Confidence in American higher education has seemingly hit rock bottom. Americans on both the right and the left share many common concerns. The cost of education has never been higher, and the perceived return on investment has never been more in question. It seems like every month another school closes its doors, leading to uncertainty about the entire sector. A growing chorus is sounding the alarm against the impact of sports betting on college students, especially as some major universities ink deals with gambling companies to generate additional revenue in the age of NIL (Name, Image, and Likeness) contracts and the transfer portal. Meanwhile, everyone is wondering how artificial intelligence will impact higher education.
Other concerns are unique to conservatives, including many Christians. Conservatives are rightly frustrated with the combination of progressive ideology and illiberal gatekeeping that dominates academia. Critical theories, intersectionality, DEI, and transgressive sexualities were all advocated in university classrooms for decades before they entered into public discourse in the late 2010s. The left-wing echo-chamber that characterizes so many schools represents the bitter fruit of the “tenured radicals” who have controlled higher education since the 1960s.
A common complaint on the right is that campus free speech seems attuned to the progressive “thee” but is rarely afforded to the conservative “me.” This was especially evident when elite university presidents refused to unequivocally denounce anti-Semitic students and their faculty enablers following the barbaric attack on Israel by Hamas on Oct.7, 2023. Left-wing students were exercising free speech when they chanted “from the river to the sea,” but conservative students were guilty of hate speech when they argued that transgenderism is self-mutilation or that homosexual “marriage” is contrary to nature and authentic human flourishing.
It should come as no surprise that conservatives have increasingly questioned whether a four-year college degree is really worth it. Isn’t it better to enter the workforce right out of high school, or perhaps seek alternative forms of academic credentialling, rather than committing valuable time and financial resources to a college education? Four years in college seem at least as likely to lead to progressive indoctrination as a robust education, let alone gainful employment and upward mobility following graduation. This critical posture has fueled the growing influence of the late Charlie Kirk and Turning Point USA, the non-profit he founded in 2012, among Generation Z and their parents.
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Nathan is a professor of faith and culture and directs the Institute for Faith and Culture at North Greenville University in Tigerville, S.C. He is the senior fellow for religious liberty for the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, is a senior fellow for the Land Center for Cultural Engagement, and is a senior editor for Integration: A Journal of Faith and Learning. He also serves as teaching pastor at the First Baptist Church of Taylors, S.C.