MTV had a TV show where they got young people talking about politics. They also had these uneducated young people in the audience who put tape on their mouth in protest of voting. They are not going to vote. Can you believe this? This was not a joke...I saw the tape first hand!
Here's my comment to all the people on that program who put tape on their mouth and were not planning on voting:
North Korea respects a person's 'no vote'. Either vote here or go to North Korea and tell the the army dude's "I want to be like your people and not vote, will you take me in?". If they don't light you on fire, I'm sure they will accommodate.
VOTE!
So this is how MTV encourage young people to be heard. What a farce! Unfortunately most of our youth is brain washed into the socialist agenda. They are generally unable to formulate their own thoughts outside what media, schools and universities have taught them. Most of these institutions are filled with socialist thought.
ReplyDeleteGerald
Yes! Vote, vote, vote! No matter your candidate of choice, don't waste the opportunity and the hard fought for right.
ReplyDeleteGerald- I can only speak for my university and from my experience and won't attempt to generalize for most academic institutions as you have, but the priority in all of my courses was to teach you HOW to think for yourself, and not WHAT to think. To evaluate the evidence, the research, and the sources in which you gather that evidence from, to think creatively and to develop sound and informed opinions- this is what my institution demanded. I can only sincerely hope that most other institutions of academic learning in this nation demand the very same.
I would also hope that those of differing political viewpoints than myself don't inaccurately assume that I am a brainwashed socialist just because I disagree with their politics and am a young, university educated individual.
Happy voting day!
Amanda
Amanda:
ReplyDeletePerhaps but would you say there was a roughly equal split between right leaning and left leaning professors at the university you attended? That would be most unusual.... If your observation is correct there should be an equal amount of right wing activism and left wing activism coming out of our universities. I just don't see it. There is the odd exception of course but most of what I see from our local university is left leaning and often far left. Apart from an odd exception I generally see the same from other institutions in Canada.
Another observation. Why do we see peoples views become more right leaning as they age? Perhaps the word brain washed is a little harsh for you. Influenced may have been a better choice of words.
Gerald
Good post Amanda. The agenda of all public institutions of learning is to do just as you say - teach people how to think, not what to think. It is not just an observation. It is a fact.
ReplyDeleteI don't see people's views becoming more right leaning as they age. Not sure what study this comes from. It is an interesting theory though and I would be interested in reading the source.
Of course that is the stated agenda. Anyway you asked about voting vs age. Here are just two sources, compare conservative with NDP/Green:
ReplyDeletehttp://communications.lakeheadu.ca/news/?display=news&nid=108&unitid=1
or
http://www.ekos.com/admin/articles/11June2004PressReleaseb.pdf
Gerald
Regarding University bias:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/26229
Notice level of conservative support vs other parties compared to general public in this one:
http://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/CJS/article/viewFile/1036/3661
This are only two example that should help you understand.
Gerald
In the public education institutions that I represent, the agenda is put into action - no worries.
ReplyDeleteAs for the research that you post - thank you. I appreciate it. It is interesting and worth a second read although difficult to understand the cause and effect without longitudinal data (re: age).
I am not sure that personal political preference is relevant in terms of what people teach. They are professionals after all. In fact, in a student vote, the majority of my class voted conservative (sad, but true!)
As someone who works in the industry, I can assure you I don't need help understanding perceived bias in education and I am very clear about what educators and education is and is not.
10:36 - I guess that is all she wrote. A very dramatic election. It looks like a conservative majority, NDP crushed their previous record and Liberals and Bloc are just crushed. I wonder what the stats are for the number of people who voted in this election?
Until the provincial race...
re: 2 May 2011 22:48
ReplyDeletePolitcal preference is relevant in that it will affect your worldview/beliefs. For many subjects that are taught it should have little or no relevance. It has much to do when you are teaching political science or religion for instance. Very few would be able to divorce themselves enough from their beliefs to not try to influence their students toward their worldview in some fashion. That is to be expected and normal. I think key is that biases, preferences and prejudices should be indicated up front.
I think the stats indicate a slightly better turnout than last election. Last I looked it was 61.4% which puts it in the low end of typical for recent elections. We should be closer to 70%!
For those of us with conservative worldview the election results are very good news indeed. We have been waiting a very long time for this. It is with a bit of trepidation though since most Conservative governments of recent history have been anything but conservative. Sigh, c'est la vie I guess.
BTW, which provincial race do you refer to. I'm from SK, we have one coming up this fall.
Gerald
Ontario - We have one in fall as well. As an educator, it is this election that I am most concerned with.
ReplyDeleteWith all of the fervour over this election (promos and protests in the streets around here), I am disappointed in 61.4%.
Very dramatic results indeed. We have the "blues" in my circles. I am hoping that the Liberals can come back in four years (with a new leader) for those who like the centre.
Hoping for a strong opposition (for the 60% of us who did not vote conservative)