Obama on liberal college students who want to be "coddled": "That’s not the way we learn"

[romanic]

DES MOINES, Iowa — People concerned about liberal political correctness on college campuses have a powerful ally: President Obama.

At a town hall here on college affordability on Monday afternoon, one student asked Obama to respond to Republican presidential contender Ben Carson's proposal to cut off funding to colleges that demonstrate political bias.

Unsurprisingly, Obama didn't like it much. "I have no idea what that means, and I suspect he doesn’t either," he said, then continued: "The idea that you’d have somebody in government making a decision about what you should think ahead of time or what you should be taught, and if it’s not the right thought, or idea, or perspective or philosophy, that person would be — they wouldn’t get funding, runs contrary to everything we believe about education," he said. "That might work in the Soviet Union, but that doesn’t work here. That's not who we are."

After that criticism, he went on to give his opinion about what's been called the "new political correctness" on college campuses:

It’s not just sometimes folks who are mad that colleges are too liberal that have a problem. Sometimes there are folks on college campuses who are liberal, and maybe even agree with me on a bunch of issues, who sometimes aren’t listening to the other side, and that’s a problem too. I’ve heard some college campuses where they don’t want to have a guest speaker who is too conservative or they don’t want to read a book if it has language that is offensive to African-Americans or somehow sends a demeaning signal towards women. I gotta tell you, I don’t agree with that either. I don’t agree that you, when you become students at colleges, have to be coddled and protected from different points of view. I think you should be able to — anybody who comes to speak to you and you disagree with, you should have an argument with ‘em. But you shouldn’t silence them by saying, "You can’t come because I'm too sensitive to hear what you have to say." That’s not the way we learn either.

http://www.vox.com/2015/9/14/9326965/obama-political-correctness

For once I actually agree wholeheartedly with a Vox article. Obama is right, we cannot protect college students from debates because it's "offensive" or "triggering". Without different viewpoints, there's no knowledge and without knowledge, college students are powerless. Anyone agree, disagree?

Also read the rest of the article, it's truly a good read and ideas on how to make college ed. more well-rounded for students.

[DinahMoeHum]

1. Now do y'all want to know why Bernie Sanders. . .

. . .went to Liberty U? The belly of the beast to some folks here?

[yardwork]

2. What about conservative college students who want to be coddled?

We've had a lot of whining about assignments to read about gay people, 911, etc. lately.

[mythology]

4. They should also suck it up

If they can't handle it, too bad.

[yardwork]

11. That's what I think too

[snooper2]

6. It's across the board for all sides, we don't need to be raising a bunch of foreussies

FYI-

I made a new word! Since SJW will jump on me using words alone like in a Sophomore English Lit. class I combined them

[yardwork]

10. Lol!

[jberryhill]

3. "I have no idea what that means, and I suspect he doesn’t either"

That's a really funny line.

[bigwillq]

5. Good for Obama.

[Renew Deal]

7. Obama is correct

"I've heard some college campuses where they don’t want to have a guest speaker who is too conservative or they don’t want to read a book if it has language that is offensive to African-Americans or somehow sends a demeaning signal towards women. I gotta tell you, I don’t agree with that either."

[Egnever]

8. Agree 100%

I sick to death of the idea people can't hear things they disagree with or might find offensive.

However I don't agree with him about some speakers on campus. To me that is more about rewarding criminals like condesleeza with large speaking fees than it is about what she has to say. Obviously condy hasn't been convicted of anything but I still don't think huge speaking fees are appropriate.

Hell now that I think more about it I don't agree with huge speaking fees for anyone on college campuses. Our kids are having a hard enough time paying fornan education with out adding such huge expenses.

[Baitball Blogger]

9. It would have to go both ways.

If you're going to criticize Liberal Arts programs over the PC issues, you will also have to criticize the conservative ones for the book burnings.

Liberal Arts programs, at least, attempt to tamp down on the negative side of the over-powering, destructive mind-frame in this country that drives us to the brink of disaster, crisis after crisis. The L.A. programs are a badly needed nurturing environment for people who want to find an environment that encourages critical thinking. It is the only ammunition we have against the challenges we face today. What do you think drives the satire behind political comedy shows?

Where else can you teach these skills, if not in L.A. programs where the campus allows irreverence to the sacred cows that exist in this country? When you get down to it, this is the only place where young adults are encouraged to question the dominant, negative aspects of our society. They are our only hope to counter the profit-margin, calculating greedfest promoted by the business school of thought.

Frankly, if I had one criticism, it is that Liberal Arts programs need to step it up. They are still far too traditional in their orientation and students are not prepared for the real nasty world they will face after graduation. It's the reason most yield too quickly, finding work in areas that have nothing to do with their majors.

It's a war of ideas out here, and Liberal Arts students have no idea just how mean-spirited it's going to get. As far as the coddling is concerned, Obama is right but for the wrong reason. There should be required classes for students to understand the human dynamics of social networking as it is practiced today. We are becoming fractured because this country has allowed a conservative, insular society to embed itself in the decision-making process at all levels of government and community.

At some point, someone has to begin establishing a social network in "the real world" that can effectively counter this self-interested, anti-diversity school of thought that permeates in the current status quo.

So, if you want to allow conservative ideas in a Liberal Arts school, I say introduce it as a required introductory course. We can call it "How Teh Stupids Stole America." Conservative students would be welcome to speak in these classes since we will need examples and visual aids.

[a la izquierda]

12. He's not targeting Liberal Arts programs...

but the notion that universities need to cater to every student who has a problem with what they're reading/hearing, etc. College is to broaden one's mind, not just get a degree and bail. This is what universities have always been about, building an apt, curious civic society.
My students read what I assign and there are no trigger warnings on my syllabi. If they have a problem with it, they are free to drop my class.

[Baitball Blogger]

17. Liberal Arts programs are going to feel the brunt of his comments, IMHO.

These are the comments that he made that I was responding to:

"Sometimes there are folks on college campuses who are liberal, and maybe even agree with me on a bunch of issues, who sometimes aren’t listening to the other side, and that’s a problem too. I’ve heard some college campuses where they don’t want to have a guest speaker who is too conservative or they don’t want to read a book if it has language that is offensive to African-Americans or somehow sends a demeaning signal towards women. I gotta tell you, I don’t agree with that either."

If you're talking about college campuses that are liberal, you are either talking about a college that promotes a strong Liberal Arts program, or a university that is safely embedded in blue territory. Everywhere else, Liberals who are severely outnumbered tend to keep a low profile.

To say that Liberals aren't listening to the other side is to ignore the incredible reach that social media has on our lives. We don't have to leave the safety of our homes or dorms to know what the other side is thinking. Anyone who participates on a newspaper bulletin will come across their ignorant, racist povs. They push their ideas through astro-turf emails and make family reunions unbearable. For the most part, listening is all we ever get to do while they're sucking the oxygen out of the air with their disinformation.

We are seriously on our own, in this regard. You can't even count on the government to help protect our right to speak, much less our right to anything that involves civil torts. That much has been apparent for a long time. In fact, the local governments that promote small government are guilty of encouraging civil torts the way they collude with community leaders. The result is a constant reminder that our communities are imploding from within.

This is what we have to learn in order to protect ourselves. So, if young Liberals want to start social networking in college, looking for kindred spirits who aren't going to shrivel up when a difficult question is posed, I'm all for it.

[a la izquierda]

19. Liberal arts has nothing to do with being Liberal.

Nothing.

[Baitball Blogger]

20. I absolutely agree.

But in red communities, Liberal Arts programs are one of the few places that young adults are able to get exposed to Liberal concepts. That was the case for me. It was Liberal teachers in the Behavioral Science Department that taught in a discipline that required critical thinking skills. Before then, I was just a student that could repeat information like a parrot to make the grade.

Many, if not most members from DU come from Liberal communities, so you might not see the urgency. But those of us who have spent most of our lives in purple or red communities see these programs as an oasis.

[hifiguy]

13. The pwecious widdle snowflakes

who demand that every thought be sanitized, labeled, filtered and predigested to protect their delicate sensibilities while they are in college are destined for one hellacious shock when they have to go out into an unfiltered, asshole-filled real world.

They have a LOT of growing up to do.

[Baitball Blogger]

18. This is the wrong approach.

We need to teach the truth about our country. There is a lot of fragmented information that you can pick up in poli-sci and sociology classes, but nothing that I know of that brings it all together to explain the adversity that we're finding today.

Having college age Liberals and conservatives go head to head is going to result in an unexpected backlash. The seeds of hate and distrust will only be planted earlier in Liberal-oriented students. But, at least they will learn that the only principle that conservatives believe in is winning. It's a lesson that took our Dem leaders far too long to learn.

[Retrograde]

21. I think the same every time I hear "microaggressions"

especially complaints about unconscious microaggressions: just how do you manage to live in the real world?

[hifiguy]

22. Yup.

I wasn't five before my parents taught me that the world most definitely did NOT revolve around me and that it was never going to rearrange itself to accommodate what I wanted. That lesson has served me well ever since.

Somebody better wise these sort of kids up, and big time.

[WinkyDink]

14. "Soviet Union"? (That would be "...might HAVE WORKED in.....")

[Comrade Grumpy]

15. I stand with the president. n/t

[Amishman]

16. good! part of defining your identity is having your values tested

It is confronting those who disagree with us that helps us know the strength of our convictions