Quote:
Originally Posted by Hottentot
OK, this got me curious. Let's suppose for a while that the academic world has over population of people leaning left (which I don't agree with based on my own studies, but can't say how it is on the other side of the ocean.)
Why is it then that the professors, people with high education, long career and obvious accomplishments since they have been appointed professors from all the doctors out there on their fields, tend to be leaning left?
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Academia is insulated. Communism is a great system - on paper. But its a failure in the real world. Academia does not exist in the real world. Professors are like design engineers - it "works" on their computer, in their lab, etc. The "theory" of liberalism is great - but impossible to impliment "in the field" - because the theory discounts basic human nature. Its a variable that simply cannot be accounted for, because it cannot be consistently anticipated correctly.
In the US, especially in the college system, you have instructors that have never gone out and DONE what they teach. They have "book" smarts, but in a real world environment - even in their own field, they cannot succeed. Take a computer programming instructor - give him spaghetti code that has a couple of errors - and he flounders trying to find them. Why? Because its not "what its supposed to be" - its not nicely commented, documented, etc. So he isn't efficient in solving the issue.
Due to the way Academia works - many teachers get tenure. This is their goal - once they get it, it doesn't matter how good or bad they are in the classroom - they basically have "a job for life". The biggest problem is that tenure is often decided by the relevant department - meaning its less about success in teaching, and more about interdepartmental politics.
So you have a system that does nothing to help the "teacher" really understand the subject, and further insulates him or her from ever having to deal with the "fieldwork" that would give them perspective as to what the real world is like. When all you ever see, touch, hear, feel is the "theory" - you can't grasp how or why it doesn't work. So instead of getting that understanding, these professors write articles, garner the praise of others with the same perspective, and thus reinforce their viewpoints (and each others) from inside their own little bubble. When your experience and circle of influence points in one direction, you stick with it - and as time goes on it becomes harder and harder to see anything outside that perspective. Especially when there is no requirement to "go outside the box" and experience something that would grant a different perspective.
Find the professors with real life application experience - and you find the ones that do not follow the "standard" leftist viewpoint. Granted, that is a generality, but one that is fairly accurate.