere.
Common Sense Not Common
One of my teachers in Asia said to me: “Common Sense Not Common!” He was right. It isn’t. In fact, it is rare. One of the places you are least likely to find it is a university. If you are a student these days you will be drenched in white guilt, Critical Race Theory (whites are evil from birth and racists) Wokeism and Marxism. If you teach at a Canadian university, you had better toe the line or your life will be miserable. You can be fired for no other reason than that you disagree with the mob. You will be targeted, as Rema Azar, Jordan Peterson, Ricardo Duchesne, Lindsay Shepherd and countless others have found out. It worked out for Jordan Peterson, but for many other scholars…well…None of it has anything to do with common sense, logic, or fairness. It’s bigotry and bullying pure and simple.
University Ideas Spread Outward
Ideas spread outward from universities to the public. At first, they appear outlandish, (as they often are) to regular citizens, but as university graduates take up positions of power in government, schools, corporations, and human resource departments they spread. I once thought that philosophy was an esoteric field that had no effect on real life, but I was wrong. It was mid twentieth century political and social philosophers, and their leftist predecessors, who spread extremist and repressive progressive ideology into all our lives. Philosophy matters… and so do universities.
And Now for Some Good News…
There is some good news. People are beginning to figure it out. They are now aware that universities are a problem, and they are acting. It works one of two ways. Either they don’t go to university at all because of the debt load and brainwashing they will incur while there. I don’t recommend this option, though, since we need to challenge the existing academic establishment, but I can understand why people often choose that road. The other option is to form new universities based on the classical curriculum, free of left-wing progressive bias. That process has already begun. Ralston College in North Carolina, Hillsdale College in Michigan, St. John’s College in Maryland and Santa Fe, the New College of Florida and other independent schools are either being created, recreated, or re-establishing their mandate. All of them are basing their teaching on a solid classical curriculum. There is also the Classical Christian school movement and home schooling both of which are growing in North America.
Technology
Another encouraging trend concerns technology. Many conservative authorities, from Douglas Murray to Jordan Peterson, are using it to spread their message. Their aim is to get the message out that Wokeism and extreme progressivism are dangerous, and to serve as a counter to Cancel Culture. Douglas Murray has a YouTube series called “Uncancelled History.” where he reteaches the truth about our history and great cultural heroes. Here is one of his videos about Churchill Watch video … Jordan Peterson has started his own online university, Peterson Academy in which he offers university degrees for an affordable fee. Watch video … All of this is part of the resistance, and it is wonderful to see it. There is hope, and we should not despair. But we have a lot of work to do to restore our culture. We should never make the mistake of thinking it will be easy. It won’t be, but it is the most important fight we will ever join and worthy of our complete and total dedication.
What yoou say is quite true from my observations of what is going on ineducation. This of course starts at the primary education level and works up through high school and then college level indoctrination. The positive aspect of this is that many more of us are actively fighting back against this liberal marxist teaching.There is a greater awareness of the problem and some positive steps are being taken to bring a strong correction to this liberal drift into nothingness.
Yes. We have noticed that there really is a grass roots wave in North America and in Europe to correct the madness going on out there. As I said in the post, new universities are being formed and CRT is being banned in more and more states. Almost half of the states in America now have some sort of legislation to severely limit or outlaw Critical Race Theory. This needs to happen in Canada as well, but won’t as long as the Liberals are in power. This fight is going to be a long one, no doubt about it. We… Read more »
Good overview and writing. Also thanks for the hopeful ending. It is so good to see the number of ways people are now either standing firm or fighting back.
Thanks for the compliment. Yes, people are now finally beginning to fight back, but it will be a while before we can topple the educational nightmare we are now facing. Each of us needs to back whatever organizations are committed to fighting this madness and to organize on the grass roots level.
Thank you, Perry, so much for this assessment of our “progressive” (regressive)culture, as we hurry back toward the dark ages where intelligence, knowledge and true education are devalued and lost. I am so thankful for the gradual waking up of many to the evils of the controlling powers of our age. I am sending this on to others.
re: ‘progressive’ you got it right. Every time that term is used we must do just like you did and point put that their belief system is actually REGRESSIVE.
Yes. There is nothing “progressive” about any of this. It is all regressive and crushingly totalitarian. Thanks for pointing it out Hal.
It really is encouraging to hear that you are going to send the post on to others. This is the way we will raise the level of awareness of regular Canadians to fight this madness. I am grateful for your support. Thanks.
Another inciteful editorial. Thanks. The education system is where this begins but this moral cancer has already progressed throughout politics, Big Corporations, Main Stream Media (MSM), Social media and even many churches. We may be able to stem the tide for a while but IMO once we allow digital ids and digital currencies we will all become slaves to our governments. When people trust governments more than God, like they did with Covid, we are headed for fascism / Marxism in their most evil forms. How much discernment and push back was there when our governments enacted medical tyranny on… Read more »
Yes. It is a cancer. We allowed this to happen in gradual increments by doing nothing and trusting that somehow it would all work out. It never could have. Behind it all, as you pointed out, is Marxism and the crypto communist (read fascist) state. Returning to an awareness of God is the only way we can counteract any of this. The ironic part is that the Charter itself recognizes the “Supremacy of God” how much more clear can it be.
Thank you for the links, Perry! I have not heard of the Frankfurt School and look forward to watching this video. I am surprised and pleased to hear that there are now university options which do not succumb to cancelling debate. Hallelujah! This is good news indeed!
Yes. Good news indeed! I was heartened to see that these new university options had come into being. The story of the Frankfurt school is an insidious and evil influence in our civilization. Most people don’t know about it, but it is vitally important to understand it.
Good article! My only friendly disagreement relates to origins in the Frankfurt School in that it was, at the time, just the latest iteration of the Marxist/humanist worldview flowing significantly out of the ‘Enlightenment’. And the ‘Enlightenment’ was just a reaction to the Reformation and the ‘Renaissance’ in man’s desire to do away with the God of the Bible, not initially, but ultimately. All of these ideologies are an aspect of fallen and sinful man’s continuous attempt to be his own god and to ignore and try to erase the one true God the God of the bible. Original sin… Read more »
Well certainly, much of the trouble we are in now comes from our societal decision to turn away from God. There is no way we can come to any other conclusion. It is said that there is a God shaped hole in the human heart. If it is not filled with Him, then it will be filled with whatever self centred hedonistic ideology comes along. That’s a frightening thought isn’t it?
I am 90 years old, and have studied in five different colleges and universities since the 1950’s, and done graduate work in history. I have observed these changes over the years as you describe, especially since the 1960’s. It has been a gradual process of change over time, as you described. We have been like the proverbial frog being heated in the pan full of water, slowly, so we have not realized what has been happening until we actually experience it in so-called “higher education,” and witness the results in our society and nation. I am glad there is now a growing… Read more »
Yes. You can really see it, can’t you? You have 23 years on me, but I too can see the gradual degradation and decline of our original societal norms. “Higher education” no longer cares about the benefits of impartial educational merit or the elevating of the individual through knowledge or the refined development of critical thinking skills. It is now all about advancing the crypto Marxist agenda. Of course, it is good to see new universities growing out of the need to rebalance all this, and I think more will be established. I don’t think it is too late. We… Read more »
I wonder if what you are describing is the preparation of the mind to accept totalitarianism in all its guises? Hannah Arendt in an essay on The Nature of Totalitarianism argued that “growing stupidity”, the “breakdown of morality” and making up new words on an almost daily basis, are all key ingredients in removing people’s ability to judge anything properly. Once they can’t judge, they will accept anything, no matter how damaging and degrading to themselves and society. Perhaps “growing stupidity” would be a good name for a university course these days?
Absolutely. You would have to be blind not to see this. One of the preconditions in the establishment of a totalitarian state is to dumb things down and present them to the masses in a black and white fashion. The average person is well primed to accept these over simplifications and the way to get them to do so is to remove their critical sense so that they cannot differentiate between what they emotionally feel and whatever facts exist. That is why people are so concerned with their “feelings” and “their truth.” They actually know very little, sometimes nothing. I… Read more »
Absolutely spot on. The sheer preponderance of infection across the board in higher (and other) education reveals the concerted plan and mechanism in creating a ‘revolution of the mind’, and so things need to be put right. Many of us find the evidence of the destruction of the mind in academia nauseating, but there are bright signs as noted.
Once upon a time when I went to university differences in opinion was something to be encouraged, value and argued for. In the late 60’s many of us grew beards, smoked pipes, carried large briefcases across campus, filled with textbooks. We sat in student union building arguing and debating the war in Vietnam, abortion, what life was really about. The Maharishi Mahesh Yogi came to my campus and had a retreat at Shawnigan Lake. TM was a thing and he was the focal point before the Beatles gave him celebrity. It was a crazy, wonderful, exciting, stimulating time. My first class, in… Read more »