LAST YEAR, I took a class on sexual assault from the SWAG department. And I was struck by the one certainty with which I completed it: No man who chose to take that class would ever commit an act of date rape. Similarly, the sociology class SOC 341: Race and Ethnicity will doubtless make every member more sensitive to the realities of race in America. I wouldn't call this kind of education "ideology," -- I would call it awareness. And, moreover, it is an awareness that no student should graduate without. The University has a social responsibility to provide education outside of objective learning.
The problem with these classes is that they are self-selecting. The people who least need the education are those in the classroom, and the ones who must have it are not even considering it. Fans of the status quo would say that schools have no right to mandate the teaching of such things. Though no one complains about the core requirements, the essentials to combat racism and sexism, two of society's biggest ills, have managed to fall out of the scope of necessity. However, the University, and its brethren, are in the absolutely stunning position to affect social change through not ideological didacticism but simple awareness education. It's just too good to pass up.
We attend the University to get an education. That is the clear, albeit simplistic, answer to why we go to college. The difficulty comes in defining the term "education." The traditional view of the role of college is to educate on what can be vaguely called "objective" matters, whether for vocational or intellectual purposes. But higher institutions of learning have long been recognized as educating students in more intangible disciplines (dare we categorize it as life?). A university cannot be categorized along with a textbook as "supplier of knowledge." No, it is a living, breathing, interactive institution with goals and responsibilities beyond numbers and dates.
Reading, writing and 'rithmetic are the goals for an elementary school. You would have to be completely ignorant to walk out of a history class at the University and fail to recognize that the discipline has an inherent bias. This perhaps is even more true for other departments at this school: English, sociology, psychology and politics. Professors do not get tenure through fantastic capabilities of spitting back facts. Rather, their courses are based around interpretations and opinions. Everything you hear in a classroom is subjective. You cannot defend an aversion to, say, diversity training, on the grounds that colleges shouldn't teach "ideology." It is unavoidable. Let us give students some credit. We are smart enough not to blindly swallow everything given to us without examination. And our best professors encourage us to challenge their interpretations.
We make the mistake of assuming that students with SAT scores high enough to get into U.Va. are smart enough not to be racist/sexist/classist or what have you. I am embarrassed that I ever succumbed to this fallacy. In fact, University students may know how to scan a Shakespeare sonnet or evaluate a derivative, but many do not have a clue about social realities.
The Commonwealth of Virginia isn't forking over money every year so you can personally succeed at life. Rather, the state recognizes the immeasurable value to society of every college-educated individual. Funding for higher education is thus an investment more generally in the future of America. It is never objective and never without a societal over an individual emphasis. By nature, education is a tool of social engineering and the most powerful one we have. Colleges are in the unique position of catering to the people who count. Harshthis may be, but in terms of the political and social future of meritocratic America, college graduates hold all the cards. Ideally, these things would be learned at home, in the local community or even in the elementary school. But bias runs deep, and the provincial perspective is precisely the cause of our current state of ignorance. The institution of the University can rise above local prejudices. Though it has its own biases, it is still the home to the most brilliant minds in the country in its faculty. If we can trust them to give us valid knowledge, we can trust them to offer their opinions.
There is an issue of scope here, clearly. There is not the time to educate students on every issue. Racism is the single most disturbing and pervasive problem in America. It is also unique in that its sole cause is ignorance. Thus, if we must choose, this is what might be best cured by education.
We cannot leave our bright yet sheltered student population to its fate. Just as we would not let them graduate uneducated in their major, we cannot send them off into the world ignorant. This is the last stop before reality, where for most of us, classroom education stops. There will be no more chances for redemption. We must seize the chance before it is too late.
(Kimberly Liu's column appears Mondays in The Cavalier Daily. She can be reached at kliu@cavalierdaily.com.)
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