Many college professors favor progressive policies, and a number of them don’t hesitate to use the classroom to push their views. For evidence of why this is, people usually point to political registration where Democrats heavily outnumber Republicans.
Is this the best evidence, though? In today’s Martin Center article, Professor James Shuls discusses his research that uses AI.
He writes:
In a recent study, Schools of Thought: Using AI to Assess the Ideological Orientation of Academic Departments, I attempt to address this limitation by utilizing A.I. to evaluate the research and writing of scholars. After all, every scholar should have a publication record.
Shuls wanted to see if his method could discern an overall political orientation in a department — is there open discussion of varying points of view, or a single point of view?
What he found was that at many departments, there was a dominant point of view, hostile to conservative, libertarian, classical liberal perspectives. On the other hand, Shuls found that the new schools of civics are more balanced:
While it is interesting to consider whether civic centers are helping to bring balance to the academy, one thing is readily apparent — they are approaching issues in ways not done in most traditional academic departments. Moreover, they appear to be more open to disagreement than traditional academic departments. They prize “Engagement with Western/classical traditions,” and “Excellence and merit over equity.” As the statement of principle for one civic center read, “Deep engagement with the history of political thought, classical and American founding texts, and interpretive methods as the primary scholarly mode.”
This will help students make good choices. Those who want an actual education rather than reinforcement of their beliefs will know where not to go.