Why are academians democrats? Higher Education Rots Your Brain

[Flea_Bit_Monkey]

We all know the dregs of society tend to be democrats, and those with jobs and education tend toward being republicans, but academias overly educated non workers tend toward being more liberal. Maybe we now have a clue why.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,243090,00.html

Study: Higher Education Rots Your Brain

Thursday, January 11, 2007

By Andrea Thompson

Going to college is a no-brainer for those who can afford it, but higher education actually tends to speed up mental decline when it comes to fumbling for words later in life.

Participants in a new study, all more than 70 years old, were tested up to four times between 1993 and 2000 on their ability to recall 10 common words read aloud to them.

Those with more education were found to have a steeper decline over the years in their ability to remember the list, according to a new study detailed in the current issue of the journal Research on Aging.

[ECW]

Seems like not enough people are getting a Liberal Education.

Nearly two-thirds of employers say too many college graduates don't have what it takes to thrive in the new global workplace, according to a poll released Wednesday by the Association of American Colleges and Universities.
Peter D. Hart Research Associates surveyed 305 business executives and 510 recent college graduates in November and December 2006. The poll was commissioned by the more than 1,000-member college association, which advocates for a broad, liberal education for all students regardless of institution or field of study.

What employers want from college graduates, the poll found, is the ability to work in teams, write and communicate, think on the spot and solve real-world puzzles. Last week, top Texas scientists at a conference in Austin said weak K-12 math and science education is also crippling American students in a global economy.

"Employers across the country are screaming that college graduates do not write well," said Carol Geary Schneider, president of the association, highlighting one of the main complaints from employers. "There is a reason. They have not practiced writing."

The solution, she said, is for every student to get a liberal education — one that fosters a broad worldview and teaches critical thinking skills that cut across disciplines.

"Employers feel strongly that this is not a multiple-choice world," Schneider said.

According to the poll, half of recently employed college graduates expect to always be working in the same field, which means the ability to adapt trumps specific knowledge in any one field, Schneider said.

In America, liberal education has traditionally been the domain of private liberal arts colleges such as Trinity University in San Antonio or St. Edward's University in Austin, whose recent marketing campaign urged students to "Learn to think."

Four-year public universities, community colleges and professional schools should embrace the "Learn to think" motto as well, Schneider said. Many already do, but in a piecemeal fashion, she said.

At the University of Texas at San Antonio for instance, freshman seminars and learning communities break students into smaller groups that foster writing and discussion. The University of Texas at Austin has strong study abroad programs, which give students an international perspective.

At San Antonio College, students in the music business program formed a working record label last semester and solicited artists to record in the college's studio. Internships and community service projects abound, and more universities are requiring senior capstone projects that test a student's ability to tackle real issues and present polished work.

"I think it is something we are all struggling with," said Bruce Leslie, chancellor of the Alamo Community College District.

David Gabler, a spokesman for UTSA, agreed. Getting away from multiple-choice mode can be hard, but it is necessary.

"We want our students at UTSA to be best-prepared to compete in an economy that is no longer defined by the borders of the United States," he said.

Liberal Educations For All (http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA011107.01B.WORKFORCE.PREPARED.2e78792.html)

[Stoner]

Usually your professors in college are burned out libs who couldn't make it in the real world so they teach in a classroom full of bitterness and anger attempting to spread their diseased opinions to innocent kids in college.

[Nemo]

The importance of education depends on what value one places on knowledge. Knowledge to fit purpose is certainly of value, for to be without it is to live in a world without light; but by the same token, to pursue useless knowledge (e.g., “Intelligent Design�) is worse than worthless, it is a waste of precious time. See Herbert Spencer, "What Knowledge is of Most Worth," Westminster Review (July 1859). Good schools are scarce, and useful knowledge invaluable. Individually, we are as much as we know; and as a nation, our democracy is dependent on an enlightened citizenry, which justifies placing a premium on education. What form that education takes - what curriculum our public schools provide - is a matter, if not all important, at least essential to everyone.

[Flea_Bit_Monkey]

Usually your professors in college are burned out libs who couldn't make it in the real world so they teach in a classroom full of bitterness and anger attempting to spread their diseased opinions to innocent kids in college.



And writing crappy books which they require to buy as part of their class.

It's pretty sad the way these hate filled libs spread their poison at other peoples expense.

[piratemonkey]

Wow... the title of this thread is straight out of Orwell.

Black is White.

Here's a bit of evidence that education actually does the opposite of what FOX news is saying.
Canadian scientists have found astonishing
evidence that the lifelong use of two languages can help delay the onset of
dementia symptoms by four years compared to people who are monolingual.


http://www.cnw.ca/fr/releases/archive/January2007/11/c5206.html


And your own article doesn't even support your point or your title:
"The more education you have, the more words you’ll know to begin with," Crimmins told LiveScience.

But the more you know, the more you have to lose.

The rate from test-year to test-year at which the more educated participants lost their word-recall ability was proportionately faster, with both groups finishing with nearly identical word-recall capabilities at the study’s end.


In the end, both educated and uneducated end up the same. Kinda metaphorical, eh?

[Flea_Bit_Monkey]

Wow... the title of this thread is straight out of Orwell.

Black is White.

Here's a bit of evidence that education actually does the opposite of what FOX news is saying.
Canadian scientists have found astonishing
evidence that the lifelong use of two languages can help delay the onset of
dementia symptoms by four years compared to people who are monolingual.



That isn't, by any stretch of the imagination, evidence that education does the opposite of what the study says.

Most of the people who use two languages that I know are not exceptionally well educated, most are immigrants from the south who speak spanish and english and are high school dropouts.

I can see where if you had no real world experiance you might think the only people who speak two languages are college french teachers, but you are completely, totally wrong.

[Guitarmitch]

Lets be honest:

Its a theory versus reality argument. For example: In THEORY, communism is the perfect state of humanity. In REALITY, it is the worst state of humanity.

I find that many college professors deal in the theories of the subject without actually understanding or accepting the reality of the same subject. This is especially true in societal and economic issues. This could be because the application of the theory in practical terms is flawed, or the theory itself is flawed. There are many other factors of course.

I also find that if they find someone does not agree with them, is contrary to all the theory they know, those people are idiots.

It has been said that everything you learn in college is tossed out the window once you get to the real world. I have heard this from Lawyers, from business admin students, from Doctors, from urban planners, from teachers etc etc etc. The list goes on and on. College gives you the foundation but no real practical application skills.

College professors are in their cocoon of theory, many never leave. They are surrounded by other like minded individuals. Those who are not like minded are ridiculed and seperated. If they are lucky to remain a professor at all.

Theoretically, liberalism is a beautiful thing where everyone helps everyone and no one wants for anything. Everybody is equal and no one has more than anyone else.

In reality, man cannot exist in this state. It is not a natural state. People feel that if they do more they should get more.

I mean, we are being honest here....

[piratemonkey]

In reality, man cannot exist in this state. It is not a natural state. People feel that if they do more they should get more.

I mean, we are being honest here....


If we all did what was "natural," there would be much more poo slinging and less tivo's. ;)

Really, though.Â*Â*Humans inhabit an environment that they weren't evolved to handle.Â*Â*We are "naturally" adapted to living in very small groups of closely related people, as we did for 10's of thousands of years.

I can see where if you had no real world experiance you might think the only people who speak two languages are college french teachers, but you are completely, totally wrong.

Hows about the quote I gave you above showing that your study in no way shows what you claim it shows?

Educated people lose more memory skills, but they start at a higher point and only bottom out as low as uneducated people.

Your title and your point aren't even supported by your own evidence.

[NortheastCynic]

As a college student in Boston, MA of all places I'd like to say that I've experienced very, very little bias in my education so far [and I'm a political science major], most notably from a TA of mine who claimed several times that social democracy is "better" than our liberal democracy because everything is "free"...Oy. Still though, from my experience so far, I don't detect all that much of a liberal bias, only a subtle one.

-NC

[Flea_Bit_Monkey]

I've seen huge liberal bias in college, idiots like ward churchill seem the norm rather than the exception.

I think if you are left leaning it is invisible to you.

[Nemo]

I think that much of what passes for education today is a waste of time, albeit that now a college education (which is little more than a high school refresher course) has come to be the ticket to middle-class society. Beyond that, what good is the pursuit of useless studies and advanced academic degrees that only certify learning beyond one’s capacity to think? It seems a tiresome venture with but little prospect for any substantial reward; and yet one sees such masters of arcane knowledge who are no good for anything but a pretentious display of pedantry. I am reminded of a noted ichthyologist who prided himself with knowing the Latin names for the entire class Osteichthyes, and whose students joked that the professor was so full of fish that every time he learned of a newly-discovered species another previously learned would pop out his backside in an expression of unpardonable French! One cannot help but think that more useful things might well be learned outside the halls of academe at the local tavern.