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<p>POLITICALLY CORRECT THINKING AND STATE EDUCATION</p>
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<p>By RICHARD M. EBELING</p>
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<p>You may recall seeing the December 24, 1990, issue of Newsweek
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on the newsstands. The cover had a granite wall with raised
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lettering, spelling out the words, "Thought Police." If you
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read the article, you learned about something called
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"politically correct thinking."</p>
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<p>A growing number of institutions of higher learning around the
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country have been establishing new and stringent linguistic
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and behavioral guidelines for their students and faculties.
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All words and actions that may in any way be interpreted to
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contain racial, sexist or homosexual slurs carry increasingly
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severe penalties. For students, it can mean anything from a
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financial fine to expulsion from the school. For faculty, it
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can mean grounds for dismissal, denial of tenure or lack of
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promotion.</p>
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<p>From the Newsweek article, the innocent and uninformed reader
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would have gained the impression that this new form of thought
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police was merely the temporary, if irritating, excesses of a
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few campus administrators, faculty members and students trying
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to redress the racist and sexist insensitivities of the past.</p>
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<p>Even the discussion in the article about the often dramatic
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changes being introduced into core liberal arts curricula at
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these institutions was made to seem as merely the movement
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towards a more pluralistic view of man, society and culture.
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The dominant focus in liberal arts education on Western
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culture and tradition will now be modified. Other cultures,
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other world philosophies, other conceptions of man and
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community will be presented on an equal footing with the
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European and American contributions to the human heritage.</p>
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<p>And what about the "thought policemen"? Newsweek ended the
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topic with an article by a young man who had been a thought
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policeman at one of these campuses. He assured the readers
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that he and others were merely trying to raise the
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consciousness of their fellow students so that they would be
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more aware of the "oppressiveness" of traditional language.
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What if students were not interested in attending the
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"reeducation" programs on campus? The author said, "Attendance
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wasn't mandatory, but did we know who wouldn't show? You bet."</p>
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<p>Contrary to the general impression that Newsweek conveyed, the
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movement for "politically correct thinking" is potentially one
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of the most dangerous intellectual currents in American
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academia today. Some of the recent books that explain what its
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proponents are all about include Destructive Generation by
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David Horowitz and Peter Collier, Tenured Radicals by Roger
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Kimball, and The Hollow Men by Charles Sykes.</p>
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<p>What is the world-view of these advocates of "politically
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correct thinking"? In an excellent article entitled, "The
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Storm over the University," which appeared in the December 6,
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1990, issue of The New York Review of Books, the well-known
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philosopher John Searle gave a succinct summary:</p>
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<p> "The history of 'Western Civilization' is in large
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part a history of oppression. Internally, Western
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civilization oppressed women, various slave and serf
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populations, and ethnic and cultural minorities
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generally. In foreign affairs, the history of Western
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civilization is one of imperialism and colonialism. The
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so-called canon of Western civilization consists in the
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official publications of this system of oppression, and
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it is no accident that the authors in the 'canon' are
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almost exclusively Western white males, because the
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civilization itself is ruled by a caste consisting almost
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entirely of Western white males."</p>
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<p>As the authors to whom I have referred demonstrate, many of
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the proponents of "politically correct thinking" in American
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academia are refugees and exiles from the leftist political
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causes of the 1960s--for example, they who resisted American
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intervention in Vietnam because they supported socialist
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revolution in the Third World. They protested against "the
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establishment" at home because they hated capitalism and saw
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themselves as the vanguard of a coming "people's democracy"
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that would replace the existing "fascist Amerika"; and because
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they hated the "commercial society" and resented the
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"oppression" of market relationships.</p>
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<p>Unable to win their war in the streets or in the political
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world, they retreated into the halls of ivy, which they now
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increasingly dominate. Everything they dislike is the product
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of "white capitalist power." Everything they cherish is found
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in the non-market communalism and collectivism of the Third
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World.</p>
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<p>They use all the standard Marxian ideological and linguistic
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tricks. Language has no inherent objective meaning; words are
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tools of "class," "race" and "sexual" exploitation. Truth is
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not merely difficult to discover; it, in fact, does not exist.
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The claim that there are universal truths about man, society
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and nature--truths that are valid for all people in all
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places at all times--are philosophical tricks used by the
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"ruling class" to get the masses to accept their inferior
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stations in life and view their oppression and exploitation as
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both inevitable and necessary.</p>
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<p>Even to think or speak in terms of individuals and individual
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rights is considered suspect; any person who does so is either
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the victim of or the apologist for the male, capitalist
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exploiting class. The rulers wish to deceive us into thinking
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about ourselves as "mere individuals" so they can hide from
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view the race, sex and class relationships that are the actual
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foundations of the existing social order.</p>
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<p>The perversity of this view, of course, is that Western
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civilization has, in fact, been the most liberating cultural
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force in human history. It was ancient Judaism that told
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earthly rulers that there is a Higher Law and a Higher
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Morality than any man can create; and every man, as a creation
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of God, has recourse to that Higher Law and Morality against
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the tyranny of worldly rulers. It was Christianity that taught
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that every man is unique and precious in the eyes of God; that
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no worldly ruler may set himself between the individual and
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his relationship to God. Thus, Judaism and Christianity laid
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the foundation for our modern principles of individual freedom
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of thought and action.</p>
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<p>From the ancient Greeks, Western man gained his appreciation
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of and confidence in the power of his reason to understand and
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master the forces of nature. And from the Romans have come our
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tradition of natural law and the rule of law.</p>
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<p>It is modern capitalism that has created the moral order of
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voluntary and peaceful relationships among men. It is the
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market economy that has generated the prosperity and
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opportunities that are liberating both the body and spirit of
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increasingly larger numbers of human beings of all races and
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religions around the globe.</p>
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<p>In terms of freedom, prosperity and the promotion of human
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dignity, Western civilization wins hands down against every
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other civilization in human history. This is precisely why the
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proponents of "politically correct thinking" wish to banish
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open discourse and cross-cultural ethical and philosophical
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comparison. Only by denying that such comparisons are
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possible, and only by impugning the motives of those who
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oppose them can they win--in other words, a victory through
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intellectual sleight of hand.</p>
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<p>What about the opponents of "politically correct thinking"?
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Their arguments are usually sound and their defense of Western
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culture meritorious. But their strategy, in my opinion, is
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wrong. They hope to defeat the "cultural leftists" of academia
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through appeals to the constitutional right of "freedom of
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speech" or through political counterattacks in the university
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structure designed to recapture the halls of ivy.</p>
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<p>While the ideologues of "politically correct thinking" are not
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limited to state-run universities, as Charles Sykes' expose of
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Dartmouth College revealingly demonstrates, it is there that
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the battle needs to be fought and won.</p>
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<p>But the answer is not to capture the state universities for
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"the Right." Rather the answer is to defeat the cultural
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leftists by denying them the source of their power: the
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socialist educational system. State universities dominate
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higher education in the United States. And what government
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does not control directly, it indirectly controls and
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manipulates through the regulations that come with government
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grants and scholarships to nominally private schools. (My
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employer, Hillsdale College, is practically the only
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institution of higher learning in America that takes no
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government money in any form and, as a result, is totally
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independent of government control.)</p>
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<p>Eliminate government-provided and subsidized education, and
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these economically privileged and politically protected
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islands of philosophical collectivism will be forced to fight
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for their financial support in a marketplace of ideas. It
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would be a marketplace in which they would have to persuade
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the consumers of education that what they have for sale is
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actually worth the price of admission. The cultural leftists
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would no longer have their ideas subsidized by the general
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taxpaying public. They would no longer have a protected corner
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of the intellectual market through their special-interest
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influence on the socialized educational process.</p>
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<p>Parents and students who desired an education inspired and
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policed by "politically correct thinking" would be asked to
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pay for the opportunity. Those who preferred a traditional
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liberal arts education emphasizing the Western heritage would
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be asked to do the same. The entire controversy would be
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diffused because it would be depoliticized through the
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privatization of education. And in a real marketplace of
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ideas, I personally have little doubt about which of the
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intellectual alternatives would tend to capture the largest
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free-market share.</p>
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<p>Professor Ebeling is the Ludwig von Mises Professor of
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Economics at Hillsdale College, Hillsdale, Michigan, and also
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serves as vice-president of academic affairs for The Future of
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Freedom Foundation, P.O. Box 9752, Denver, CO 80209.</p>
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<p>------------------------------------------------------------
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From the April 1991 issue of FREEDOM DAILY,
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Copyright (c) 1991, The Future of Freedom Foundation,
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PO Box 9752, Denver, Colorado 80209, 303-777-3588.
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Permission granted to reprint; please give appropriate credit
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and send one copy of reprinted material to the Foundation.
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</p>
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</div>
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