While the goal of any education system is to prepare young people with marketable skills, at the college level one of those skills should be the ability to handle opinions with which one may disagree, and to do so politely and with good humor. After all, learned conversation is a valuable skill, and not just in the workplace.
Of course, our universities have not worked according to this principle for a long time. Instead of teaching young people full of mush to think, the main goal of many educators seems to be to teach them what to think, and if they disagree, well, they'd better keep it to themselves.
Now, a new study from the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) shows that students have become even less comfortable since the murder of Charlie Kirk. “controversial” topics and speakers.
Since the murder of Charlie Kirk, half of the nation's college students report feeling less comfortable attending controversial public events on campus, and nearly half are less comfortable expressing opinions on controversial topics in class.
Chief Academic Adviser Dr. Shawn Stevens of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression told The Center Square that the September murder of Charlie Kirk at Utah Valley University “has had a chilling effect—not just at UVU, but across the country.”
Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) interviewed 2,028 students across the country—including an “oversample” of 204 students from Utah Valley University—to “understand how homicide shapes student attitudes and behavior.”
Stevens told The Center Square that “some of the data from Utah Valley University students is encouraging: They show signs of increased tolerance and even relative trust in administrative protections for free speech.”
Given the current state of higher education, one might assume that “controversial public events” means “conservative public events.” And by “controversial topics,” we can also probably assume they mean “conservative topics.”
Read more: New Poll on Charlie Kirk's Alleged Killer Confirms You Don't Despise the Media Enough
However, here is the really unpleasant aspect:
However, Stevens also said that Kirk's murder “appears to have deepened existing ideological divisions between liberals and conservatives on campus.”
A press release The poll found that after the killing, “moderate and conservative students across the country were significantly less likely to say that shouting down a speaker, blocking the entrance to an event, or using violence to stop a speech on campus are acceptable actions.”
“In contrast, support for these tactics among liberal students remained unchanged or even increased slightly,” the report said.
In other words, as we have seen for some time, the left is more willing to engage in subversion or silence its opposition. Isn't it a leftist stereotype that violence begets violence? If we accept this as a working assumption, then the left had better be careful what you wish for.
Here's how the nation's colleges and universities can handle it: Any student who resorts to any disruptive tactics to disrupt a speaker or event should be expelled immediately. Constantly. Not a pendant. Exile. Any teacher or administrator who does this will be fired. Neither vacation nor vacation with pay. Discontinued. Left. Made. With a big black mark on their record, guaranteeing that their next job will be learning how to smile while saying, “Welcome to Starbucks.” If any member of any of the groups causes physical harm or damage to property, he is not only fired, but also held accountable. Not “investigating” campus security: filing criminal charges.
If someone disagrees with the speaker, allow him or her to ask questions. Interact with them. Argue with them. Freedom of speech is available to everyone. However, this does not guarantee anyone an audience, nor does it allow the critic's veto power to be used to interfere with anyone's right to speak.
Talk to people. Ask them questions. Interact with them. Compare ideas openly, peacefully, in a civilized manner. That's exactly what Charlie Kirk did – right up until some left-wing nut shot him.
Editor's note: President Trump is fighting to dismantle the Department of Education and ensure that America's children receive the education they deserve.
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