Isegoria

Kids are learning Marcusian rhetorical tricks before they even get to college, Jonathan Haidt notes:

Jonathan Haidt: Yes, that’s right. Even much of the gender gap in STEM fields appears to result from differences of enjoyment – boys and girls are not very different on ability, but they’re hugely different in what they enjoy doing. Anyone who has a son and a daughter knows that. But if you even just try to say this, it will be regarded as so hurtful, so offensive. You can get in big trouble for it. And that’s what actually showed up in the article I have online where I gave a talk at a school on the West Coast, and a student was insisting that there’s such massive institutional sexism, and she pointed to the STEM fields as evidence of sexism….

John Leo:: Is this the talk you gave at a high school you called “Centerville”?

Jonathan Haidt: Yes, “Centerville High.” That’s right. That’s exactly what this was about.

John Leo:: Where the girl stood up after your talk and said, “So you think rape is OK?”

Jonathan Haidt: Yes, that’s right. It’s this Marcusian rhetorical trick. You don’t engage the person’s arguments. You say things that discredit them as a racist or a sexist.

John Leo:: How do they learn that? The young don’t read Herbert Marcuse.

Jonathan Haidt: I don’t know whether they get it from one another in junior high school or whether they’re learning it in diversity training classes. I don’t know whether they’re modeling it from their professors. I do believe it’s in place by the time they arrive in college. And colleges are teaching this. Now, some colleges are much, much worse than others. We know from various things we’ve read and posted on our site, that liberal arts colleges — especially the women’s schools — are by far the worst.

John Leo:: Women’s schools are worse?

Jonathan Haidt: Nobody should send their child to a women’s school any more. And that’s especially true if you’re progressive. The last thing you want is for your progressive daughter to be raised in this bullying monoculture, and to become a self-righteous bully herself.

John Leo:: Well, that’s one of the things I learned from your site. I kept debating with friends whether the closed mind, all the PC and the yen for censorship were there before they arrive at freshman orientation. But I hadn’t see it written about until Heterodox Academy came along.

Jonathan Haidt: I wouldn’t say the game is over by the time they reach college. I would just say, they’re, they’re already enculturated. But that doesn’t mean they can’t change. Kids are very malleable. Kids are anti-fragile. I would say there’s some research suggesting that by the time you’re thirty, your frontal cortex is set. So after thirty, I don’t think you can change. But at eighteen, I think you still can. So my hope is that universities will be forced to declare their sacred value. I hope we can split them off into different kinds of institutions–you know, Brown and Amherst can devote themselves to social justice. Chicago is my main hope. The University of Chicago might be able to devote itself to truth. They already have this fantastic statement on free speech, making very clear that it is not the job of the university to take sides in any of these matters. The university simply provides a platform.

John Leo:: Yes, that’s just one university though.

Jonathan Haidt: But that’s fine. As long as you have an alternate model, then other universities can copy it. But more importantly is this — here’s the one reason for hope — almost all Americans are disgusted by what’s happened to the universities.

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