Conservative Coming Out Day, Free Market Earth Day, Second Amendment Day, etc. Conservative Coming Out Day, which we know what that’s a parody of, consisted of saying things like “I always knew I felt different,” and other similar phrases. Free Market Day was a day to barbeque and celebrate tasting animals. Second Amendment Day was to demand the university to allow guns on campus. These were events put on by a club of college Republicans in the western public university system. The events were done to provoke liberal students. They wanted the liberal students to take note of the fact that they were opposed to affirmative action. “If these actions made students feel oppressed then they needed to develop thicker skin.” These were the answers of interviewed individuals who were a part of the College Republicans club. This could be due to Republicans feeling like outliers on college campuses, and in result expressed their feelings in this provoking manner. Republicans don’t value higher education as much compared to Democrats, primarily because higher education is surrounded with predominantly liberal views. This results in higher education becoming more liberal and influencing student’s political affiliation because Democrats value higher education for economic security, intellectual and personal growth. This isn’t to say Republicans don’t value higher education for these reasons as well, but it’s more typically seen with liberal students. It is important to visualize how education can be helpful in our future for both Republicans and Democrats.
The Educational Gap
This past election with Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton had the widest educational divide compared to any previous elections. This is because education is beginning to play a substantial role in not only the candidates we elect, but within the party we root for. It was seen that voters who obtained a college degree or higher resorted to voting for Hillary, as opposed to those who didn’t, backed up Trump in the 2016 election. Similar to the 2012 election, Obama won more votes among those who had a college degree. It is likely for more educated voters to vote for a Democratic candidate. Among white voters, college graduates supported Clinton over Trump by a 14 point margin. Seeing that a majority of white individuals with a college degree also leaned towards the democratic side shows education does have a large impact on party affiliation.
Development and research are now promoted especially in blue states. These states are viewed to be richer and better educated, considering these states conduct a lot of research. On the other hand, red states are no longer gaining, and this is due to education, because modern knowledge economies increase funds for education. The drivers of growth are science, education, and innovation, not low taxes, regulations and exploitation of natural resources. Many red states lack these factors and resort towards job growth, low taxes, and regulations. These factors are essentially what education provides for us, therefore getting a sense of how states are doing with these factors of education allows us to see why education is important. Red states seem to prioritize the economy in a short-term view opposed to blue states where we see education as more important for our future. We are not promoting research and development in states like these. This is why it is important for both Republicans and Democrats to value education so highly, it is important to visualize how education can be helpful in our future.
How College Has an Impact
College is the time where many individuals view’s shift. Whether it’s the vulnerability of change in a new situation or being exposed to different opinions. The influence of education has two explanations, students choose the area that best reflects their beliefs or they adopt beliefs.
In Newcomb's Bennington studies, students were becoming less conservative and more liberal over their time at Bennington College, this was the “effect of a college education.” Most of this research also found strong freshmen to senior changes in social liberalism. Some studies reported decreased liberalism among some students, but increases were more common. (Hastie) This was shows that education was negatively correlated with right-wing views. Religious values and beliefs associated with conservatism decreased over the years of higher education, except for those who attend religious colleges. Senior students and those with higher education have described themselves as more liberal, compared to freshmen. The time spent in college enables us to see how views have shifted.
In Brianne Hastie’s “Higher Education and Sociopolitical Orientation,” she argues that students views are more liberalized in college, which later supports why there were such drastic changes from freshman to senior year of college, with more seniors describing themselves as liberal. Students were being exposed to more liberal concepts and views, causing the liberalization of theirs. But what is causing this liberalization of views? It could be that education disregards a lot of religious aspects unless attending religious schools, but higher education definitely lacks right-wing beliefs. Hastie did mention that a possible explanation for this liberalization could be socialization considering she found more popular students to be more liberal. This could have a correlation to the liberalization if we are talking about informational and normative influence, considering that the more social, the more views you are exposed to through communication. It is not that liberals are more educated, but educated conservatives shift their beliefs and become more liberal.
Is College Hurting Our Economy?
College is often seen as a closer step to a career, well at least for most of us. Mark Grabowski argues that colleges are hurting our economy more than they are helping, he mentions that this is what Republicans are saying. He continues and begins to talk about a survey which showed results of whether universities are having a positive or negative effect on the way things are going for our country these days. The survey found that not a large percentage of Republicans found it to have a positive effect. Republicans who have not attended college or dropped out have more positive views than those who graduated, which shows that those who did graduate didn’t find it to be useful or necessary. This could be because colleges are not delivering what they promise. Or at least what people believe they promise, a job. Although I believe we all know this; we are not guaranteed a job right after graduating and perhaps this is why Republicans aren’t so fond of higher education. After all, only 27% of jobs require a degree. (Grabowski) As we now know due to conducted research, many conservatives believe higher education is not necessary, they are able to find jobs to support themselves without attending college. This could be the origin of why Republicans don’t prioritize higher education because they don’t guarantee jobs anyways. Why would you invest all this money into an education that doesn’t even support your views and doesn’t guarantee you a supporting career? It makes sense.
Republicans in College
A vital part of college life is learning from those who don’t agree with you. Currently, it is seen that there is an imbalance of liberal and conservative students in universities, and this is seen as bad for both sides. Both a committed conservative and one who believes in the value of higher education, Bobby Jindal writes on the lack of diversity in higher education. It is seen that there is certainly a tendency for individuals to change their political views during certain stages in life, and college is a significant stage. This is why more university students identify as liberal rather than conservative. University professors have become five times more likely to be liberal, compared to twice as likely, when Jindal went to college in the 1980’s. Students are also more likely to be more liberal, they also tend to become more liberal while in college. This liberal bias is bad for the universities, is what Jindal states. Majority of Republicans view higher education as a negative effect on our country. This growing division between liberal and conservative attitudes towards universities is seen as more harmful than differing views towards unions or banks. Bobby Jindal himself, changed his views in some areas during college. Which goes to show that college is indeed a vital time in which people’s views change.
Being in college enables you to pick up on other individual’s views. College being incredibly liberal affects the view’s of conservatives. Although this is a good thing overall because it allows for a pool of different beliefs, it does conclude in the lack of diversity at universities. The lack of diversity allows to understand how higher education influences political affiliation. If students are mostly liberal that affects the conservatives students views. This piece also allows me to make a connection with Arlie Hochschild’s “Strangers In their Own Land.” Many of the individuals that Hochschild interviewed did not receive higher education because they already had jobs working for companies in Louisiana. The south is also known for being very conservative, therefore, if they aren’t taking a part in higher education, universities will be more liberal. Furthermore, conservatives who don’t go to college miss this “stage” where they can interact with differing views.
Democrats in College
Economists, students, and parents believe higher education is the most promising for financial security and upward mobility, rather than pursuing job-related training. Edwin Lyngar’s “The Value of a College Education,” speaks from the point of view of someone who previously associated as conservative but higher education influenced his views and became more liberal. It wasn’t the education itself that made him more liberal, but rather, the environment, who had an influence on his views. Despise being a conservative in a liberal enviorment, people still went out of their way to be kind. It was things like this that made him more open to these new ideas and views he was being exposed to. Similar to the College Republicans club, if things were made easier perhaps students wouldn’t have put on events like the “Conservative Coming Out Day.”
Lyngar also came from an area where many though education wasn’t needed or wasn’t important, therefore he viewed it with suspicion because he grew up thinking those with degrees cutting in line for job promotions were the bad guys. Which is interesting, education seems to be crucial to getting a job, but in rural areas like where Lyngar is from, it is not viewed as important. The degree simply lets you cut everyone else in line. Going to school with this mindset must be a bit confusing, especially going to a school that emphasizes social justice and is seen as liberal. Due to attending 4 community colleges, a university on a military base, military journalism school and then returning to school for two masters, Lyngar views the right-side so differently now and has completely different views.. Higher education truly exposed Lyngar to different views and enabled his own views to shift. Whether this change was positive or negative it still goes to show how higher education has an impact on political affiliation.
The Importance of Education
Higher education always seemed like something I had to do. Growing up in a liberal area it was something that was prioritized, and seen as crucial for economic security and even our own and personal growth. It is clear to see why higher education is not always favored especially within the right side of the spectrum. Although, it is something that some don’t feel crucial it is still extremely important for our future. Many jobs don’t require a degree and a bachelor degree doesn’t guarantee upward mobility or career success. Vocational educational programs are also another route that leads into the job market without the need of a degree, which could be a possible alternative. Getting a post secondary education is an investment, it is not guaranteed whether you get a return on your investment, or often times graduates have trouble finding work and end up with jobs that don’t require college education. Half of all employment is also in so-called middle skill occupation which doesn’t require a four year degree. However, jobs that require no college level knowledge are vanishing. These lower skilled jobs, don’t grant access to health care, saving for their children’s education, or retirement, therefore these higher skilled jobs are preferable. (Billitteri) Lower skilled jobs are vanishing, which is the main reason as to why I believe higher education is so important. Although you don’t need a four-year degree to be economically secured, lower skilled jobs are getting more competitive and degrees will be necessary considering the competition within lower skilled jobs.