University of Brainwashing USA
Call me crazy, but I think college is for idiots. I just recently read some replies to a post by d3adzombie that ruffled my feathers. The ultimate conclusion was that if you go to college and are an intellectual you will vote for John Kerry. I will bet you that the person who alleged this deduction graduated from college....but let me explain.
First, my opinions are based on my personal experience. There are no "facts" or studies to back it up. Just my observations and encounters. Second, let me explain that I am not stupid or an idiot. This is not about touting my own horn, but a few "facts" to demonstrate that according to "intellectuals" I am very intelligent. I have a genius IQ, was a National Merit Scholar, and went to college on full academic scholarship (both private and institutional) that even paid for me to live off campus at an apartment of my choice.
Ok, enough....I attended a high school for the performing arts. Not exactly a bastion of conservative or religious ideas. If anything, quite the opposite. Our motto was: "The most unique school in Dallas". Anything artistic (read outside mainstream) was hailed and encouraged. A dress code was nonexistant because that would stifle creativity and indiviuality and promote conformity. I absolutely loved my high school. It was one of the best experiences of my life, even for a conservative like me.
I attended college at the University of Texas in Austin. I double majored in Dance and Social Work. In my first year, I took a required core curriculum class called Evolutionary Biology. It was a very interesting class on the theory and development of evolution. I am a creationist btw. I made an A in the class. On the last day of class when the exams were passed out with our final grades, our professor took the opportunity to tell us how privileged we were to be among the educated and enlightened because only ignorant people believed in creationism. Of course being the outspoken woman that I am, I promptly stood up in the middle of a lecture hall filled with over a hundred students and asked the professor what label he would assign to me as I still held my creationist beliefs but was obviously not ignorant.
My sophomore year in college (also my junior year because I had advanced credits), I was required to take a cultural diversity class. In this class, we "studied" four diverse groups: African-Americans, Latinos, Homosexuals, and the Handicapped. Our class assignment was to live a week as a member of each of these "cultures" and then submit a paper detailing the descrimination and humiliation we experienced during that week in a hope to sensitize us to minority groups. Shouldn't we also include the study of conservatives on college campuses; they are truly a minority and suffer intense descrimination and humiliation.
Shortly thereafter, I quit college because I refused to pay an institution to train me to spout off their ideas as facts. It is one thing to expose me to differing points of view in an environment respectful to all differing theories and opinions. I had this openness in my high school. It was a true exchange of ideas and respect for differences. What did I learn in college...intolerence and condescension. My professors presented their beliefs as superior "facts."
Ten years later, I am still intelligent and still a Republican and still voting for Bush without the full benefit of a proper brainwashing. Call me crazy.