Last summer, my essay for Dissident Prof
prompted a challenge from Julie Ponzi, who suggested I write a brief essay with
proposals of what to change about academia. I waited several months, and
now I have my proposals. I mentioned most of these in Wackos Thugs
& Perverts: Clintonian Decadence in Academia, which I
published with MassResistance in February 2017. They are also in earlier
writings such as Colorful Conservative.
My plan involves a sixfold apocalypse. Yes, apocalypse.
The best starting point is total depravity. Higher education
as we know it is indefensible. It presumes a false model of human
development. People between the ages of eighteen and twenty-two cannot be
trusted moving to a campus away from their parents, protected from any real
consequences for stupid decisions, and taught random concepts by a
professoriate anesthetized by the tenure system.
In reality, these four years of human development should be spent
in conditions closer to basic combat training: they need physical
regimentation. Swift punishments must impress upon them the costs of
behaving foolishly. Their sexuality needs to be heavily circumscribed.
Between eighteen and twenty-two, women need to be closely protected from
rape. Men need guidance to transform themselves from impulsive sex
maniacs into responsible providers and decent fathers.
The wasteful use of young adulthood for 40% of the American adult
population is catastrophic. Overpriced tuitions force a large chunk of
family savings into an inefficient economic sector ("higher
education"), meaning that their money cannot go into productive
industries. Youths are not being trained for citizenship. Instead
of courting, marrying, and starting families in their prime, they accustom
themselves to promiscuity, irresponsible thrills, and single lives burdened
with debt. They have late – and few – children, whom they are ill
equipped to raise.
In certain contexts, it is wise to burn the edges of a dry forest
rather than let a wildfire rage at a time and in a manner out of our control.
I suggest the following concrete steps, via congressional action.
Cut all federal financial favors to colleges
that do not adhere to a strict, revised standard for higher education and its
obligation to the public good. By "favors," we mean direct
subsidies plus tax exemptions and deductions (such as on endowments, gifts, and
waivers), as well as any backing of student loans at rates below market
interest. These remaining favors would all hinge upon their suitability
to "the public good." Accreditation for new programs must be
streamlined. They must favor all of society rather than one institution,
one individual, or one class of people. Here would be the conditions:
1. An associate's degree or certificate precedes a bachelor's
degree. In other words, nobody can enroll in a liberal arts program
without first doing one to two years learning a practical trade. By
"trade" we mean plumbing, bookkeeping, culinary arts, sewing,
computer repair, etc. I count church ministries in this, which would
cover seminaries.
2. No non-religious post-secondary institution should have any
department or program that excludes a political perspective. There should
not be feminist studies, queer studies, ethnic studies, or sustainability
studies. Title IX went haywire because gender studies faculty acted as
investigators and faculty simultaneously – an example of how an entire campus
is damaged by the existence of these departments. Such material should be
taught within generally accepted disciplines like English, biology, political
science, etc.
3. Congress needs to earmark funds for a unit under the Department
of Justice devoted to an academic version of RICO (the Racketeering,
Influencing & Corrupt Organizations Act). An institution claiming to
be for the public good should not strive to influence an election – especially
with the potential to profit financially from the favors of the elected officials.
For instance, the dean who took many adverse actions against me was part
of the Clinton Global Initiative. This is a serious conflict of interest
and should be investigated.
4. Congress needs to earmark funds for a unit under the Department
of Labor to review schools that receive federal favors. The peer review,
publishing, retention, and promotion system within higher education is arguably
the worst of any industry. Schools that receive federal favors should not
violate basic transparency and fairness standards.
5. No schools that receive federal funding should have tenure.
Tenure does not protect academic freedom. Tenured faculty know they
will be parked in the same institution for decades and are by far the people
least willing to jeopardize collegial relationships in order to take a stand.
The tenure system can exist only on the backs of adjunct labor, whose
conditions are atrocious. Tenured faculty waste resources teaching few
students and spending too much time on "research." Their
"service" refers to busywork on committees nobody needs. Nobody
should be a professor if he cannot carry out research and teach a normal load
of four classes per semester. So colleges choose: eliminate tenure or
lose funds.
6. Colleges that charge expensive tuitions should be deprived of
federal favors. They should be taxed at the rates we apply to any rich
corporation. Many schools simultaneously charge high tuitions, have huge
endowments, and then get large grants, all the while maintaining a tiny rank of
tenured faculty and loading up their classrooms with adjuncts. This has
to stop. It hurts learning and scholarship. There must be a
massive trimming of school budgets. Personally, I contend that
there should be no dormitories, student associations, duplicative student
services, investigative offices, compliance officers, cultural programs, or
anything that adds to tuition or fees. Colleges should be buildings where
people come to take classes and study, then go back to their communities where
they continue their emotional development with the help of their families,
churches, jobs, and neighborhood friends.
Could these six ideas ever come to pass? Yes!
They will come to pass, but in one of two ways.
Either we carry out the bloodletting under careful, clean conditions or
else, when academia crashes, wow, will it crash.
