If your opinion doesn't survive college, maybe that's the point |
A lot has changed during the years I've lived on this earth, but maybe nothing more so than attitudes about college.
When I was young, it was drilled into my head – over and over again – that a person needed to go to college to get ahead in the modern world. It wasn't until after I'd graduated that I heard this statistic, but some research has shown that college graduates make, on average, $1 million more over their lifetimes than people who don't attend college.
Lately, though, higher education seems to be taking a beating in the public square. A college education costs too much. It leaves young people saddled with debt at a time in their lives when they can afford it least. There are many trades that don't require a college education.
All of those are valid points – and I wouldn't argue with any of them. However, I winced the other day when I was having lunch with a conservative friend and she mentioned a liberal bias among college faculty as another reason to steer clear of higher education.
Since I wanted to keep her talking so I'd have time to finish my salmon piccata, I decided to play devil's advocate.
"So what if they are biased?" I asked her. "Isn't college supposed to be a place where ideas are challenged?"
She responded that it's unfair because faculty members, in their roles as authority figures, have too much influence over young minds.
Our........