Earlier this week Pew Research revealed astonishing poll results. While 72 percent of Democrat or Democrat-leaning respondents believe colleges and universities have a positive effect on society, 58 percent of their right-leaning peers expressed negative views. That is, most Republicans or Republican-leaning people in the United States think colleges and universities are harmful.
The big surprise, however, is how rapidly conservative animus toward higher ed is growing. Just two years ago, that very same poll most Republicans, 54 percent, held positive views of higher ed. That’s an almost complete inversion in two years. How do we make sense of this information?
Naturally, lots of my liberal friends were eager to share this finding on social media. It fits a storyline that flatters us liberals. We like to believe we’re smarter than “they” are.
I don’t think that explanation carries much water. Instead, as a former Southern Baptist and Republican voter, I think things require far deeper analysis. I’m no expert on this, but in my experience conservatives are ambivalent about higher education. Their negative disposition toward universities has multiple sources, which don’t necessarily align with one another.
Let’s begin at the family level. By far, most conservatives want the best educations possible for their kids. This shows up in different ways depending on factors like religion, wealth, and place of residence. Conservatives tend to seek homes in strong public school districts, especially in the suburbs. Alternatively, they tend to populate elite private schools. Education is opportunity, and conservatives know this. They want their kids to get a university education that brings big social and economic advantages.
At the same time, conservative activists promote what I’d call counter-education. For secular reasons conservatives build their own think tanks and educational centers to promote free market ideology. For example, a $1.5 million Charles Koch gift authorizes Koch representatives to approve or rule out selected faculty appointments in Florida State University’s economics department. George Mason University’s Mercatus Center has similar origins and aims, as do centers at Clemson and West Virginia. In all, over 150 such centers populate the higher education system.
Religion also plays an even larger role in conservative counter-education, as a high percentage of American conservatives are also conservative Christians. These believers are still living the old fundamentalist-modernist controversies. They tend to build their own educational institutions: private Christian academies, Bible colleges, and ambitious colleges and universities. Conservative economic and political theories hold a legitimate place in higher education, but opposition to evolution and biblical inerrancy do not. This shadow education system exists to create credentials for conservative young people while protecting them from ideas that will undermine their religious ideologies – ideas basic to fields like biology, medicine, and history.
Finally, there’s the historical relationship between higher education and progressive politics. When Donald Trump says “Make America Great Again,” he’s referring to an idealized moment in the past. He never names when that moment was or what made it so great, but it seems to exclude feminism, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Vietnam protests – all of which included heavy doses of student activism, backed to a lesser degree by faculty support.
Universities have traditionally been centers of protest and innovation. In many ways the conservative movement is a reaction against the 1960s, which saw student unrest not only in the United States but also in France, Mexico, Italy, Northern Ireland, and even in the Soviet bloc. But it’s hardly a modern thing. Martin Luther was a university professor, wasn’t he? The recognition that critical thinking might undermine conservative politics might explain why Texas Republicans have opposed teaching critical thinking skills. Critical education has “the purpose of challenging the student’s fixed beliefs.”
Conservatives often note that most university faculty members vote Democrat. Political scientist Larry Sabato has observed, “Most GOP elected officials believe that universities are hotbeds of Democratic support—and the voting patterns in most college precincts support this.” Conservatives disapprove of higher education in part because of its association with progressive politics.
The political outcomes are predictable. Wisconsin cut $250 million dollars from higher ed as Governor Scott Walker prepared for a presidential run, opposing tenure for university faculty at the same time. An Iowa Republican sponsored a bill requiring political balance on state university faculties. If that idea sounds crazy, it comes from the conservative American Legislative Executive Council, or ALEC. In 2008, Louisiana sponsored 60 percent of university expenses; under Governor Bobby Jindal, that figure declined to 25 percent.
The conservative ambivalence toward higher education is multi-faceted. Most conservatives want their kids to acquire the best education possible – except for some Christians who believe women should stay at home, submissive to their husbands. But conservatives also want to control what’s taught in colleges. And evangelicals want to protect young people from ideas that threaten their theology. Moreover, some conservative attacks on higher education are pure political moves, undermining institutions that house lots of Democratic voters.
It’s a complicated picture, yet here we are. It’s hard to imagine a greater social divide that one in which a large chunk of the population regards colleges and universities as a negative influence. Offer those conservatives a Stanford degree, though, and see if they turn it down.