The "Right-wing Billionaires are Going to Take Over Higher Education" Hobgoblin

George Leef

That is a favorite theme of some leftist writers and Jane Mayer of The New Yorker is probably the best known. She uses it to scare her "progressive" readers who like to think that dark and diabolical conservatives are working to damage our education system. But it's all baloney. In this article published by the Foundation for Economic Education, I argue that Mayer is spinning a paranoid fantasy. The fearsome billionaires can do nothing except slightly expand the range of views students may hear on campus. Leftists may not like it that marginally more students will learn about classical liberal approaches to economics, politics, and some other disciplines, but it is not harmful.

 

Image: money by Rafael Gonzalez // CC BY-NC

  • Share

Most Commented

February 13, 2024

1.

The Great Academic Divorce with China

All signs show that American education is beginning a long and painful divorce with the People’s Republic of China. But will academia go through with it?...

January 24, 2024

2.

After Claudine

The idea has caught on that the radical left overplayed its hand in DEI and is now vulnerable to those of us who seek major reforms. This is not, however, the first time that the a......

February 2, 2024

3.

Tribalism or Individualism?

The most immediate work of conservatives must be the rejection of tribalism and a refocus on the individual—individual character, industry, and aptitude....

Most Read

May 15, 2015

1.

Where Did We Get the Idea That Only White People Can Be Racist?

A look at the double standard that has arisen regarding racism, illustrated recently by the reaction to a black professor's biased comments on Twitter....

October 12, 2010

2.

Ask a Scholar: What is the True Definition of Latino?

What does it mean to be Latino? Are only Latin American people Latino, or does the term apply to anyone whose language derived from Latin?...

September 21, 2010

3.

Ask a Scholar: What Does YHWH Elohim Mean?

A reader asks, "If Elohim refers to multiple 'gods,' then Yhwh Elohim really means Lord of Gods...the one of many, right?" A Hebrew expert answers....