Polls have come out claiming that colleges aren’t worth the cost, and that these schools are against conservatives. One glaring mistake is that these polls don’t always limit their sample to those going to college or graduated from college. When focusing the sample on those who actually experience higher education, you find that the overwhelming number of students, even Republican ones, find their political views are welcome, and think college is definitely worth it.
A recent survey from Gallup and the Lumina Foundation paints a very different image from these public narratives. Those surveyed include thousands of current college students and alums.
“Just 2 percent of all college students — including 3 percent of Republicans — say they feel they don’t belong on campus due to their political views. That’s one of the many disconnects between public perceptions about higher education’s climate and value and what students say is actually happening on campus, according to the report ‘The College Reality Check: What Students Experience vs. What America Believes.’”
Those seeing politicians rushing millions of dollars through their state legislatures to find ideological think tanks on campus may wish to read this. “The results showed that two-thirds of college students said most of their professors encourage them to share their views, including those that make others uncomfortable. At the same time, 71 percent said their professors create a classroom environment that supports both students who express unpopular opinions and those who may be upset by such views.”
And there’s more, when it comes to how the college students feel their higher education is preparing them. They’re getting the education they need. And this is an area of bipartisan agreement.
“Additionally, 93 percent of students said they’re confident they’re learning the skills they need to get the type of job they want, and 88 percent expressed confidence that their degree or credential will help them get a job after graduation. The majority (75 percent) also believe college is worth the cost, including 76 percent of Democrats, 78 percent of Republicans and 76 percent of Independents.” This is supported by our research showing stronger employment numbers and earnings for college graduates.
It’s not that the other polls are false. It’s that they depict the culture wars, inflating numbers of those not part of higher education system. Several networks have run ‘round the clock criticisms of universities and colleges, boosting a political narrative driven by “the pundit class.”
I recently polled my students on the anonymous PollEverywhere.com to see what they thought of my teaching ideology. More than half, labeled me “centrist” (56%) followed by libertarian (17%), right-conservative (11%, left-liberal (11%), with a few calling me authoritarian (6%) probably for all my strict rules about paper writing and no A.I. to replace writing.
With all of the money thrown around higher education today for ideological narratives, I wonder if there won’t be a few bucks left over for a “Center for Centrism,” which I would like to develop. You would find more centrism on college campuses than you might think.