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talkpoliticsAs I am entering into my last semester of what has been a rollercoaster of a college career, I feel that I have plenty of experience as to how the business and politics of higher education “works” in America, the ridiculous nature of the student climate, and more. Therefore, I do not believe that the conclusions I am about to draw are anywhere near blasphemous- but you tell me.
A little info about me. I am a soon-to-be graduating undergraduate senior who is managing to complete a degree in three years. I study international relations- more on that choice in a future post- am not yet old enough legally imbibe alcohol in the United States, and I really, really dislike the nature of thought processes in the general student community. Maybe it is just the nature of students in my major, but I don’t think that my experience is exclusive. So here is what I have to say.
Today in America, college education tells students WHAT to think, rather than HOW to think. And that mode of thinking is reinforced by a groupthink mentality of the general student body. I call it “the groupthink dilemma”. Boom. I said it.
Here is an example of what I am thinking about. I was in class- Political Economy- and we were talking about the world currency system. It was here that I vocalized what I found out was an opinion that went against the general groupthink in the room (warning: economics approaching).
I said that China has every right to peg their currency to the U.S. dollar the way that they do- it isn’t a “crime” like many representatives in Congress seem to think- pegging exchange rates were the norm for the longest time in history, and it benefits their economy in ways that a free floating exchange rate wouldn’t be able to provide.
Groans ensued around the room, matched with rather rapid and violent shooting up of hands from other students, who seemed to think that dislocating their shoulder sockets was a way of showing me how much they disagreed with my statement. I was subsequently attacked- rhetoric ensued that China is bad for the US economy, how they spy on us, how they are holding all of our national debt hostage, “undervalue” their currency and that just isn’t fair- one girl literally repeated this for 3 minutes- no backing up of her claim or anything.
I have now taken two separate classes on China- history and economy. I have studied abroad in China for a summer. And I never once heard any reasoning that I learned in those classes or experiences that could be used to refute my claim from any of my fellow students.
NOT ONE PERSON COULD STATE CONCRETE EVIDENCE AS TO WHY IT IS A BAD THING, they just kept repeating that it was inherently bad, relating it to some other broad generalization as to why China is bad, and that was it. They weren’t actually thinking and critically evaluating about what I had said. It was just a reflexive nature to attack because what I said was different than the “groupthink” norm.
First, I felt bad for the Chinese international students in the room, who obviously must have been very taken aback at the blatant anti-China sentiment that just erupted in the room.
Second, I realized that even though I have an opinion that is backed by some (it is obviously not infallible) evidence, my statement was immediately marked as dissenting from the mainstream groupthink rhetoric in the United States and must be purged. There was no “debate”, no “evidence”, just ATTACK.
Sure, I expect people to disagree with each other. Variety of opinions is the spice of life. But the education system in America seems to try to get rid of variety- it teaches one opinion/viewpoint and instructs to shun all else. This is why I said before, college education tells students what to think, NOT how to think.
Very few college students in the United States actually know how to think for themselves, to have their own informed opinions (again, relating back to the groupthink dilemma as well as the general propensity to have resolute and unbudging opinions based on vague generalizations and hearsay), and to be able to dissent from what others around them have to say. This is especially the case in a class that has a blatantly biased professors, who want to project a specific viewpoint onto their students- and not even bother teaching any other mode of thinking.
The culture is one that indoctrinates students into a narrow-minded, American-centric way of thinking, and is reinforced by other students, by the American media, and by the general nature of the uninformed median voter in the United States.
But if you think about it, it really isn’t one’s fault for only being able to posses one and only one opinion, and try to savagely shut down any others. I’ll explain why now.
What I choose to blame is the two-party nature of the United States political system. In our governmental system each issue is given two possible answers/sides/opinions to have, a very black-and-white, me-vs-you, us-vs-them nature of seeing things, and it becomes the major prerogative of one side to bash the other to the ground. Seriously. Look at any political “debate” on a “news” tv channel, and this is what happens through and through. Most of the time, there is not even the need for fact-based-research on these things, it is an absolute slaughterfest where one side is hellbent on destroying the other. I also believe that this phenomenon has roots into the “us-vs-them” rhetoric of the Cold War (Democracy is good! Communism is bad! Capitalism is dandy! Communism is BAD!) This two-sided nature of the political system then bleeds over into every aspect of our lives- one opinion is right, the other is wrong. We are so indoctrinated into this “dual system” that it is literally how we think about every subject in our lives- and that includes the education system.
In reality, answers and opinions lie on a spectrum- there are many shades of gray between the obsession of “black and white” in the US. And even more, just because one has one opinion on the “black” side does not mean they are physically and mentally unable to have another on the “white” side. They do not have to exclude each other, but America just doesn’t seem to get that. You hear it from the government and on the tv and on the internet and from others students around you, so that is what must be true. Other countries with parliamentary systems have a much better time with differing opinions, because they acknowledge the spectrum that can be had. That acceptance of varietal opinion just doesn’t exist in the American climate.
America doesn’t teach its citizens how to think, only what to think.
On another level, there is rampant uninformed effects happening, but I feel like that can’t be helped as much. People don’t much like learning.
There is no such thing as an original opinion in America. Only groupthink.
If you would like to refute my opinion, I invite you to do so in the comments.
A little info about me. I am a soon-to-be graduating undergraduate senior who is managing to complete a degree in three years. I study international relations- more on that choice in a future post- am not yet old enough legally imbibe alcohol in the United States, and I really, really dislike the nature of thought processes in the general student community. Maybe it is just the nature of students in my major, but I don’t think that my experience is exclusive. So here is what I have to say.
Today in America, college education tells students WHAT to think, rather than HOW to think. And that mode of thinking is reinforced by a groupthink mentality of the general student body. I call it “the groupthink dilemma”. Boom. I said it.
Here is an example of what I am thinking about. I was in class- Political Economy- and we were talking about the world currency system. It was here that I vocalized what I found out was an opinion that went against the general groupthink in the room (warning: economics approaching).
I said that China has every right to peg their currency to the U.S. dollar the way that they do- it isn’t a “crime” like many representatives in Congress seem to think- pegging exchange rates were the norm for the longest time in history, and it benefits their economy in ways that a free floating exchange rate wouldn’t be able to provide.
Groans ensued around the room, matched with rather rapid and violent shooting up of hands from other students, who seemed to think that dislocating their shoulder sockets was a way of showing me how much they disagreed with my statement. I was subsequently attacked- rhetoric ensued that China is bad for the US economy, how they spy on us, how they are holding all of our national debt hostage, “undervalue” their currency and that just isn’t fair- one girl literally repeated this for 3 minutes- no backing up of her claim or anything.
I have now taken two separate classes on China- history and economy. I have studied abroad in China for a summer. And I never once heard any reasoning that I learned in those classes or experiences that could be used to refute my claim from any of my fellow students.
NOT ONE PERSON COULD STATE CONCRETE EVIDENCE AS TO WHY IT IS A BAD THING, they just kept repeating that it was inherently bad, relating it to some other broad generalization as to why China is bad, and that was it. They weren’t actually thinking and critically evaluating about what I had said. It was just a reflexive nature to attack because what I said was different than the “groupthink” norm.
First, I felt bad for the Chinese international students in the room, who obviously must have been very taken aback at the blatant anti-China sentiment that just erupted in the room.
Second, I realized that even though I have an opinion that is backed by some (it is obviously not infallible) evidence, my statement was immediately marked as dissenting from the mainstream groupthink rhetoric in the United States and must be purged. There was no “debate”, no “evidence”, just ATTACK.
Sure, I expect people to disagree with each other. Variety of opinions is the spice of life. But the education system in America seems to try to get rid of variety- it teaches one opinion/viewpoint and instructs to shun all else. This is why I said before, college education tells students what to think, NOT how to think.
Very few college students in the United States actually know how to think for themselves, to have their own informed opinions (again, relating back to the groupthink dilemma as well as the general propensity to have resolute and unbudging opinions based on vague generalizations and hearsay), and to be able to dissent from what others around them have to say. This is especially the case in a class that has a blatantly biased professors, who want to project a specific viewpoint onto their students- and not even bother teaching any other mode of thinking.
The culture is one that indoctrinates students into a narrow-minded, American-centric way of thinking, and is reinforced by other students, by the American media, and by the general nature of the uninformed median voter in the United States.
But if you think about it, it really isn’t one’s fault for only being able to posses one and only one opinion, and try to savagely shut down any others. I’ll explain why now.
What I choose to blame is the two-party nature of the United States political system. In our governmental system each issue is given two possible answers/sides/opinions to have, a very black-and-white, me-vs-you, us-vs-them nature of seeing things, and it becomes the major prerogative of one side to bash the other to the ground. Seriously. Look at any political “debate” on a “news” tv channel, and this is what happens through and through. Most of the time, there is not even the need for fact-based-research on these things, it is an absolute slaughterfest where one side is hellbent on destroying the other. I also believe that this phenomenon has roots into the “us-vs-them” rhetoric of the Cold War (Democracy is good! Communism is bad! Capitalism is dandy! Communism is BAD!) This two-sided nature of the political system then bleeds over into every aspect of our lives- one opinion is right, the other is wrong. We are so indoctrinated into this “dual system” that it is literally how we think about every subject in our lives- and that includes the education system.
In reality, answers and opinions lie on a spectrum- there are many shades of gray between the obsession of “black and white” in the US. And even more, just because one has one opinion on the “black” side does not mean they are physically and mentally unable to have another on the “white” side. They do not have to exclude each other, but America just doesn’t seem to get that. You hear it from the government and on the tv and on the internet and from others students around you, so that is what must be true. Other countries with parliamentary systems have a much better time with differing opinions, because they acknowledge the spectrum that can be had. That acceptance of varietal opinion just doesn’t exist in the American climate.
America doesn’t teach its citizens how to think, only what to think.
On another level, there is rampant uninformed effects happening, but I feel like that can’t be helped as much. People don’t much like learning.
There is no such thing as an original opinion in America. Only groupthink.
If you would like to refute my opinion, I invite you to do so in the comments.
(no subject)
Date: 7/12/15 16:04 (UTC)This has made me curious. Now that you've stated the problem, would you venture one step further and propose some solutions?
(no subject)
Date: 7/12/15 16:40 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 7/12/15 18:05 (UTC)