Posted on November 21st 1986
Learning Facts, Drawing Conclusions
By Alex Linder
[ The following is from a forum thread posting. ]
[opinion published in Pomona College's The Student Life, Friday, November 21, 1986]
Learning Facts, Drawing Conclusions
By Alex Linder
Certainly we learn the facts here at Pomona, but do we get a sense of how everything fits together? Do we get a sense of our position in the whole tradition of the West? Are we educated with the sense that we are the successors of the Romans, the Greeks, and the primitive settlers of Sumer?
In any dominant country like the U.S., the will to be great is a large part of the reason for the success of that nation. The events of the last forty years have called into question the maintenance of high American will. Consider American history. Up until 1945, America was a growing, expanding, vital country. Since then, it seems we have been going backwards, at least until the Reagan era. Nineteen eighty was the nadir of American decline in the post-war period. Not only had we lost our first war, we shrunk from aiding anti-communists in Angola and stood aside as former allies were subverted by religious zealots (Iran) and communists (Nicaragua). Besides which, the weakened position of the U.S. led to the first outright aggression by Soviet troops since WWII in Afghanistan. Now the eighties have been better, undoubtedly. We've even overthrown a Marxist regime in Grenada. Nevertheless, it is much too early to say that the overall trend has been reversed.
What has Pomona got to do with all this? The importance of our college, as of any college, especially a selective one, is that it teaches the leaders of tomorrow. It's trite, but students today will be the key scientists, politicians, teachers, and businessmen of the twenty-first century. And what are we being taught? I submit that instead of being imbued with the sense of carrying on a grand tradition, we are taught nothing. That's right -- nothing. We aren't taught that America is good, moral and a positive force in the world; we aren't taught that something else is better; we are simply given isolated sets of classes and left to make our own decisions. And when the proper respect and love for Western values isn't taught, then it is simply not there. It's quite analogous to the teaching of sex education without concomitant moral values in high school.
My proof that we have not been properly imbued with feeling for the Western tradition is based not on hard evidence but personal conviction. The reader will judge the veracity of my assertions for himself. I start by asking you to imagine the reaction of the average student to the following question: are you an anti-communist? The reaction of the student is relatively easy to predict. First the student will look at the questioner to try to figure out why he asked the question in the first place. Then as he pauses to reflect, you can almost see the wheels turning. (Anti-communist? Hmm...Sounds right-wing and extremist.) The student will answer: Well, I don't like some of their practices... Then you are an anti-communist? Well, no. I mean, not exactly... I submit that any properly educated student will automatically emerge from college an avid anti-communist out of simple love for the pursuit of truth that is the antithesis of the dialectic and the hallmark of Western thought.
No let's tag along with Jane, a prototypical Pomonan. First, Jane's off to Econ where she hears a denunciation of supply-side theory with a concomitant lecture on how Reagan's recovery really isn't a recovery at all. Next, it's over to History. After handing in her 500 repetitions of the sentence "The Russians lost 20 million in WWII and will do anything to avoid WWIII," she sinks contentedly into her seat to hear the prof's talk on FDR's masterful handling of the proceedings at Yalta. Later that afternoon, after signing a petition for the current cause celebre in the dining hall, Jane picks up the school paper and starts to read. Suddenly there is a sharp intake of breath. (What's this?) She goes back over what she just read. (How horrible! Someone actually wrote something favorable about Reagan! I can't believe they actually let fascists write for the paper!) Disgruntled, Jane picks up her pen and...
And back to reality.
One of the most humorous aspects of liberalism is the way its college proponents try to paint conservatives as passive supporters of the status quo. What a joke. Who will deny that the academic establishment at Pomona is liberal? Where are liberal beliefs called into question at Pomona? Why are there virtually no conservative professors in the History and Government departments? For $15,000 plus a year I think the student body deserves exposure to a wider spectrum of professorial opinion.
What then is the moral of all this? Short of a massive change of mind on the part of the faculty, it's difficult to imagine that they will suddenly begin to inculcate the respect for the values of the West that is directly related to the level of national will. No, I think that the faculty will continue to lead students to the "enlightened" view that the struggle between East and West amounts to something other than the battle between one essentially "good" side and one essentially "evil" side. The effect of such teachigns can only serve to weaken resolve to defend the West to the extent that the biases of the professors are accepted by the students. One can only hope that students learn the facts that are taught and draw their own conclusions.//
Learning Facts, Drawing Conclusions
By Alex Linder
Certainly we learn the facts here at Pomona, but do we get a sense of how everything fits together? Do we get a sense of our position in the whole tradition of the West? Are we educated with the sense that we are the successors of the Romans, the Greeks, and the primitive settlers of Sumer?
In any dominant country like the U.S., the will to be great is a large part of the reason for the success of that nation. The events of the last forty years have called into question the maintenance of high American will. Consider American history. Up until 1945, America was a growing, expanding, vital country. Since then, it seems we have been going backwards, at least until the Reagan era. Nineteen eighty was the nadir of American decline in the post-war period. Not only had we lost our first war, we shrunk from aiding anti-communists in Angola and stood aside as former allies were subverted by religious zealots (Iran) and communists (Nicaragua). Besides which, the weakened position of the U.S. led to the first outright aggression by Soviet troops since WWII in Afghanistan. Now the eighties have been better, undoubtedly. We've even overthrown a Marxist regime in Grenada. Nevertheless, it is much too early to say that the overall trend has been reversed.
What has Pomona got to do with all this? The importance of our college, as of any college, especially a selective one, is that it teaches the leaders of tomorrow. It's trite, but students today will be the key scientists, politicians, teachers, and businessmen of the twenty-first century. And what are we being taught? I submit that instead of being imbued with the sense of carrying on a grand tradition, we are taught nothing. That's right -- nothing. We aren't taught that America is good, moral and a positive force in the world; we aren't taught that something else is better; we are simply given isolated sets of classes and left to make our own decisions. And when the proper respect and love for Western values isn't taught, then it is simply not there. It's quite analogous to the teaching of sex education without concomitant moral values in high school.
My proof that we have not been properly imbued with feeling for the Western tradition is based not on hard evidence but personal conviction. The reader will judge the veracity of my assertions for himself. I start by asking you to imagine the reaction of the average student to the following question: are you an anti-communist? The reaction of the student is relatively easy to predict. First the student will look at the questioner to try to figure out why he asked the question in the first place. Then as he pauses to reflect, you can almost see the wheels turning. (Anti-communist? Hmm...Sounds right-wing and extremist.) The student will answer: Well, I don't like some of their practices... Then you are an anti-communist? Well, no. I mean, not exactly... I submit that any properly educated student will automatically emerge from college an avid anti-communist out of simple love for the pursuit of truth that is the antithesis of the dialectic and the hallmark of Western thought.
No let's tag along with Jane, a prototypical Pomonan. First, Jane's off to Econ where she hears a denunciation of supply-side theory with a concomitant lecture on how Reagan's recovery really isn't a recovery at all. Next, it's over to History. After handing in her 500 repetitions of the sentence "The Russians lost 20 million in WWII and will do anything to avoid WWIII," she sinks contentedly into her seat to hear the prof's talk on FDR's masterful handling of the proceedings at Yalta. Later that afternoon, after signing a petition for the current cause celebre in the dining hall, Jane picks up the school paper and starts to read. Suddenly there is a sharp intake of breath. (What's this?) She goes back over what she just read. (How horrible! Someone actually wrote something favorable about Reagan! I can't believe they actually let fascists write for the paper!) Disgruntled, Jane picks up her pen and...
And back to reality.
One of the most humorous aspects of liberalism is the way its college proponents try to paint conservatives as passive supporters of the status quo. What a joke. Who will deny that the academic establishment at Pomona is liberal? Where are liberal beliefs called into question at Pomona? Why are there virtually no conservative professors in the History and Government departments? For $15,000 plus a year I think the student body deserves exposure to a wider spectrum of professorial opinion.
What then is the moral of all this? Short of a massive change of mind on the part of the faculty, it's difficult to imagine that they will suddenly begin to inculcate the respect for the values of the West that is directly related to the level of national will. No, I think that the faculty will continue to lead students to the "enlightened" view that the struggle between East and West amounts to something other than the battle between one essentially "good" side and one essentially "evil" side. The effect of such teachigns can only serve to weaken resolve to defend the West to the extent that the biases of the professors are accepted by the students. One can only hope that students learn the facts that are taught and draw their own conclusions.//