The American Spectator

Reader Mail

p> STRANGLEHOLD br> Re: James Bowman's Liberal Obsolescence : /p> p>James Bowman cannot seriously believe that the left's stranglehold on the contemporary academy is going to wither away of its own accord, as radical professors grow "bored" with their deconstructionist wordplay and once again engage in a serious, respectful exploration of the great works of Western culture. This view fundamentally misunderstands the leftist educational agenda, which is not about knowledge, but about politics. The left sees its educational role as one of indoctrinating young people to oppose the individualist, capitalist ethos upon which this country was built. They surely will not grow "bored" with their agenda, at least so long as they have not succeeded in turning America into the socialist dystopia of their dreams. Mr. Bowman's hopeful musings strike me as the kind of wishful thinking that many conservative intellectuals engage in, who refuse to admit once and for all that, with very few exceptions, our nation's institutions of higher education are beyond repair. See my article on this subject, " Reclaiming Higher Education From The Left ," that was posted on American Thinker and Real Clear Politics last month. br> -- Steven M. Warshawsky br> New York, New York /p>

If the elite, liberal college professors want to know why there are so few conservatives among their ranks, I think I can explain it in one sentence. "Those who can, do; those who can't, teach."

p>Looking back on my own education, I can tell you that by far, the best undergrad and graduate school professors I ever had were the ones who had prior or parallel careers in the business world. The worst professors I had, and there were plenty of them, were the 'career' academicians, the ones who spent the ten years following high school 'studying,' and had been 'teaching' ever since. Most were pompous windbags who craved the sound of their own voices above anything else and who devoted a whopping 4 to 6 hours per week to classroom instruction. And these are the people who, like Howard Dean, claim that Republicans never work a day in their lives? Amazing.

topics:
Taxes, Transportation, Education, Business, Environment, Constitution, Law, Military, Iraq, Iran, Israel, Pakistan, NATO, Oil