Gene Edward Veith has posted a thoughful article about what motivates some who teach at the university level. The comments, written by the late professor, Richard Rorty, are chilling.
The fundamentalist parents of our fundamentalist students think that the entire ‘American liberal establishment’ is engaged in a conspiracy. The parents have a point. Their point is that we liberal teachers no more feel in a symmetrical communication situation when we talk with bigots than do kindergarten teachers talking with their students ...So we are going to go right on trying to discredit you in the eyes of your children, trying to strip your fundamentalist religious community of dignity, trying to make your views seem silly rather than discussable. We are not so inclusivist as to tolerate intolerance such as yours . . .
One could argue that the same thing has been happening in public K-12 schools over the past few decades, though parental involvement sometimes keeps it in check.
You can read the rest of the post here. At a minimum Christian parents ought to carefully consider Rorty's comments -- not just for the sake of their 18 year old whose off to a state university but also for younger children who are being exposed to the same worldview in local, public schools.
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