<p>Humm, I guess that I am both a bit of a snob and a pretty ungracious person who makes plenty of erroneous assumptions. And, I say this with a smile, because I do not want to keep on arguing. You and I have had our shares of exchanges, and we have rarely agreed on left vs right issues. </p>
<p>In this case, I answered --and perhaps I should have let the OP respond-- about why it might be considered offensive to suggest non-residential course to a person who visits CC. I do not think that my “post” was grating, but perhaps it was in the eye of whoever does not agree. That is the nature of online forums, where there is no hand gestures of facial expressions.</p>
<p>Further it is quite normal that people disagree about political activism in college. There is no right or wrong, and neither opinions about it are better or worse. My point here is that not everyone sees it as a positive. Yet, I also wrote that it is not only inescapable and part of the landscape in college, but also quite trivial and inconsequent to most students. My point here --if you noticed my first post-- was that it was not an issue to be overly concerned as more than a few students will go about their life without giving the activists much thought. </p>
<p>I also wrote that there is nothing wrong with having political thoughts that are different from the majority in school. It can be challenging and rewarding, and parts of getting a balanced education in our formative years. </p>
<p>Part of the purpose of college is to teach students to think and analyze. The real world is certainly heavily influenced by politics. I don’t see how an education that encourages a student to deeply consider and evaluate their beliefs in light of their responsibility as citizens could be a harmful thing. I don’t know too many parents who want to raise a student who is too ill-informed to fully evaluate a ballot measure they may have to vote on or to understand the context and complexity of positions a politician on their ballot might take. Shining a light and providing information is a good thing. If it leads to a student identifying something they would like to see changed in the world, then I think that is part of allowing our children to have free will as they become adults. Most students don’t throw off the traces and run off to protest, skipping finals and abandoning their studies to pursue a political interest. Has the OP kept her child locked up at home to avoid this during high school? Certainly high school students in our community get out and participate in political activities quite frequently. How do you keep your kid under control today if this is such a major concern?</p>
<p>Someone mentioned Harvey Mudd as a possible school for the OP’s kid. Their mission statement:</p>
<p>“Harvey Mudd College seeks to educate engineers, scientists, and mathematicians well versed in all of these areas and in the humanities and the social sciences so that they may assume leadership in their fields with a clear understanding of the impact of their work on society.”</p>
<p>While that doesn’t translate into students marching with signs on campus for the most part, it does indicate that a wide view of the world and looking beyond just STEM subjects to think about the impact of their work on society is a key goal. So probably not a great fit, as that is the first step on the slippery slope of realizing that politics impact everything (including STEM fields).</p>
<p>“helping your daughter to learn the critical thinking skills and to gain the confidence to make her own decisions” I think this is exactly what the OP is trying to avoid. </p>
<p>Yeah, I disagree. I think OP doesn’t want her kid swept up in political stuff before she has the critical thinking skills, information, and confidence to form her own opinions. It’s pretty amazing sometimes the opinions students have about things they don’t understand at all. Some of these conversations are actually amusing. And annoying. </p>
<p>I’m not saying there are no professors that will do this, but I am saying that it will likely be possible to avoid professors like the one you describe. Maybe not entirely, but certainly enough that it’s not happening with all of your classes. Of course, there are a wide variety of professors, but I would wager that the vast majority aren’t like the professor you described. You might have to be flexible, but if you go to a large school that has a big department in your major, it shouldn’t be too incredibly difficult to avoid professors like this, especially if you’re taking classes where there are multiple sections (or different electives you can take). And of course, there is always the counter to your anecdotal evidence with my own anecdotal evidence, I’ve never heard of any stories where a STEM professor used their class as a soapbox for a political campaign (and this is from multiple friends and acquaintances at schools ranging from large public universities to small LACs and from the west coast to the east coast). Of course, I’m not saying that it’s impossible to meet a professor like this, but I’m also saying that it’s certainly possible to never had a professor like this.</p>
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<p>It’s pretty amazing the opinions that grown adults with degrees and jobs have about things they don’t understand at all.</p>
<p>Everyone is ignorant about something. It’s impossible for everyone to know everything, but the point is to develop the skills to critical thinking skills. And it’s hard to develop those if you never experience an opinion that challenges your beliefs or a way of thinking different than your own. It’s not going to spontaneously happen when someone is no longer a student.</p>
<p>The OPs daughter will be a college student…presumably 18 years old…or so. Why can’t the student formulate her OWN opinions about whether to become involved in particular causes? She is 18, not 8. Time to let her make some of these decisions, and grow as an independent adult. And yes, that means she might not always agree with you. </p>
<p>Seems to me that the whole point of college is to develop exactly those abilities. You can’t learn to ride a bike or make a decent golf swing or play a musical instrument without actually trying the activity itself. When will the kid be allowed to form their own opinion – when they are 30?</p>
<p>Good point. But there are a lot of college kids who are not forming their own opinion at all. OP sounds like she’s worried about her kid getting peer pressured into other people’s opinions. That happens, too. Which is why so many kids don’t even understand their positions on the issues they march about beyond two the first sentences. Some schools are more political than others.</p>
<p>DS chose to go to a school that was significantly more conservative than he was. It has helped him clarify his opinions, learn to be diplomatic in the heat of an argument and how to shut down an idiot in 30 words or less. I honestly thought he would be better at a more liberal school, but he is happy to have the experience. Maybe instead of looking for an apolitical environment, it could lead to a good discussion about what she wants. </p>
<p>Of course, you could wait until next month when the Princeton Review comes out with their annual rankings and look for the least political campuses. </p>
<p>“Which is why so many kids don’t even understand their positions on the issues they march about”</p>
<p>I don’t claim that every young activist is an expert, but it has not been my experience that kids taking the trouble to march don’t understand their own opinions. Nuances of the other side, maybe not, but they do get their own viewpoint and could give you more than two sentences why. I don’t know if you’re going to a lot of marches and asking the kids why they’re there.</p>
<p>EVERYBODY has an agenda.
I prefer schools to encourage the student body to weigh different points of view, instead of blindly following q school of thought.
I want kids to be able to eventually think for themselves.
You can’t avoid politics, EVERYTHING is political.</p>
<p>I’m amused by the assumption in so many posts that the only place “activism” is a risk is at a liberal leaning campus. What of the students at Bob Jones or Liberty U. who might be “recruited” by a professor who is active in anti-abortion politics and then end up attending rallies or picketing Planned Parenthood offices instead of studying?</p>
<p>But more on point, I wish OP would offer some examples of exactly where these fears arise from, other than one anecdote from another country. Where are all these nefarious profs who are drawing students into their political webs and diverting them from their studies? From my experience of putting two kids through college over the last 10 years (one at a notoriously “political” school), I believe most students are more concerned with their grade on the next quiz or where they’ll be partying the coming weekend. The “activist” types (not even sure what that term means, actually) pretty much arrived as freshmen with that inclination. I’d say the conversion of a previously apolitical kid to some professor’s personal agenda would be a very rare occurrence–but I’m open to hearing examples. </p>
<p>I went to a fairly liberal LAC and had an East Asian studies professor who was constantly saying “commie this” and “commie that” and extremely negative about the Chinese revolution. He never did try to make me not study and go try to overthrow the Chinese government, however. [shrug]</p>
<p>BTW, OP, I understand where you’re coming from. We are a conservative Christian family, but my middle son (probably pretty Libertarian) has said he neither wants to go to a Christian college or one that leans too heavily to the left. He doesn’t want it thrown in his face constantly from either direction.</p>
<p>Again, if you look at Niche, you will see one stat, “most open minded” which I think is kind of interesting.</p>
<p>While MIT leans liberal for sure like well known colleges do, it is open-minded in that people of wildly varying beliefs seem to get along well, and there’s a fairly good representation of a diverse set of opinions from what I have observed. On Niche, MIT’s named the 6th most open minded school.</p>
<p>Should have popped some popcorn before I started reading this thread. </p>
<p>My son goes to a school which was founded by activists of their time - Abolitionists. Informed civic action is a part of their mission. My son is a Politics major and hasn’t participated in any protests, nor has he been led astray by any professors. </p>
<p>I don’t understand what is wrong with these kids today. I used to go to protests all the time when I was his age. </p>
<p>Like emilybee, my D went to a very liberal school, also founded by abolitionists. She went to exactly 1 rally in 4 years, and that was because it was in another city and she wanted to go on a road trip with her friends. </p>
<p>If sheltering a HS/college child from politics until graduation is the endgoal, it’s not only quixotic due to the nature of US colleges…especially respectable/elite ones, but also ironic considering OP’s cited reason.</p>
<p>One reason why some students do get enticed to join extremist political groups is precisely because they’re ignorant or so cocooned from political/larger worldly matters in their younger years that when they do meet a recruiter from such groups, they’re much more easy to recruit compared to a HS/college student who has had some exposure to many different political/worldly matters and has debated/discussed/thought deeply about them before the recruiter showed up. </p>
<p>It’s also a bit odd to me as discussion of politics…including political activism was considered an integral part of one’s study of US history and government in K-12 and learning about the ways of the world…especially American society with parents/neighbors. </p>
<p>Heck, during the '84 election, my elementary school class held a mock election where some of the political platforms of each candidate was discussed. Good way to ease into teaching how the US system of government works and how elections and the political process works. </p>
<p>Older relatives, friends, and colleagues like my former supervisor also recounted learning about such things from elementary school onward from a course which was once a requirement in their time…Civics. </p>
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<p>Funny enough, that complaint sounds very similar to actual criticisms I’ve heard from older Oberlin alums from the late '60s till the late '80s about how we late GenXers were “too apathetic” and “not political enough” compared to when they were students. And no, they weren’t joking. </p>