It's the butt of many jokes -- college students, and college professors, are flaming liberals (for the most part). They're the Democrats, the hippies, the ones that believe in equality for all -- which, for the record, I don't see as a bad thing, but it's used as an insult more often than one would think. I thought that it was just a stereotype associated with college, and that it couldn't possibly be true. What are the odds that over half of the people I'll meet are liberal? Well, when I got here, I learned that it wasn't really a stereotype after all. So my question is, why are college students so associated with this view? Is it because it's trendy, or is it because there's something else behind it?

For starters, I'm about to say something that a lot of people won't like to hear -- whether or not you want to admit it, the place you live (when you aren't at school) is surrounded by people that think similarly to you, and that's your parents' doing. They're either from the same background, or the same political party, or the same kinds of professions. In my hometown on Long Island, I can't even think of anybody I know firsthand that moved here from another country. Very few people that moved from another state. Most of the adults I know have the same political views, and most of my friends and I share the same ethnic backgrounds. Just sitting here thinking about it, most (again, not all) -- I'd say a solid 85% - 90% -- of my friends from home are white, with heterosexual parents, who are conservative, and Catholic, and are eitherItalian or have some other sort of European descent. For the most part, we're the same.

A lot of parents don't like to admit it, but they raised you in a place where you were surrounded by practically everybody who had like-minded thoughts. Were there a few outliers? Of course there were. But the point is, you spent eighteen years of your life having views impressed upon you, whether intentionally or unintentionally. You felt like you belonged to a community where everybody was the same. You didn't have much "fitting in" to do, because of the fact that everyone was so similar. It's nothing to be ashamed of -- people find comfort in being around those they perceive to be like them. But the downside of this is that many adults and older people living in these places haven't been around people truly differing from them in a long, long time.

Now, it's time for college. You're in a place not only surrounded by students with differing religions and hobbies as you, but by people from all over the world. College students are thrown into this melting pot that they don't get to fully experience back at home. You're not only surrounded by people from other parts of the country -- you're surrounded by people from other countries. People with different political systems and religious practices and beliefs and customs. Because of that, we're open to one another. We learn to accept that our way of life that we've grown up with isn't the only way of life in the world. I grew up believing one thing, and the person next to me grew up believing another. We both were always taught that our views were the correct ones. Now, we have to acknowledge the fact that what we fundamentally believe in isn't necessarily the right and certain way, that we only think it's the correct way because we were taught that it is -- something that a lot of older people have trouble coming to terms with. The truth is, nobody really knows the right way to run the government, to divide the taxpayer money, or if liberalism or conservatism is right. We think we do, because we were taught so. But a lot of people don't want to acknowledge the fact that they only think what they think because it was impressed upon them.

Having met so many people from so many different places, all with so many different stories, I personally find it important to fight for the rights of everyone, even if sometimes the rights I'm fighting for don't affect (or benefit) me. This is not something I learned from my parents. This is not something that I learned from anybody at home. I learned this through the practice of coming into contact with so many different people here, being forced to take what I previously thought was the "best way" to think about things and to see them in a different light. That's something that conservative people don't do all that often.

Recently, someone I know was arguing against Planned Parenthood by repeatedly pointing out the fact that it's funded by taxpayers. "I don't want to have to pay for yours, or anybody's, birth control," he argued. And he has every right to feel that way. But to me, I don't mind having a piece of my taxes funding a source that I have no use for. Because even if it isn't directly helping me (something that conservatives have a strong preference towards), it's helping somebody else who needs it. It's giving them the birth control, or mammogram, or cervical cancer tests that they may need.

The taxes are going to be taken out of my paycheck either way. I'd rather have it go somewhere to help somebody, even if that somebody isn't me. And I personally feel that I have this mindset because I'm around so many different people, and being here taught me that being selfish and only caring about your viewpoint or your agenda just makes you look stupid and silly. It taught me that there's more to life and to humanity than what I've learned in my small town on Long Island for eighteen years.

College taught me that there are problems bigger than us, and that those are problems worth fighting for, too.

So to answer the age-old question, no, I don't think that college liberalism is a bandwagon movement. I think it's increasingly prevalent at this age because of the fact that we're thrown into a situation with so many people that differ so greatly from us. Because of this experience, we learned to work with everyone, not just the people who have like-minded thoughts and whose ideals aligned with ours. We learned to be more tolerant and accepting, to push the boundaries, and to fight for the rights of everyone -- something that isn't as much in the forefront of a conservative's view. So the next time you're about to make a joke about how all college students are flaming liberals that just want to jump on the bandwagon, take a second to think -- there's a reason that some people are fighting for the many over the few. And it may not be for the reason you think.