…on to campus. We have to take back the academy from the left.
5 thoughts on “Smuggling Classical Liberalism”
The academic leaning toward Marxism/socialism does seem widespread but I don’t know if it is universal. When I was an undergrad at Caltech a long time ago (late 70s) I had an econ professor Burton Klein who was a huge advocate of competition, innovation and free markets. He drew many examples from the early days of commercial aerospace, when there were numerous companies innovating and competing–the DC-3 project was one he analyzed in depth. I hope there are still profs like him out there somewhere.
It’s sad that the Left has so co-opted the term “Liberalism” in the U. S. that it has to be modified with “Classical”. I think a better modifier would be “Real”.
My take on the article was that these professors agreed that we don’t need to take back the academy so long as we can continue to inject a classical liberal point of view into the education process and get the students to see the other side.
From my somewhat more cynical perspective, I think you are correct in that we need to balance out the equation so that all students get both sides of the argument fairly. When the “right-wing” professorial population is so small, there is a risk of extinction.
I’m surprised the students themselves don’t want some kind of change.
The entire campus culture – based on the UC schools I’m familiar with hasn’t changed much from the 70s – except now all the teach ins and left wing demonstrations are orchestrated by the campus establishment and faculty. Of course most of these students are from the public schools and reflect that sort of mindless conformity to leftist cultural values.
I’m the president of the Pope Center (which posted the article, written by our director of research, George Leef). I appreciate Rand Simberg’s link and these comments. One thought: the ideas underlying classical liberalism are so persuasive, if properly presented, that they will draw students. And, yes, the relatively small number of students who arrive on campus with knowledge of classical liberalism are key to broadening thought on campus. That’s why we work with groups such as Students for Liberty and libertarian and conservative political groups on campus. They are bringing in interesting speakers and challenging the status quo.
The academic leaning toward Marxism/socialism does seem widespread but I don’t know if it is universal. When I was an undergrad at Caltech a long time ago (late 70s) I had an econ professor Burton Klein who was a huge advocate of competition, innovation and free markets. He drew many examples from the early days of commercial aerospace, when there were numerous companies innovating and competing–the DC-3 project was one he analyzed in depth. I hope there are still profs like him out there somewhere.
It’s sad that the Left has so co-opted the term “Liberalism” in the U. S. that it has to be modified with “Classical”. I think a better modifier would be “Real”.
My take on the article was that these professors agreed that we don’t need to take back the academy so long as we can continue to inject a classical liberal point of view into the education process and get the students to see the other side.
From my somewhat more cynical perspective, I think you are correct in that we need to balance out the equation so that all students get both sides of the argument fairly. When the “right-wing” professorial population is so small, there is a risk of extinction.
I’m surprised the students themselves don’t want some kind of change.
The entire campus culture – based on the UC schools I’m familiar with hasn’t changed much from the 70s – except now all the teach ins and left wing demonstrations are orchestrated by the campus establishment and faculty. Of course most of these students are from the public schools and reflect that sort of mindless conformity to leftist cultural values.
I’m the president of the Pope Center (which posted the article, written by our director of research, George Leef). I appreciate Rand Simberg’s link and these comments. One thought: the ideas underlying classical liberalism are so persuasive, if properly presented, that they will draw students. And, yes, the relatively small number of students who arrive on campus with knowledge of classical liberalism are key to broadening thought on campus. That’s why we work with groups such as Students for Liberty and libertarian and conservative political groups on campus. They are bringing in interesting speakers and challenging the status quo.