No, not the imaginary right-wing assault designed to silence all professors except those who agree with President Bush about everything. No, this is the assault by the radical feminists who want to use federal government power to bring “balance” to the faculty ranks in science, math, and technology. Allison Kasic has an excellent column on the subject today.
As she points out, the assumption that the predominance of men in those fields can only be due to discrimination against women is not challenged. Just as it’s unthinkable to question the assumptions of the environmentalists, so is it unthinkable to question the assumptions of the feminists.
A challenge is in order, though, for anyone who is willing to engage in a bit of critical thinking. After all, the higher ed establishment is constantly telling us that “critical thinking” is what they teach students.
I commented on this last week and will stick with my challenge. Unless someone can come up with a convincing explanation for the alleged irrationality of men at the top of science — abandoning life-long habits of evaluating things on their merits and foolishly keeping out talented women out of gender bias — don’t bother talking about this “issue.”