Should a young person go to an evil college? That seems to be an open question being passed around now in conservative media. The two sides of the argument go something like this. For: It is the traditional choice. Without college, a young person could be permanently trapped in a circumstance of less earning power for a lifetime and never have an opportunity to access a whole upper echelon of influential positions in industry, academia, professional life, and government. Against: Higher education has become a cesspool of ideological indoctrination, debt, worthless degrees, bacchanal degradation, and stands a high chance of doing nothing more than grooming a young person for leftist radicalism, disillusionment, and even a risk of death due to illicit substances, the gross negligence of one’s peers, or suicide.
The question and challenge of endorsing a corrupt and corrupting higher education system is bigger than the consequence of any one student although what that means to your own child cannot be understated. We also must look at the big picture. Is it possible that enough people could boycott higher education and then put pressure on those institutions to modify their program? Likely not. Or will abandoning colleges just reinforce the worst schools and worst brain washing practices that we read about, the horror stories of intimidation, cancelling, or coercion? If higher education is subject to widespread long-term boycotts, are we ultimately creating long term structural disadvantages for conservatives. Possibly. So is your kid’s life and values worth the risk of failing a larger campaign of reform?
The answer to these questions is not a one size fits all. While no one opinion, including mine, can be considered definitive, the perspective I endorse is, I believe, the same even if the dire equation I laid out were not the case. Here is a brief matrix. Are you, your son/daughter (you only have one or the other), or your grandchild, are you:
Gifted: While intellectual giftedness is the common assumption here, I’m really thinking of character and adult bearing. Is your kid specially grounded beyond their years? Have they already integrated themselves into adult level academics, formed true relationships with well-grounded adult peers even though they themselves are yet teens? Have they exercised gifts of debate and rhetoric and been tested and proven by standing up to adversarial teachers? If you can answer yes to all of these, they may be ready for a university that would challenge their beliefs but should also have a demonstrated tolerance of conservatism and has proven it by allowing and supporting conservative groups. This does not guarantee that your kid cannot be converted to the ranks of the left, but at least you know they have the equipping and stamina to make the decision for themselves.
Targeted seeker: This group of kids doesn’t fully know what they want to do in life, but they approach their future with some optimism. They have enough maturity to handle themselves independently, but maybe you still have doubts about their stability. Should they go into college, specifically, a four-year college away from home, right out of high school? This is a maybe, with conditions. The conditions are this, that they have made personal sacrifices to follow their choice into higher learning. While it’s hardly practical anymore for a student to pay their own way through college, they have still acted as if it were the case. Perhaps they worked the last three summers and held down a part time evening job through their senior year in high school. They have already been out on their own, they are ready to contribute, even if it’s just to buy their own books and if they know their field to go into, they’ve already identified the school, major, grad work, and maybe even a few future choice employers. If they have skin in the game, and risk, they may be ready for college.
Most others: Years ago, when a young person was finished secondary education, they used to be ready for full participation in the grown-up world. Not hardly anymore, but there are exceptions. There are four basic choices available to a young person today: college, work/trade, military, parent and homemaker (primarily women). We could also add, ‘nothing’ but this isn’t a responsible choice for the parent of that kid. What I would recommend here is that any young person not in the prior two categories, view themselves in this group and they should endeavor to do, at least two, but possibly even three or all four of the options here, overlapping, and local. This would entail either a community college or local four-year college. ‘All the above’ is best. The key here is that you/they may only spend a short time in some of those choices. There are of course exceptions. If you/they tend to be more intellectual, you’re certainly not going to waste away in a trade. There may be physical or emotional reasons to never approach the military. Many people in non-academic trades and occupations outpace college-graduated earners and never look back. If you’re going to college, work a trade in the summers. If you’re in a trade or work a job full time, try to knock out two or three college classes in a year. It gives you options or more important, the ability to see opportunities that you’d never otherwise know. In that instance, any degree is secondary. Military service can come before, during or after this and is single handedly the best way to ‘pay’ for an education. With these options, some will determine that there is nothing that a college has to offer them and that is perfectly fine if they’ve made an informed choice.
The critical factor in all these options is that the young person is invested, financially and otherwise in every single choice. In these instances, being generously endowed by a savings plan or a relative is not necessarily an unmitigated good thing. There is not a lot of room for passivity, nor is there a parental toleration of the Club Med college experience, not that it won’t happen, but if it does, that young person will share in the weight of that lose. That presents serious choices in regard to the field of study and the school selected. The ‘Gifted’ group are most at risk from highly ideological schools, e.g., the Yale, Wellesley, Stanford, so their mental and spiritual preparation must be extraordinary. The ‘Targeted seeker’ will likely seek out public universities or regional private schools but should understand that they are a consumer of either learning or indoctrination and that will inform their choices. The ‘Most others’ group may be the most grounded and will benefit from the widest possible set of influences during a critical period of their youth. Many of these will also be involved in a pay-as-you-go approach or else will be taking advantage of programs that required involvement and sacrifice, particularly if they are engaged in military service consecutively with their education. There will be far less room for woke indoctrination in many of the institutions that cater to this group.
There is one important caveat. Since we’re dealing with adults here, the ultimate choice to seek higher education rests solely with the individual young person. The degree of support is the variable. If a young person wants to buy the best brainwashing money can buy, they can and will find a way, but dear parent or grandparent, don’t buy it for them and don’t send your hard-earned money to a den of lies and thieves. If partying is their objective, the same principle applies. Be aware that colleges and universities with a conservative or even a ‘Christian’ reputation may very well have gone woke and you’ll never know it. Assume nothing. A woke school, choosing socialism, and living life with ‘other people’s money’ is an investment that pays only negative dividends. If there is no fuel, the fire will not burn. The woke grifter class only benefits a narrow demographic or profile of favored persons and you’re probably not in it. Not very many people would start a journey if they knew the result would be a that you or your kid were to become a angry, childless, indebted, sex changed, race baiting, far left wing zealot, or any part thereof. Don’t add injury to yourself by supporting them. Only invest in the schools and education that brings a return to you.