Today our universities are under attack by radical left wing authoritarian groups who wish to undermine the principles and purposes of a liberal arts education. Several of these radical groups, such as Antifa, try to silence opposition with fear and violence. Riots and ideological battles are being waged in the west, and many fall on university campuses.
Our universities provide a free intellectual atmosphere for students to learn and express opinions. Major ideas are birthed and debated in the University, and worldviews are formed and destroyed in the halls of Harvard, Yale, Toronto, Oxford and many other schools.
The radical left would like to see the destruction of this. For this reason, I write what I believe to be the purpose of a liberal arts school, and why it is worth protecting. There are several purposes to a liberal arts education, but I will for the sake of brevity provide what I see as the most important.
1. The creation of a well-rounded individual:
A liberal arts school provides a variety of classes in philosophy, literature, history and the sciences. This variety of classes is meant to give individuals a wide range of knowledge and opinions. Today, many go to college solely for the purpose of acquiring a future job which pays well. Few go to the university to grow the individual self. A liberal arts school educates and creates an individual who is able to draw from his wide range of knowledge in society from what he's learned to function in a highly competitive job market. A liberal arts degree can make one well rounded, cultured, and wiser in a society which is drowning in information and thirsty for common sense.
2. A place of wonder and intellectual curiosity:
A good liberal arts education will leave one thirsting for more knowledge and wisdom. Learning does not end at the university. Instead, it continuous throughout our lives. The university simply provides the means by which one learns to acquire more information. While learning at my university I have experienced a sense of curiosity and wonder at how ignorant I am. With every class, I wish to become more informed, knowledgeable and wise. There is inspiration in the university that can continue throughout the life of an individual. Not only does the university grow the individual, but also provides inspiration for the rest of his or her life.
3. A place of free expression:
Worldviews are often battled for and destroyed in the university. Many fail to see how important a university's influence is on the ideas of society. The Communist regime brainwashed millions of youths to create a patriotic slave ideology that led to the deaths of millions. Postmodern thought began with individuals like Foucault and Derrida whose works and lectures has already convinced many in the west to abandon objective truth, reality, and morality. If free expression ends in the university the university then it ends in society as well. Discourse and debate must be able to breathe in a space which protects the individual and not ideas. Without this, our society will enter into a new realm of chaos and disillusionment on the same of level of Communist Russia.
Conclusion:
In the midst of the carnage and blood bath of the second World War, three students in Nazi Germany would protest at the University of Munich. These students saw the Nazi regime as what it was: a regime of war and genocide. Sophie Scholl, Hans Scholl and Christoph Probst were all detained and guillotined by the Gestapo for distributing only six leaflets which denounced Hitler. The last words of Scholl were "How can we expect righteousness to prevail when there is hardly anyone willing to give himself up individually to a righteous cause. Such a fine, sunny day, and I have to go. But what does my death matter, if through us thousands of people are awakened and stirred to action?"
German universities were Nazified to create brainwashed citizens who owned no intellectual self, and whose only purpose was to serve the Nazi regime. I strongly believe this is where the radical left is leading us. Do not let the opposition silence by force ideas that are contrary to their ideology. Instead, let us let the truth guide is.
The truth drives away the darkness and is a weapon against tyranny, intimidation and violence. To drive, to tell the truth in a free space of intellectual growth and enjoyment, is crucial for the betterment of society. Those who tell the truth, like Scholl, have little fear for it has set them free from the darkness and fears of this world that screams obscene realities into action. If we let it, the truth will set all of us free. Do not let radicals take away our precious means of education, our freedom of speech, and source of inspiration.
