Which is why it’s more important than ever for an education to be something more than a mere stepping stone to some mediocre job. It is about becoming an well-rounded, articulate, critical-thinking individual. A diverse array of skills (both intellectual and social) are necessary to be competitive. Focus merely on getting the degree with minimal effort isn’t going to cut it.
I am college professor, at a largish, public university. Most of my colleagues are left of President Bush, definitely, but surpassingly few of them ever inject their personal political views into the classroom. I certainly don’t, and would consider doing so to be quite unprofessional. People are free to do what they want, in the name of academic freedom, but I see no evidence that leftist indoctrination is in any way a problem in my university, nor in any with which I have been acquainted.
The reasons why many professors and others object to this sort of spy organization are quite clear. First, there is no clear dividing line between what is an appropriate political belief and what isnt. Secondly, many conservatives have absurd definitions of what constitutes “left-wing extremism”, and that obviously includes this alumni organization. Thirdly, producing “well-rounded students” requires drawing connections between subjects, often including politically controversial subjects (and connections between engineering and a controversial subject are certainly possible). Fourthly, several conservative organizations have already pressed for laws that would give state governments complete censorship power over universities. Observers can surely be forgiven for suspecting that these UCLA alumni plan to push for such a law in California.
In a freshman year computer science course, my professor was giving a lecture on Turing machines. Explaining their history, he gave a brief summary of the career of the brilliant computer scientist Alan Turing, who invented the theoretical machine that now bears his name. At the conclusion of that summary, the professor made the following statements:
Alan Turing was homosexual.
Turing was arrested and placed on trial for being homosexual.
As a direct result of this, Turing committed suicide at a young age.
The world was denied many brilliant discoveries as a result of his premature death.
It was senseless and stupid of the British authorities to arrest Turing and drive him to suicide merely because of his sexual preference.
Now among many conservatives, the idea that homosexuals should be allowed to live freely is an example of insane, foaming-at-the-mouth left-wing extremism. So this professor would have been trying to “indoctrinate” students with his radical left-wing beliefs.