Well, I have seen my old university in the national news about stories unrelated to their success on the football field in the past few months. The first related to a discussion on gender which ended up creating a controversy that got the professor fired and the president of the university ‘s forced resignation. Just recently the Board of Trustees directed there should be no discussion of hot button cultural issues without prior permission of the administration.
During my years there, a lot of the classmates came from conservative rural areas yet there were discussions of President Franklin Rosevelt’s New Deal which dramatically increased social spending, how slavery and segregation in the South had impacted the economy of the state. The economic difference between democracy and communism along with the beginning of the conversion of the state from Democrat to Republican were topics of professors. I came to realize how little I knew about any of these subjects and yet it sparked an interest in economics and history that has continued.
I have always thought education was not about what you already knew but considering the possibilities for what you did not know. Out of hearing the differences in opinions and why different people saw different sides of the same issue along with the result of those historical decisions, a person can begin to form their own viewpoint of the current day. Otherwise, you must rely on others to make your opinions for you. When it comes to differences of opinion though, I try to never lose a friend as at my age I don’t have an excess left.
