College "dumbs you down"

I came across this viewing a friend’s facebook and I couldn’t help getting all in a hissy over it.




Let me see if I am following this correctly...if going to college makes you liberal, then not going to college makes you conservative. Therefore, if you are educated you are liberal, if you are uneducated you are conservative.

So wait, why is the conservative Fox News network broadcasting this?! (Probably because they have a bunch of high school only educated people running the show… like Glen Beck)

Enough bashing on the poor slob named Ben Schmeck…or whoever. College creates an environment of open mindedness and critical thinking. You are taught worldviews, not just hometown views. College allows people to explore beyond their comfort zones enabling them to stumble upon revelations they may not have encountered without the appropriate stimulation. But why are people in this day and age still regarding education as evil (or being liberal as evil for that matter)?

I’m also a little confused as to why the stat of 36% of college students being unable to name the three branches of government serves any relevance (other than being downright sad that if you live in a country you don’t know the basics of its government) or the question on an American’s guaranteed rights under the first amendment. Did the people performing the study ask high school graduates only the same question and see how many of them got it right? Perhaps, but regardless it would undermine the intent of Fox’s report on the study.

I also chuckled at the fact that they didn’t take the time to look over the researchers methodology for the survey, but they sure pulled the numbers 36% and 18% right from it. And if these guys knew shit from beans, they would realize that there is never anything that is straightforward about a scientific study. Methodology is everything! One screw up or miss worded question and you have thrown all your work and research out the window. What kinds of students were interviewed? All American born? 100 from every school in the college? 100 students from different colleges? All in one state, or from every state? Associates or Bachelors degrees? So many flaws and biases are possible in a study such as this one! Even if the study is legit and balanced, not everyone spends their class time studying government. Although a question about the 3 branches of our government maybe second nature to these people, I’ll be willing to bet they don’t know the first thing about a normal range in blood pressure or how to administer CPR to an infant. Those things are common sense to me now, but I don’t expect every Joe Blow on the street to know it.

I am a college student.
I am educated.
And I am most certainly a liberal.

…I guess the study does hold some weight.