<p>“but geeps does bring up a very good philosophical point. Are liberal’s hatred for conservative/republicans so great that if the whole global warming (climate change) topic had been revealed by prominent CONSERVATIVE scientists, would the liberals still be as PASSIONATE about the topic and mankind’s contribution to it? Or, would there be an automatic opinion that there was a hidden agenda and therefor the findings are not credible.”</p>
<p>What a strange comment. The pursuit of scientific truth has nothing to do with a political agenda.</p>
<p>“I miss William F. Buckley, Jr. I disagreed with the man far more often than not but I admired his mind. My FIL is a conservative of that generation as well. I look foward to the day that Palin-level standards of knowledge once again yield to high standards.”</p>
<p>ITA, pugmadkate. I also enjoy reading George Will, because while I may disagree with him, he’s at least logical, clear, well-thought out, and doesn’t deny that 2+2=4.</p>
<p>"but not believing in anthropogenic global warming is akin to believing that 2+2= 5, "</p>
<p>That is your opinion…climate has and will change until the planet doesn’t exist…I would suggest you research solar energy…man made co2 is not enough to cause GW</p>
<p>“CelticClan, that post #287 makes more sense then us continuing to try to help the OP”</p>
<p>My question was honest and sincere…and quite simple. The bottom line is that the liberals here quickly posted that my son should go to a school where he will hear differing views, and why should he go where his beliefs would be upheld…yet these same liberals send there kids to liberal schools without hesitation. No hypocrisy there?</p>
<p>I especially liked this post:</p>
<p>“Over time they develop the capacity to view issues from vantage points other than the ones which define their own lives, and that tends to be what society considers “liberal.” If your son can come out of college able to see and argue the value in points of view that he doesn’t inherently share, he’ll be what the world calls “educated.””</p>
<p>basically, my son will only become educated when he accepts the liberal views…incredible how some people view things.</p>
<p>okay, i’m going to try this from another perspective.
fourteen y/o boy with sincerely held conservative beliefs and mid-range PSATs wants to know what colleges will be a match in three years.
best advice: check back in three years.</p>
<p>why…will colleges change in those 3 years…you don’t think it’s a good idea to be prepared? I am a thorough person, it has served me well.</p>
<p>I will also add…my OP was not to find conservative colleges…I was asking if NE LAC have a tendency to express their liberal opinions in classes where that would not be appropriate or needed.</p>
<p>It’s obvious that most colleges slant to the left, it is another question if their bias is carried over to the classroom…it doesn’t have to be that way…you know</p>
<p>Post 301. Geeps: Those words mean different things to different people. Your definitions may be very different than mine. However you define those words and whatever you believe is fine by me. But honestly your posts are not clear and obvious to me. Maybe they are to everyone else. And I am not trying to twist your words. I absolutely do not understand and have no clue what you are looking for in a college education for your son… One reason is because I don’t understand what you mean by “conservative” “liberal” “fact” or “controversy.” Again maybe because I am just dense. Is there any college you know you approve? Where facts are taught without controversial opinions being forced? I do better when I have examples. I really am trying to understand where you are coming from.</p>
<p>I honestly don’t know what “education” means to you.</p>
<p>alh…Let me try one last time. I have no examples to give you…this is my oldest son, It’s been a long time since I went to college and I have no dealings with colleges. My son wants to stay in the New England area… When I recently started my research, I noticed a lot of small LACs…Again, I know absolutely nothing about these colleges. I am fully aware of the left slant on most colleges, and I see stories pop up on the news from time to time where liberal professors have crossed the line with their bias.</p>
<p>My post was simply to find out whether the NE LACs tended to show more bias than other colleges. Now, I realize that many liberals would probably get defensive(as they did) and try to defend why it is OK for professors to do this(which they did). I think the conservative parents opinions proved most useful as they were the most precise and didn’t try to rationalize anything. They simply stated…yes, a clear liberal bias…or they slant to the left, but no big deal. Again, I realize that a liberal parent would have a tough time admitting to a liberal bias, being liberal themselves…as they might not see any bias at all.</p>
<p>Now I realize that you can’t lump all LACs together…so I was hoping to see posts where certain colleges were mentioned as indeed bias, or ones where it wasn’t a big deal… Again, I realize these would be generalizations, but at least a starting point.</p>
<p>No. Those labels were applied to me by conservatives… you know, the folks of tolerance and acceptance. Many liberals had the same experience.</p>
<p>geeps,
</p>
<p>You need to reread the post to which this refers. “If your son can come out of college able to see and argue the value in points of view that he doesn’t inherently share, he’ll be what the world calls “educated.””</p>
<p>So no, he need not embrace liberal views, but he should be able to argue them nonetheless. That’s what education helps one do.</p>
<p>As for being thorough, you don’t at this point know what kind of high school student your son is going to be. You don’t know what his ECs will be, what his grades will be like, what his test scores will be. Has he taken a PSAT or SAT yet? The ACT? You’re applying thoroughness without, IMHO, enough information, so may be thorough in a completely wrong direction.</p>
<p>So your researching colleges now might be a fun exercise for you now (assuming you really ARE interested in researching colleges), but it might all be for naught. Your kid might learn something in high school that he wants to delve into in college (and then once he’s in college, he may decide to concentrate on something else).</p>
<p>Your time might be better spent researching high school opportunities for him – internships, summer programs, and the like. </p>
<p>Besides, curmudgeon has supplied you with an appropriate college list, so your work here is done! :D</p>
<p>One of the great things about debate is arguing either both sides of the same issue or arguing one position assigned at random. No matter what the student’s original views on the topic, the student has to present the best case for the position s/he has been assigned. Whether a student changes others’ minds in the process may be less important than being able to see the virtues and flaws of different perspectives.</p>
<p>I know what his grades have been…mostly
A’s…and I certainly know his grades for the first 2 quarters…all A’s. He is already doing EC’s. He works during the summer at our business. Why anyone would ridicule a parent starting the college search early is beyond me.</p>
<p>. "If your son can come out of college able to see and argue the value in points of view that he doesn’t inherently share, he’ll be what the world calls “educated.”</p>
<p>I guess we have a different interpretation of the word “educated”. It’s not just seeing other views, it’s also learning specific skills, information.</p>
<p>Wow! What an interesting discussion. My two cents is that your son NEEDS to hear liberal views, conservative views, cross-over views. I attended one of the most conservative colleges in Ohio in the 70s and 80s. I wasn’t “ruined”! Many conservatives have attended liberal institutions and not been “ruined” (take Ann Coulter, eg, who graduated from Cornell).</p>
<p>I was fortunate to have been raised in a progressive family: one parent republican and one parent democrat. My “being” has been created by the sum total of ALL my experiences, and college is just one of them. When I read the OP, I felt a bit saddened that first, the parent is even worrying about LACs SO early; but second, that the parent would not inculcate in his child the importance of hearing many viewpoints. Further, that we don’t need to believe everything we hear, we just need to LISTEN!!!</p>
<p>The conservative movement has been hijacked by neo-cons like the triumverate of terror: Limbaugh/Hannity/Coulter and virtually excluded the credible thinkers like George Will, David Brooks and Kathleen Parker. The neocons (much to my delight!) are the reason that the OP is even incapable of having reasoned discussion with his child about how intelligentsia does not indoctrinate! What the OP is really obsessing about is the very notion that his offspring might hear an alternative viewpoint. Oh my gosh! He might be converted to a nasty liberal democrat when he goes off to college!</p>
<p>How pathetic many of you conservative zealots have become! We don’t need sociology degrees to know that children are molded by the traditions of family, religion and culture as well as education. </p>
<p>Traditional conservative Pat Buchanan opined sagely after the presidential election of 2004 was called in favor of Dubya that the political pendulum had already been swinging back toward the liberal side…How right he is! The very notion that democrats may be realigning the country for the next 40 years scares the poop out of you neocons, and you worry that the children you have reared are going to be transformed by a few liberal professors! How naive!</p>
<p>Again, I attended and was enriched at one of the most conservative universities in the midwest. I studied and learned all the same material other college kids read and see. There were not many liberals on the faculty, but my experience did not leave me pondering how unfortunate I was at all…</p>
<p>not to put too fine a point on it, but, really after following this thread for nearly two days, the OP’s beef is not with NE LACs (as the subject line would suggest) but, with most of the top 50 colleges and universities on the USNews rankings.</p>
<p>Then what is your point? You are looking for a place where you son won’t here anything that he (or rather you) don’t agree with ? There is no such a place anywhere…</p>
<p>No, OP, you miss the point of the discussion. You asked for opinions. Now you have them and don’t like what you are reading. Take the time to carefully read all the viewpoints posted here. You might learn something. You can begin by trying to credibly rebut some of the finer points made by many of us, instead of dismissing the views as simply “missing the point”. CC is a forum to express and question others. Again, you don’t have to agree, but don’t post a thread and expect ONLY to hear opinions that track with your own!</p>
<p>I’m not ridiculing you for being interested in colleges for your son; I’m just pointing out that it’s likely a waste of time to spend time now on deep college research when your son is a freshman in high school and has years still to learn and grow before college. Standardized test scores – PSAT, SAT, ACT – are generally a good thing to have in hand for a college search. Whatever liberal bias your son might want to avoid – assuming he does want to avoid it when he’s off to college, something you really can’t determine now – and which NE LACs are unsuitable for him because of it could be irrelevant for many of those NE LACs if 1.) he decides a LAC isn’t for him; 2.) he decides the NE isn’t for him; 3.) he doesn’t have the stats to get into some/most/any of the schools you are currently researching.</p>
<p>I started here at CC when my son was a freshman, too, but it wasn’t to research colleges, but to learn more about what we as a family need to consider now for college later. Learning about financial aid now helps me plan what I should be doing in regards to college savings, and learning when to time standardized tests my son might want to take ensures that he isn’t looking at taking an SAT II, for example, a year after he’s had the relevant class.</p>
<p>(Of course, all my lovely planning and spreadsheets have been thrown into disarray by his desire to enter college early; as so many here have pointed out to me, plans can and usually DO change as a kid progresses through high school!)</p>
<p>There are plenty of things it makes sense to research when a kid is in 9th grade. Whether one or more professors at any college might actually voice an opinion, liberal or otherwise, in a classroom strikes me as research that could easily be postponed for more timely considerations.</p>