you like sarcasm? Terry Jones tadam!

Malacasta, are you enjoying this argument with your straw man? I hope you are.

I will try to put this in simple terms:

Anyone who claims to have knowledge of the American education system (particularly higher education) who also says it is not heavily biased to the left, either does not follow the news, does not actually have any experience with the American education system, is being deliberately obtuse, or some combination of the above. Deliberate contrariness or complete obliviousness are the only possible explanations.

The examples I gave were just examples. There are thousands upon thousands of similar stories. Anyone who has gone to college in the US probably has enough personal stories to fill a novel. If you failed to grasp the fact that it was Salimar's CONCLUSION that made it clear he/she was not well read rather than the specific examples I gave, that is on you, not me. The examples I gave are simply evidence of the left bias. The fact that Salimar claimed there was no such thing is what indicates her lack of understanding and knowledge on the matter.

Furthermore, since the issue was whether or not the American education system is left-biased, you might want to stay on that point rather than nitpicking the structure of a sentence that you misinterpreted.

If you persist in arguing against this straw man, you're going to be all alone.

Firstly let me address the question of whether most academics are liberal. The recent study Politics and Professional Advancement Among College Faculty asked the following questions of college professors.

Code:

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Table3. Responses of college professors attitude to items (%)

                                Strong        Smwhat        Smwhat        Strong        Don't
                                Agree        Agree        Disagr        Disagr        Know
Homosexual lifestyle as                44        23        17        14        2
acceptable as heterosexual

Woman's right to have                67        17        7        7        1
abortion

Accept extramarital                50        25        12        11        1
cohabitation

Government should                25        41        23        11        0
guarantee employment

Government should                38        34        17        10        0
reduce income gap

Protect environ despite                48        40        9        2        1
higher prices, fewer jobs

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This demonstrates that more academics are liberal than not. Further, the study also asked academics to self identify their political leaning and 72% self identified as liberal. The study also states that 18% of the General Public self identify as liberal, and 33% identify as conservative. This is compared to a 1984 study that found 39% of academics self identified as liberal and 34% as conservative.

I might comment here that the sample sizes and respondents of the two studies are rather different, so the different results between 1984 and 1999 might not be as pronounced as the study suggests. Regardless, it is quite clear that far more academics self identify as liberal than does the general public. So, since we have clearly established this, I'm left asking what the point of the current discussion on this thread is.

Are people suggesting that citing an academic source is no longer valid because academics are liberal?
Are people suggesting that liberal opinions are invalid because academics are liberal?
Are people suggesting that it is beholden upon posters to cite their sources, or that it's not?

To clarify my third question, I've seen just as many conservatives make baseless claims that they refuse to cite as liberals do on these boards (and just as frustrating is when both conservatives and liberals make valid claims which aren’t cited) which is why I ask.

To be honest, I'm rather tired of having to defend my every opinion with numerous cites when those I'm arguing against can rarely be bothered doing more than reference websites with pronounced conservative leanings such as worldnetdaily.com, anncoulter.org or townhall.com - if they can be bothered citing anything at all. I'm also sick of being treated with far less respect than I give to those I argue with.

For those reasons (and others) I'm bowing out of this thread and any other attempts at un-sourced red baiting - until I change my mind.

Mala.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Malacasta

Are people suggesting that it is beholden upon posters to cite their sources, or that it's not?

To clarify my third question, I've seen just as many conservatives make baseless claims that they refuse to cite as liberals do on these boards (and just as frustrating is when both conservatives and liberals make valid claims which aren’t cited) which is why I ask.

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Another straw man.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Malacasta

To be honest, I'm rather tired of having to defend my every opinion with numerous cites when those I'm arguing against can rarely be bothered doing more than reference websites with pronounced conservative leanings such as worldnetdaily.com, anncoulter.org or townhall.com - if they can be bothered citing anything at all. I'm also sick of being treated with far less respect than I give to those I argue with.

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Nice personal attack there. I have not seen anyone treat you with less respect than anyone else. Perhaps you preceive it thusly because you are not getting the responses you want when you argue against straw men.

Quote:

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Originally posted by Malacasta
For those reasons (and others) I'm bowing out of this thread and any other attempts at un-sourced red baiting - until I change my mind.

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Since for the last page you haven't even been discussing the same issue as the rest of us and have instead obsessed over the structure of a sentence, I'm not sure how much effect this will have on the discussion.

I do, however, appreciate you sharing the study that proves beyond a doubt that Acamdemia leans HEAVILY to the left. I've read that story before and appreciate you going out and finding it- as well as having the integrity to share it despite its findings.