"College Will Make You Stupid"
Wednesday, February 17, 2010 by Kelly Sutton Oh boy! I am giddy. A clip from the Fox News show Fox and Friends unveiled a new study claiming that college "turns you liberal." Oh no! It's the plague! While we don't discuss sex, politics and religion too much on HackCollege, you can probably take a guess as to which way we lean. This video is insulting to the entire higher education system, no matter how flawed it may be.
What starts off as a seemingly alarming statistic (that one third of college students can't name the three branches of the federal government), this clip quickly descends into bullshit. As my roommate Paul puts it, "Fox News proposes that we diversify universities' ideas, while blatantly outlawing one method of thought."
The video is punctuated by quotes such as "What is the answer? How do we fix this?"; "If degrees are more likely to make people support same sex marriage, how do you fix this?" and "Is it better to not go to college at all?" This video seems to be the result of a crunched deadline and a not-too-well-thought-out spin put on things. Usually, even Fox News has more tact than this.
I suppose the only answer now is to drop out to save our "values."
What do you think?
Reader Comments (20)
Actually, I think it is true depending on the school you go to. Some colleges are more liberal than others. When it come down to it, students need to know that they should think for themselves and to know if their college is trying to make them think a certain way.
I would be very surprised if any of the research mentioned actually showed a causal link. It's surely much more likely that there is some confounding variable that links studentship and political views.
Regardless, jumping to conclusions has no place in research.
What percentages of non-students know the answers to these questions?
What does fixing the support of same-sex marriage mean?
Does anyone have a link to the actual study?
I love how the guy says that on a pure civics basis, college isn't worth it, I'm guessing most college students are polisci majors. I also think most colleges do a pretty darn good job of diversifying professors, and modes of thought. The general tendency I notice is that although most college students are left leaning, most professionals (doctors, lawyers, etc.) tend to be fairly conservative. This study really makes no sense, was it at a big state school, a small liberal arts school, an art or music school, all of those factors make a difference. I would say that east coast college students tend to be more conservative, which is true when placed relative to west coast students; but they would be pretty liberal relative to college students in the southern states. There are so many variables in this study, I'm thinking its a case of B.S. (bad stats).
--MA
I really do think this whole clip is utter BS on Fox's part. They are just trying to find something else to be "sensational" about. Yes, a lot of colleges to support a more liberal message, but a person goes to college to learn to think for themselves.
I've not watched him in a long time, but I wonder if Jon Stewart already spoofed this. It's pretty outrageous.
Link to the study: http://chronicle.com/items/biz/pdf/2010%20Civic%20Lit%20Report%2012%2015%20FINAL_small_2_0.pdf
Less people should go to college. Then our degrees will actually be worth something again. </hate>
Doesn't anyone take the time to review the report or the quiz? The quiz is pretty subjective on most questions and the conclusions that the report draws are pretty shaky.
This is a typical case of spinning an already flawed study to support your views. It is a bit infuriating.
I agree with what Mary said about critical thinking.
I can't watch the video because I'm at work but I'm curious to see what they defined being "liberal" as.
How many college graduate aged people who did not graduate from college were able to answer the same questions... I don't think college making us forget what we learned in 7th grade about the constitution.
If you're wondering what the three branches of the American government are, they are the executive, the judiciary and the Fox News.
Though it was rather low-blow to Liberals for tying in "college makes you more stupid" in the same report... I think they were right on one thing... college will turn you liberal. Sure, there are several factors... but you'd have to live under a rock to NOT think this.
I for one am very disappointed that this blog would suddenly bring up political stuff...
"While we don't discuss sex, politics and religion too much on HackCollege, you can probably take a guess as to which way we lean." Yeah well stop discussing it. I really enjoy this blog, don't get a certain portion of your crowd feeling defensive.
"Fair and Balanced" education and news for the masses, i.e., "Sheeple": Fox News Channel.
Or maybe the conservative side is just too stupid to get in?
And to be it sounds like these "Graduates" were either from Alabama,Alaska, or Hamburger University.
How did this study know what the people's political stances were before college? Is there a way to fact check polls and surveys that "news" organizations talk about?
"Any Flaws in this study?"
"Well I dunno, there may be, I don't have the data right infront of me or the methodology..."
Journalism is dead
Hey, I am checking this site from my Blackberry and it looks kinda funky. Thought you’d want to know. It’s a great post though, didn’t mess that up
Good brief and this website helped me a lot in my college assignment.
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