Bermuda Post

Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

I just graduated from a British university. They’re broken

I just graduated from a British university. They’re broken

Higher education in the UK is not about broadening the mind, it is about indoctrination and ideological compliance that crushes intellectual development and debate. It needs shaking up, badly.
When the University of Austin was announced, my first thought was that the UK should follow America’s lead and launch its own anti-woke initiative.

The new institution, dedicated to the pursuit of truth and freedom of inquiry, was launched by founding president Pano Kanelos, which includes faculty members Ayaan Hirisi Ali, Bari Weiss and Kathleen Stock. This is exactly the sort of thing we need in Britain.

I know this because I have the dubious honour of being a recent graduate of Britain's universities, so I know how broken they are. When I went into higher education, I naively believed that my time at university would leave me with a fresh perspective on the world; how wrong I was. What I in fact found was an academic culture which cared about anything but finding the truth.

I pursued an undergraduate degree in international relations and a postgraduate degree in journalism in two different British universities. During my time in academia, I witnessed a broken system involving the intimidation of nonconformists, racial discrimination disguised as ‘diversity quotas’, and the ever impending threat of cancellation for wrong think.

It was evident to me that academic freedom was ceasing to exist. In fact as a student, I frequently feared expressing my genuine views, as I was once told during a lecture that “correct thought” was a greater priority than finding truth. This was when my disillusion with academia began in earnest.

British academics and students need to fight back if they want to see a cultural change, and I say this as a former student who has witnessed this broken system firsthand. This is why it is vital a strong legislative framework is built to protect academic freedom from the excesses of the cultural left.

British academics like Kathleen Stock have been hounded out of their jobs for having a politically incorrect view or for simply stating biological facts. This obsession with ‘emotional safety’ has long since taken over our educational institutions, throttling dissent in the process.

This is not surprising, considering our universities are trying to simultaneously enforce academic rigour and inclusivity; two incompatible values.

Whilst studying, I saw these values tragically clash at university. During a seminar I witnessed students work on a project, claiming that “gender was a social construct,” while another denied that biology was a factor when determining gender. Both fringe, progressive ideologies (at least, anywhere outside a university). I believed this view to be palpably absurd, but found myself compromising my principles to accommodate a militant minority of absurdly woke students. At the time, I wondered if other students felt the same, pressured into submission. I dismissed this as a trivial, isolated incident, but it was only about to get worse.

Later, during the height of BLM protests, I witnessed a number of students prepare a petition on the need to hire academics from more “diverse” backgrounds, despite their academic experience or even expertise – claiming that academia was “too white.”

Ultimately, they advocated enforced ‘diversity quotas’ which, ironically, would discriminate against academics due to their race. Merit or talent weren’t requirements in this world view, in fact it almost seemed they were obstacles to overcome in the name of this authoritarian activism. Liberal-left orthodoxy was the dominant ideological paradigm at university, and heterodox thinking would be met with immense hostility. Ensuring ideological compliance was the paramount concern of these institutions and I very quickly realised that in order to survive ‘cancellation’ and complete my education, I would have to censor my personal and political beliefs on campus.

Data reveals that self-censorship is an increasingly common phenomenon for many nonconformist students. A survey by Survation on behalf of ADF International, a faith-based legal advocacy organisation, found that more than a quarter of students ‘self-censor’ because they fear their views will clash with the ‘woke’ values promoted by their university.

As a student, I came to realise that academia rewarded political correctness and offered no room for critical thinking. What also became even more clear, was that our educational institutions were no longer a place for pioneering people who had new perspectives to offer. Even more depressingly, I witnessed little to no pushback against this totalitarian culture. In fact, it became routine to witness people being accused of being “harmful,” “offensive” and even “dangerous” for their views.

This is why we need action to uphold free speech rights and diversity of opinion. Launching new educational initiatives is a crucial first step towards fixing this shattered system, which only seems to be getting worse. It could also explain why UK universities “face crisis over loss of nation’s trust,” according to a paper published by Policy Exchange, a centre-right think tank.

What happens in education, spreads throughout society. Ideas and beliefs institutionalised by universities can swiftly make their way into the real world, just look at how many people have heard of critical race theory now compared to two years ago. This is why it is more important than ever to have a serious incentive to change higher education.

By the time I finished my degrees, I’d learnt nothing new; in fact the experience felt more like attending an indoctrination factory, which served only as an extension of a corporate workforce, and spat out a diploma at the end of it as confirmation of your compliance.

The subversion of universities has led to a view of the world based on grievance culture and leftist ideology which aims to indoctrinate people into victimhood, rather than teach them how to think independently.

Britain, more than ever, needs its own educational initiative, which is dedicated to academic freedom and rigorous intellectual discourse, for those disillusioned by this toxic climate.
Newsletter

Related Articles

Bermuda Post
0:00
0:00
Close
Paper straws found to contain long-lasting and potentially toxic chemicals - study
FTX's Bankman-Fried headed for jail after judge revokes bail
Blackrock gets half a trillion dollar deal to rebuild Ukraine
Steve Jobs' Son Launches Venture Capital Firm With $200 Million For Cancer Treatments
Israel: Unprecedented Civil Disobedience Looms as IDF Reservists Protest Judiciary Reform
Google reshuffles Assistant unit, lays off some staffers, to 'supercharge' products with A.I.
End of Viagra? FDA approved a gel against erectile dysfunction
UK sanctions Russians judges over dual British national Kara-Murza's trial
US restricts visa-free travel for Hungarian passport holders because of security concerns
America's First New Nuclear Reactor in Nearly Seven Years Begins Operations
Southeast Asia moves closer to economic unity with new regional payments system
Political leader from South Africa, Julius Malema, led violent racist chants at a massive rally on Saturday
Today Hunter Biden’s best friend and business associate, Devon Archer, testified that Joe Biden met in Georgetown with Russian Moscow Mayor's Wife Yelena Baturina who later paid Hunter Biden $3.5 million in so called “consulting fees”
Singapore Carries Out First Execution of a Woman in Two Decades Amid Capital Punishment Debate
Spanish Citizenship Granted to Iranian chess player who removed hijab
US Senate Republican Mitch McConnell freezes up, leaves press conference
Speaker McCarthy says the United States House of Representatives is getting ready to impeach Joe Biden.
San Francisco car crash
This camera man is a genius
3D ad in front of Burj Khalifa
Next level gaming
Google testing journalism AI. We are doing it already 2 years, and without Google biased propoganda and manipulated censorship
Unlike illegal imigrants coming by boats - US Citizens Will Need Visa To Travel To Europe in 2024
Musk announces Twitter name and logo change to X.com
'I just lost it' Lowe’s worker fired after 13 years of employment for confronting thieves trying to steal $2K of merchandise
The politician and the journalist lost control and started fighting on live broadcast.
The future of sports
Unveiling the Black Hole: The Mysterious Fate of EU's Aid to Ukraine
Farewell to a Music Titan: Tony Bennett, Renowned Jazz and Pop Vocalist, Passes Away at 96
Alarming Behavior Among Florida's Sharks Raises Concerns Over Possible Cocaine Exposure
Transgender Exclusion in Miss Italy Stirs Controversy Amidst Changing Global Beauty Pageant Landscape
Joe Biden admitted, in his own words, that he delivered what he promised in exchange for the $10 million bribe he received from the Ukraine Oil Company.
TikTok Takes On Spotify And Apple, Launches Own Music Service
Global Trend: Using Anti-Fake News Laws as Censorship Tools - A Deep Dive into Tunisia's Scenario
Arresting Putin During South African Visit Would Equate to War Declaration, Asserts President Ramaphosa
Hacktivist Collective Anonymous Launches 'Project Disclosure' to Unearth Information on UFOs and ETIs
Typo sends millions of US military emails to Russian ally Mali
Server Arrested For Theft After Refusing To Pay A Table's $100 Restaurant Bill When They Dined & Dashed
The Changing Face of Europe: How Mass Migration is Reshaping the Political Landscape
China Urges EU to Clarify Strategic Partnership Amid Trade Tensions
Europe is boiling: Extreme Weather Conditions Prevail Across the Continent
The Last Pour: Anchor Brewing, America's Pioneer Craft Brewer, Closes After 127 Years
Democracy not: EU's Digital Commissioner Considers Shutting Down Social Media Platforms Amid Social Unrest
Sarah Silverman and Renowned Authors Lodge Copyright Infringement Case Against OpenAI and Meta
Italian Court's Controversial Ruling on Sexual Harassment Ignites Uproar
Why Do Tech Executives Support Kennedy Jr.?
The New York Times Announces Closure of its Sports Section in Favor of The Athletic
BBC Anchor Huw Edwards Hospitalized Amid Child Sex Abuse Allegations, Family Confirms
Florida Attorney General requests Meta CEO's testimony on company's platforms' alleged facilitation of illicit activities
The Distorted Mirror of actual approval ratings: Examining the True Threat to Democracy Beyond the Persona of Putin
×