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<p>Technically, Harvard or any other private university has a “right” to force others to subscribe to values pledges of their design, however ill-conceived. Bob Jones is one examples of such. Then again, most wouldn’t consider schools like Bob Jones to be institutions fulfilling the core mission of providing an intellectually rigorous education precisely for that reason. </p>
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<p>Having students be “high achieving, hard working, smart, or perfectionistic” is consistent and critical for a university/college to fulfill its core mission of providing an intellectually rigorous education to students. </p>
<p>My issue with kindness pledges is related to the law of unintended consequences potential created by the vagueness of that document and the high degree of subjectivity of the word “kindness”. I’ve witnessed/experienced some of those unintended consequences even in the absence of such a pledge and let me tell you…it does have a chilling effect on students who are inclined to challenge conventional wisdom of the majority of their classmates/Profs in and out of class. Ironic considering it is precisely these students who best facilitate the provision of an intellectually rigorous education that IMHO is the core mission of colleges/universities. In that context, having a kindness pledge may actually detract from that very core mission. </p>
<p>Moreover, “kindness” is and IMHO should be the responsibility of the ostensibly young adult students themselves or if minors, their parents. Not the universities/colleges. One reason other than societal neglect why US K-12 has had so many problems is the disturbing trend of US society, especially the parents in trying to effectively dump all their responsibilities onto schools and schoolteachers.</p>