<p>^Well said emeraldkity4!</p>
<p>Wow. Thanks for the pummeling people.</p>
<p>All I can say is you don’t know the school in question and you don’t know my child’s aspirations. And I daresay you don’t know what it’s actually like to be in my son’s position on a college campus these days - when did you attend college? Probably at least 30 years ago, I imagine. Kids need gpa’s and recommendations and to be chosen for organizations and leadership positions - yup, resume padding. To be a loud conservative where he is right now would put all of that in serious jeopardy. </p>
<p>Don’t be angry with my kid for being pragmatic? We should be angry with ourselves for allowing the ridiculous political conformity on our college campuses - many of which derive significant tax dollars from liberals and conservatives alike.</p>
<p>Not everyone has the temperment to handle the abuse that comes from being a conservative in some places. I’m a fairly tough adult, but after years of working in law firms with graduates of top schools, I can say with absolute honesty that most of those graduates are stellar human beings, but there exists a small minority that is just vicious. Whatever aggression they have is taken out on their ideological opponents because that’s still socially acceptable in some circles. I wouldn’t want to be a kid faced with that.</p>
<p>Regarding people who are afraid to stand up for what they believe in.
I recently saw Milk for which Sean Penn won an academy award for his portrayal of a politician who was assassinated because of intolerance.
I recently had the opportunity to speak to Myrlie Evers-Williams, whose husband and father of her children was assassinated in his driveway, because of intolerance.
I haven’t attended college to answer your question so I dont’ have personal experience with college campuses thirty years ago myself.
But I have never hid my beliefs and I walk my talk, not just on the internet-, including advocating for my children to do the same. ( which they do- more than I expected!)</p>
<p>Being afraid to join a campus group because of a social beating? what is a social beating exactly? I don’t raise my kids to be afraid of things that “might” happen in the future if it is what they believe in. </p>
<p>Cowards may be physically safe, but what else are they risking by not standing up for their views? </p>
<p>I understand if you are actually ashamed of wanting to participate in a group, you may have second thoughts about doing so- and I do agree that if you want to belong to an organization that restricts others from participating because of their race or religion, it is liable to haunt you at some point. But if that is really what you believe in, the organizations that you would want to be involved with, won’t care.</p>
<p>If everyone was able to always stand up for what they believe, we wouldn’t have those movies or awe for the people who do it. It’s because it’s so tough that we revere the courageous.</p>
<p>
Risking having no friends, being socially ostracized, lonely. That’s a lot to ask of someone in an environment that isn’t inclusive. Would you say the same thing to a liberal kid in an unwelcoming conservative environment?</p>
<p>I haven’t heard of students losing out on jobs because of conservative affiliations, though I am sure it happens. I know for a fact, however, that during the Bush administration top law students lost out on Justice Department internships because they were liberals. Though it is illegal for the Justice Department to discriminate for non-political jobs, in sworn testimony to Congress, Justice Department officials testified that they did Facebook and Google searches on candidates, and didn’t hire those who had Democratic affiliations.</p>
<p>I hope this repellent (and, as I mentioned, illegal) procedure is at an end with the new administration, but students may feel they want to keep their heads down and not expose themselves to such discrimination.</p>
<p>The best way to a strong GPA and great recommendatiions at all the top LACs I know is to take strong positions and argue them effectively in class and in papers. Namby pamby won’t get an A from a good professor at a top LAC.</p>
<p>Even Berkeley has a Young Republicans club. They had a table on the plaza right next to the vegans. There may be kids who feel they need to be in the closet politically, but it’s wrong and I wish they were doing what they could to change this campus wherever it may be.</p>
<p>^
and they have reported being spit upon right there in that public plaza.</p>
<p>Dante wrote: “The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who during a moral crisis preserve their neutrality.”</p>
<p>Bishop Desmond Tutu said, "If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”</p>
<p>All the kids who are afraid that they will be spat upon and choose not to join the Young Republicans because of that fear (or their fear that they won’t get to pad their resume with good recommendations from their professors), are taking the side of those who spit by remaining neutral.</p>
<p>Edwin Hubbel Chapin said, “Neutral men are the devil’s allies.”</p>
<p>Well Mrs. Weasley, you feel free to judge my gentle daughter who chose to make the best of it when she had a professor who called her names for supporting Senator McCain, but I think it was the right decision for that particular young woman. Her sister would surely have made a different choice.</p>
<p>“professor who called her names for supporting Senator McCain”</p>
<p>amazing…the “tolerant ones” sure are feeling confident these days…It won’t be long though the way things are going…sadly, they haven’t a clue.</p>
<p>My goodness. What a tolerant bunch of posters!</p>
<p>First, who said my son is neutral? He votes. During his summers he works on campaigns. He blogs. He connects with those who share some of his views. </p>
<p>Oh, and he has a 3.9 at an Ivy, interesteddad, so I don’t think his professors hold him in contempt for not expressing provocative and well thought out views.</p>
<p>Believe me, he is taking in his undergraduate college experience, thinking it over qute carefully, formulating beliefs, and is quite likely to act upon them once he has a measure of distance between himself and the Ivory Tower.</p>
<p>In my own oppinion, the real cowards among our kids and ourselves at this moment in our nation’s journey are those loudly espousing politically correct views that they don’t really believe in particularly but do see as a very important pathway to professional and social advancement. I think we all know plenty of those.</p>
<p>“the real cowards among our kids and ourselves at this moment in our nation’s journey are those loudly espousing politically correct views that they don’t really believe in particularly but do see as a very important pathway to professional and social advancement. I think we all know plenty of those.”</p>
<p>that would be true…but sadly, too many do believe in the politically correct views…which also makes then a bit cowardly.</p>
<p>Sewhappy,
I just don’t buy what you are saying. Your son has 3.9 at an Ivy! Terrific! He must be flourishing then despite his conservative views. Every Ivy has strong articulate conservative students. They form clubs, publish newspapers and contribute greatly to campus life. Of the eight Ivies, I cannot think of one exception.</p>
<p>If he is that “fearful”, he should transfer. He can easily find an excellent school where he might feel better socially.</p>
<p>zoosermom, if the professor knew your daughter’s choice, then your daughter was not neutral. How have I judged her in any way? I’m sorry that you believe I judged her at all, but because she did not hide or shun her own political views, she’s to be admired much more than the professor who acted childishly.</p>
<p>Unlike geeps, I don’t believe anyone is a coward who stands by his or her views, whether those views are popular or unpopular in any given setting.</p>
<p>sewhappy,
You made an excellent point when you noted:
“We should be angry with ourselves for allowing the ridiculous political conformity on our college campuses - many of which derive significant tax dollars from liberals and conservatives alike.”</p>
<p>“Unlike geeps, I don’t believe anyone is a coward who stands by his or her views”</p>
<p>never said that…nice spin as usual</p>
<p>Some very courageous folks here on an anonymous internet site. Very impressive.</p>
<p>geeps, you did say “many do believe in the politically correct views…which also makes then a bit cowardly.” (originally in post 634)</p>