Conservative Students Make Better Thinkers

FrontPageMagazine.com March 25, 2002

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by David A. Yeagley

MARY JONES, a sophomore at Northwestern University, will be a force to contend with soon. When she starts evaluating American government officials the way she now sizes up her university professors, then Ann Coulter may have some competition.

Unlike a young female student I wrote about a year ago, who disdained her Caucasian ethnicity and her American history, Mary Jones is a realist and a patriot. If I’d written about Mary first, Pat Buchanan could have referred to her in his latest book, Death of the West, instead of that self-effacing student.

I recently met Mary at Northwestern where I was speaking on American Indian issues. The College Republicans had invited me through Young America’s Foundation. Before the talk, I was taken to dinner by leaders of the Republicans: James Strong, president, Russ Riggins, treasurer, Katie Althen, events coordinator, and several others, including Mary.

Right away I was struck by the sophisticated humor of the group, and also by their sincerity. Following Mary’s lead, they all started asking me questions about my background. I wasn’t offended. On the contrary, I was quite encouraged.

They wanted to know about my life. As every teacher should know, his personal life is really more important to his students than whatever else he’s teaching. That personal life is really what students want to know about. It’s the loudest lesson the professor ever gives, and the lesson students remember.

I asked them questions, too.

What about American politics on campus? What about David Horowitz’ political assessment of American higher education? In the critically important departments that address American society, like economics, journalism, political science, and sociology, faculties are usually over 90% Leftist Democrat.

Mary explained bluntly. "Well, Republicans are too busy working, creating the world. They have no time to teach. They have no hands-on interest. Only rarely will a Republican come in and teach an economics course for conservative business graduates."

Mary told how her father, Dr. Kendall Jones, was a liberal himself, earlier in his life. A neuroradiologist, he taught for a while at Harvard Medical School and now has a private practice in north Dallas. Like so many other successful people, he turned conservative when he realized that Liberal legislation actually robbed him of his earnings.

Mary was raised on the ideology of self-reliance, individualism, and work. She read Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged at an early age.

But even as a sophomore in a Texas high school, she’d faced a Liberal history teacher. "He had a biased attitude against the United States," she said, "because slavery had been part of American history."

Yet Mary survived the Leftist "hate America" agenda. And her father had warned her of Liberalism’s closed mindedness, and its seething hatred for opposing views.

Mary then described her black African-American Literature professor at Northwestern. In class, Kevin Bell denounced Shannon Reeves and Alan Keyes, modern black conservatives, but Mary and other students rose to their defense.

Bell was incredulous and infuriated. "Are you Republicans? Are you objectivists?" His tone denounced them. He left the room in a huff. When he returned, he simply said, "I had to compose myself."

"He was only dramatizing," I assured Mary.

"No," she said, "he was serious. It was embarrassing and offensive for us all. Afterwards he tried to act like it was a joke, but everyone knew it wasn’t."

Then Mary gave her "objectivist" view of Leftist teachers.

"Oh, these professors just hide out in their ivory towers. They only comment. They don’t really engage anyone in thought. They criticize, but never help. They could never make it in the real world. They’re such wimps, such weaklings. If they couldn’t lord over their little 18-year-old students, they’d be nothing. They’re nobodies. They’d never make it in society."

As a teacher, I was stunned, and had to admire her strength of mind.

"They’re just sociologically immature," Mary said. "They can’t even intellectually compete with their own conservative students. They can’t deal with a new or different idea."

In a young white woman’s take on education, college is nothing more than a medieval apprenticeship in a political foundry. Students are poured into a mold. They aren’t taught to think. They’re merely shaped?with biased, Leftist political agenda.

But if Mary and the Northwestern College Republicans are any indication of the real potential in America’s youth, then there is hope for leadership in our beloved but beleaguered country. Even as a sophomore in college, Mary Jones would make a far better leader than Hillary Clinton ever could.

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Dr. David A. Yeagley teaches humanities at the College of Liberal Studies, University of Oklahoma. His opinions are independent. He holds degrees from Yale, Emory, Oberlin, University of Arizona and University of Hartford. He is a member of the Comanche Tribe, Lawton, OK. For more information on Dr. Yeagley's initiative to teach patriotism in the schools, click here. E-mail him at badeagle2000@yahoo.com. View his website at http://www.badeagle.com.

-- (Roland@hatemail.com), March 25, 2002

Answers

LOL. Nothing like making a ridiculous overgeneralization based on meetings with a tiny portion of a single school campus. Funny, when I went to Northwestern, most of the intelligent people I knew were liberals, while most of the conservatives I knew were out getting drunk at frat parties when they weren't doggedly obsessing over the almighty dollar.

Perhaps if I were to extrapolate my limited experience on to the larger population and make a stupid generalization, I, too, could be a "better thinker." Ha.

-- (what@i.think), March 25, 2002.

Duuuh, congrats Roli, you didn't make an HTML error. LOL.

-- (ROTFL@stooopid.repugs), March 25, 2002.

"Duuuh, congrats Roli, you didn't make an HTML error. LOL."

LMAO! Yeah, only because he studied it for an hour to make sure he didn't screw it up this time!

-- ROTFL (Rolo is a frickin @ Einstein. NOT!), March 25, 2002.

BWAAAAA HAAAA HAAAA HAAAA HAAAAA HAAAA!!!!

I've seen the Repugs come up with some outrageous lies in their propoganda, but this one takes the cake!! The ultimate in self-masturbation of their egos!

-- LOL (keep@dreaming.dimwit), March 25, 2002.