Want sanity on campus? Teach students to think

SIGN UP FOR THE DAILY JWR UPDATE. IT'S FREE. (AND NO SPAM!) Just click here.

The antisemitic and sometimes violent protests over the Israel-Hamas war that have swept more than 80 colleges and universities throughout the country shouldn't be a surprise. 

They are the capstone of the multicultural and moral relativist agenda pushed in higher education in America over the past half century or more. 

Institutions of higher education tossed aside freedom of thought and the pursuit of truth decades ago for the more trendy, inclusive belief that there are many truths. With it went the requirement for critical thinking. 

But higher education is failing democracy and the students it is supposed to serve by teaching equality means tolerating everyone's opinion — regardless of whether it's based on faulty reasoning.

Sixty-five percent of students are very supportive or somewhat supportive of the protests happening on college campuses and more than one-third of protest supporters are in favor of the use of violence and hate speech, according to an Intelligent.com survey released Tuesday on the protests.

These institutions have become afraid of their students, worried to be labeled intolerant. Yet they increasingly present one progressive viewpoint in higher education and dismiss — or intimidate — those who hold others.

One quick Socratic session among some of these protesters could theoretically mend ties. But that would require self-awareness and critical thinking on the part of all stakeholders.

Consider one student who has been on a hunger strike for Gaza at Princeton University. She said Wednesday on social media she is, unsurprisingly, "starving." 

"This is absolutely unfair," she said, standing among other students starving themselves. "I am quite literally shaking as you can clearly see. We are both cold and hot at the same time. We are all immunocompromised. And based on the university's meeting yesterday with some of our bargaining team, they would love to continue physically weakening us because they can't stand to say no to unjust murder."

Meals are readily available on Princeton's campus or nearby. What is unfair about the fact no one has come to put food — that she would presumably resist — in her mouth? 

"This is my choice," she continues.

Ok, then eat something. Explaining this to a kid would be simple. I do it with my children frequently. 

It goes like this: "No, Susie. We make dinner for you every night. If you choose not to eat it and go to bed saying you're hungry, it's your responsibility to eat the food on your plate, ok?"

What these protesters lack in critical thinking or intelligence they make up for with petulance to the point of inciting violence — another hypocritical feature of the encampments. While decrying hate and intolerance, they exemplify those very attributes, specifically toward Jews.

Lazy thinking is not all. By fostering passion without logic, these institutions have enabled a strain of narcissism, too.

"I truly do not feel like I am doing anything special," the student said, while noting, "I would not spend my birthday doing anything other than being here."

What magnanimity under such physical duress.

These hunger strikers know Princeton can't meet their demands to end "unjust murder" in Gaza or direct national diplomacy. And no universities have capitulated to calls to divest from companies with ties to Israel.

But that doesn't stop them from refocusing attention on themselves and bemoaning their own choice to starve.

Believing these protests are a fluke would be a mistake. They are the fruit of moral wobbling and the indulgence of extremism in higher education. If university leaders want different outcomes, they need better inputs. 

(COMMENT, BELOW)

Kaitlyn Buss is assistant editorial page editor at The Detroit News.

Previously:
• Sanitizing abortion doesn't make it pro-growth