If campus indoctrination was truly successful, BYU would be recruiting madly.
My meat-eating, socially conscious (a meaningless term because who isn’t socially conscious of something?), Christian son is at Oberlin. He is now a Christian anarchist. He is a conscientious objector, thinks voting is wrong because it is participating in a violent system that oppresses the poor and weak, and believes that God is the only authority.
Do I agree with him? No. But I respect him and am grateful to Oberlin for helping shape his views.
College is meant to shake up our views.
MODERATOR’S NOTE:
Me too. Several posts edited/deleted.
@Massmomm, your son sounds very interesting!
@sbjdorlo if by “interesting,” you mean “challenge to raise,” why, yes, that’s true! But he is gracious, sensitive, and kind, so we really like him! Thank you!
It’s like seeing a headline: New drug proven to reduce heart disease. Then, you read in the body of the article, that 19.1% of patients saw no change compared to the placebo group, and 31.3% of patients saw an increase in LDL compared to the placebo group. You might think the headline is overstating the case.
Anecdotal, but D1 had a HS friend whose parents were very conservative. Active in state politics, and raised their kids the same way. Son went away to college in CA, although school is not considered a liberal hotbed. By the time he finished college he was very liberal. Took time out of work to work full time on Bernie’s campaign in 2016
D1 also had a male friend frosh year at her LAC who was outspokenly conservative. By senior year, he was committed to Dem candidates and causes, and still is several years later.
I can’t say whether the change goes more in one direction than another. But it does happen sometimes.
@Massmomm, LOL! Ah, but those kids are real world changers, I think. Challenging raising them, but sounds like you did a great job supporting him in whatever way the winds blew. I’m sure I could learn a thing or two from him. 
I think this is a wonderful thread topic. I hope that colleges continue to have the effect of teaching students to be tolerant and accepting of others. Sometimes lately, I have worried about the increased polarization of our country and how that has played out on College Confidential, with an increase in posts asking for colleges that are “conservative,” “liberal,” etc. If every conservative kid goes to schools like Liberty, and every liberal kid goes to schools like Wesleyan, those opportunities to learn from people different from oneself may disappear… and so may tolerance and respect.
My son went to Tufts which was founded by Unitarian Universalists and is still a pretty liberal place. He joked that it made him more conservative. He got involved with some groups that that brought together military academy kids with liberal arts kids among other things. He ended up as an ensign in the Navy. He’s still a liberal, but my lefty peacenik friends don’t get how he could have ended up where he did.
As a college consultant, I get students who have preferences all over the board. My job is not to try to convince them otherwise, but I do present them with as much data as I can so they can make up their minds about the environment that they want to be in. Some students express no preference about the political/social climate on campus; some want a balanced campus, and some want an apolitical campus. Each type of student has my respect regardless because they’re trying to be thoughtful.
@Sybylla I don’t have a source for this, but I’ve often heard people here say that the professors are more liberal than the students at BYU. In my experience, it’s mostly been true. My professors use curse language nearly as often as my high school teachers did, if that’s worth anything
I remember a college football player saying the BYU football team used the foulest language of any team he ever played against.
It’s been a few years (actually decades), but with the exception of my high school football and baseball coaches, I don’t remember any teachers or professors cursing. Maybe teachers and professors were more professional back then.
I do worry about it. I am an apolitical person, who does not trust politicians from both parties. I am afraid that my D would be “weaponized” by political agenda and make mistakes. She is biracial, immigrant, an easy target for unscrupulous faculty who use students as pawns to promote their agenda (tenures / additional funding).
I do not trust faculty to use my money to indoctrinate my kids. Not on my dime!
I have no reservations about fellow students. Liberal, Conservative, Christian, LGBT - my D has friends of all politician colors in HS and kids are great friends. Big reservations about faculty (of all politician colors) that uses naïve kids to promote their agenda. Analogy: Teenagers, falling in love, and exploring their sexuality (great!) versus experienced adults taking sexual advantage of their students (illegal). Diversity of opinions among students (great!). Indoctrination by manipulative faculty (grrr!).
<if campus="" indoctrination="" was="" truly="" successful,="" byu="" would="" be="" recruiting="" madly.="">
BTW, BYU is very successful in recruiting students. At least in California.
I wish to find a list of APOLITICAL colleges. Is it possible to have such list?
I can’t even get my students to read let alone brainwash them.
I have a son who finished college and kept his music/headphones on passing the cause/protests at his large college. If you have time to protest, please get a part-time job in college (I’m probably in a smaller group). Two more students to go! At a Super Bowl party we discussed how times have changed, late 70s-early 80s, I likely knew the President and VP.
@romanigypsyeyes lol
I worked 2-3 part time jobs in college while going full time. Still found time to protest.
I am a phd student teaching with a part time job on top of it. Still find time to protest.
My dad was a union president. I’ve been going to protests since I was in diapers. If it’s something you care about, you can make time.