LOS ANGELES — A recent study of leading American universities found that liberal professors outnumber their conservative colleagues nearly 12-to-1. Consequently, instead of having the opportunity to objectively explore different ideological opinions inside the classroom, students who attend public universities are constantly inundated with leftist thinking.
This study would come as no surprise to PragerU contributor Jay Stephens, who discusses her liberal arts education in PragerU’s newest video, How a Left-Wing College Made Me Conservative. “Everywhere I turned I saw political correctness,” recalls Stephens. “At first, I just rolled with it. Then, I got annoyed. Then, it started to tick me off. I was being brainwashed. Indoctrinated. And I was paying for the privilege with borrowed money.”
Stephens remembers beginning her east coast, liberal arts education excited to debate diverse viewpoints and expand her knowledge of the world. She was quickly disillusioned. Her classes consisted of professors presenting topics, like racism, inevitably blaming the white majority, and then brainstorming unrealistic solutions with the students. Additionally, the majority of speakers invited to the campus only offered leftist opinions, and those not politically oriented only presented topics useless to students’ educational growth.
To numb her frustrations toward the environment of political correctness and restricted thinking, Stephens got high almost daily. According to Stephens, this was a common outlet among her college peers—many of whom now hold influential jobs in politics and finance. “In fact, this is what made me first realize that I was a fan of limited government. I do not trust these goofs to make policy. Their power must be constrained,” Stephens quipped.
The worst part of Stephens’ experience was that she accumulated tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt for an education that provided her no marketable skills. Similar to many college students, Stephens ignorantly chose a major she found to be interesting—film and media studies and political science—but was ultimately impractical after graduation.
After she “was lucky enough to get her first job” and a paycheck after college, Stephens was shocked to discover how much money the government siphoned off the top.
“I can’t believe my peers and I spent so much time shaming conservatives for wanting to lower taxes,” says Stephens, who used to consider tax cuts ‘selfish.’ “I can spend my money much better than the politically correct stoners who are running the government can.”
Stephens supports financial aid for underprivileged college students who are smart, ambitious, and choose a major that can earn money after college. But, informed by her own college experience, she opposes the idea of universally free college, funded by raising taxes on the middle and upper classes.
“So, I guess, in a roundabout way, I did get something of value out of my expensive liberal arts education after all. Common sense.”
MEDIA NOTE: PragerU contributor, Jay Stephens is available for interview as is PragerU’s Founder, Dennis Prager and CEO, Marissa Streit.
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PragerU, founded by Dennis Prager in 2011, is a not-for-profit organization that helps millions understand the values that shaped America and provides millions of Americans and people around the world with the intellectual ammunition they need to advocate for limited government, individual responsibility and economic freedom. In 2016 alone, PragerU’s videos received over 250 million views, a figure that will eclipse 350 million in 2017. PragerU is a resource for all who value liberty. It is a threat to all those who do not.
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