Peter Boghossian on the universities
So, is this the correct position to take?
Here is where I am:
Question: What is the mission of the academy?
Answer: To teach people to think and how to think. I mean, we could all go to trade schools. We could have trade schools for medicine. No, the core mission is teach young people how to think.
Are they doing that? Obviously not.
So what are they doing instead? Proselytizing leftist doctrine; like the religion that it has become. And campuses are their cathedrals, attended by priests and monks and various other clerics and votaries of the left.
Don't believe me? Talk to young college graduates. Even if they are not overly political, they are completely unable to think. They confuse narrative for thought. This is how we get Queers for Palestine.
There is also a side-effect of all this indoctrination. Even though they know absolutely nothing, they overestimate how much they do know. After all, they have the parchment on the wall to prove it.
I mean for Christ's sake, what does a degree from Utah Valley University even mean? For many so-called students, college is a very expensive four-year party. They are not there to learn any more than the clerics are there to teach. Do the time, get the credential, then tell everyone how smart you are. Meanwhile I read that they no longer read books. No surprise there.
To a large extent the students are there under duress. They cannot get the jobs they dream of, unless and until, they get a piece of paper. So they all go to the college that will give them the most valuable piece of paper that they can get. And if you are forced to be there, you might as well have a good time.
But the clerics of the left, they are there leeching off their student-hostages and the rest of us. Indefinitely. The academy gives them a better income than they could make doing anything productive. And it gives them authority to pontificate on all matters, political and otherwise. They are missionaries: Yes, of course we will feed you and your children; but first, we all must attend church.
There is no fix for this. And no will to fix it.
Burn it all down.
And start over.