<p>
</p>
<p>Amen! 
…</p>
<p>Right now, your ideals are your parents’. After you go out into the world of conflicting opinion, your views may change or stay the same, but then they will truly be your own.</p>
<p>
That’s exactly how I see it, and it’s why I embrace choosing a school not based on its political atmosphere. I am quite excited at the idea of being challenged, forced to rethink everything (for MYSELF this time), and develop my own stances.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>What is your definition of “invested” versus “hoarded”?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>One’s stance on abortion depends on whether and when one thinks the fetus has rights as any other human. All abortion stances derive from that. (It is also why the issue is generally one where people do not find compromise to be acceptable.)</p>
<p>^ Yeah, abortion is really an ideological issue. Anyone who thinks that they can derive their stance on the issue from pure reason is kidding themselves.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I’m not much of a money guy, but I think that’s not true. I bet that the super-wealthy are a little bit more money-smart than to leave cash lying around. Cash lying around depreciates in value due to inflation.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Actually, if you determine the initial postulate (“fetus has human rights” or “fetus does not have human rights”), then it is simple to reason a stance on abortion. Note: some people may say that the fetus gains human rights at a certain stage between conception and birth, but that just means that the initial postulate depends on the stage of pregnancy.</p>
<p>“Fetus has human rights” => abortion is murder unless the pregnancy threatens the woman’s life (in most of these cases, the fetus is doomed anyway, so the choice would be between saving one life (the pregnant woman) or zero lives).</p>
<p>“Fetus does not have human rights” => abortion is like any other elective medical procedure.</p>
<p>There is, of course, no room for a compromise that is fully acceptable to both stances.</p>
<p>Well, I will happily admit to being a socialist. 
But everyone has different opinions and that is cool. OP, we are in the opposite situation - D wants a more liberal atmosphere. But I think we have it a lot easier as many many colleges tend to be liberal…at least the professors.</p>
<p>Dan Savage appeared several days ago on Bill Maher and he subtly excoriated Mark Cuban when Mark was talking about owning 3 jets…Dan replied he didn’t own any and it was just perfect the way he said it - the timing and expression. Loved it. I admit struggling with capitalism - I don’t always adhere to my principals but I try very hard to not do conspicuous consumption like the fancy house or fancy car etc… </p>
<p>But anyway, kind of off topic but this is an interesting thread.</p>
<p>^ it’s good to see that one can be beyond one’s 20s and still be a socialist. Love Dan Savage - I also just watched him on Bill Maher and literally startled my mom when I burst out laughing at Dan’s comments about Rick Santorum.</p>
<p>Phant: I am 36 and have actually gotten more liberal as I have gotten older - I know it is not supposed to happen that way but it did to me! I think it has a lot to do with working in health care and all the injustices I seem to witness on an almost daily basis. That and what I perceive as a lack of properly funding education - something I never thought much about until I had my own children.</p>
<p>@SeekingUni,</p>
<p>I think you’re going about this the right way and wish you good luck in your search. The financial aid argument is indeed your strongest one, and I suggest that you use it should any of your family members bring up politics again: Your most important criterion in the college search should be availability of financial aid, to the exclusion of all else if need be. Tell them you’d rather go to a rich liberal school than not go to college at all, and ask them if they object to that. If they do, you’ll know whose interests they’re really trying to protect.</p>
<p>@DolorousEdd,</p>
<p>What are your thoughts on Jon’s last chapter in ADWD? :D</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You misread my intent and it’s probably because I knew what I was thinking, but didn’t word it properly.</p>
<p>My solid belief is that logic doesn’t change the teen/young twenty something much if at all. Part of it is due to the way the brain develops (physical reason). Maybe all of it is, who knows for sure?</p>
<p>Life experience changes us - laps around the sun. Pending what one experiences will pretty much predict their changes.</p>
<p>It really doesn’t matter a whole lot about our youth to a large extent (but not 100%). I was brought up poor too with a split family, etc, and I definitely care about people. I don’t even consider myself a “greedy conservative.” I consider myself looking for answers that will work. ;)</p>
<p>To the OP - sounds like you have a great plan. You will be challenged in college and beyond, but I think you will do well no matter where you go. Don’t worry about going to a place too conservative unless, perhaps, your folks want you to consider Liberty, Oral Roberts, or Bob Jones (unlikely with your being Catholic). Pretty much all colleges and universities have a liberal slant, but will have a couple of profs who disagree. The only difference is how much conservatives views are tolerated at some of them and how political they might be overall.</p>
<p>Many, if not all, people continue to change after college too. College is the beginning, not the end, and at least in my experience (large state U), they were four wonderful years.</p>
<p>OP- how much of the family concerns are really about you leaving an area in which your family is culturally comfortable? Haven’t you said you are Hispanic living in FL? Does any concern about you losing your cultural identity figure in “too liberal?” Or, is it more purely about politics?</p>
<p>As a woman and mother of daughters, my first reaction to the abortion issue has always been always emotional. “How would I feel if…?”</p>
<p>I am with mspearl. I too have gotten more liberal with age. I am now 38 years old and I am still a staunch socialist. To me, countries like Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland have got it right. </p>
<p>I am also pro-choice in virtually all (including abortion, euthanasia, same-sex unions etc…).</p>
<p>Still, I believe that criminals should have no rights. It’s the gallows for muderers and rapists as far as I am concerned.</p>
<p>I guess I am all heart and no brains! ;)</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I believe there is fairly ample room to reason even about an issue as emotional as abortion, even among people with fairly divergent religious or political views. I can explain why I believe Roe v. Wade follows logically from my own premises, without challenging (or ridiculing) someone else’s belief that human life begins at conception. Then we can examine each other’s beliefs to identify where common ground exists (or doesn’t exist).</p>
<p>In my opinion, any good school can and should accommodate that kind of discussion. The important thing is not whether the majority of students are left/right/center but whether the atmosphere is conducive to that exchange. If it is, then the atmosphere is “liberal” in the classic sense. You can become educated at such a place without compromising your core beliefs.</p>
<p>
It’s all politics. My dad is the only Hispanic one (so I’m only half) and all the family feedback that this thread references is coming from my mom’s side of the family. As mentioned before, my dad couldn’t care less about anything other than 1) the school is a very decent school and 2) I like it. Which is perfectly fine with me. :)</p>
<p>@SeekingUni</p>
<p>I think you should take their opinions into consideration, but in the end, go where you feel comfortable. From what I know of Georgetown, it’s probably more liberal than where you live, but it isn’t so far left that people will shut you down if you have a different opinion. You seem to be looking at the situation from a good perspective. I’m sure that where ever you end up, you’ll be able to find some people who share your views, and some who don’t. </p>
<p>If your family keeps pushing you away from certain schools, remind them that knowing people who value different things keeps your own ideals strong.</p>
<p>Yeah colleges are generally quite liberal. But unless you go to a school like UC Berkeley where liberalism is a vital part of campus atmosphere, should it matter the political environment? I’m only in HS, and although I could never go to a conservative Christian school, I wouldn’t mind a school that leaned right.</p>
<p>
Hey, cool, I used to be a socialist, too. But now I’m a communist. Curiously, the school I’m going to has a conservative reputation, but I don’t mind, and they didn’t mind the bits about workers’ revolution I worked into my essays, so I think there’s a level of acceptance just about everywhere reasonable.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Hi Creekland … after reading your comments I got a copy of “Choosing the Right College” to read … it’s a older version (early 2000s) and there are no traffic lights … did you determine the traffic lights from what you read or does your version have traffic light explicity shown? Thanks!</p>
<p>
I laughed a little at the pun.</p>