“Obedience to the chain of command”

In a Wall Street Journal Op Ed about ROTC, I found a marvelous statement which I think says a lot about many of those who call themselves “educators”:

In February 2011, a group of 72 Columbia and Barnard faculty members wrote: “The militarization of the campus represented by ROTC’s uniformed presence is at odds with what we, as educators, hold sacrosanct.”

[…]

The same group of Columbia and Barnard faculty members warned, “ROTC, and the military in general, trains people for obedience to the chain of command, whereas the university cultivates a critical and constantly questioning consciousness.”

The editorial does a pretty good job of rebutting the “educators’” assertions, but what I find incredibly rich is the contradiction above.

Without explaining why, the educators say that ROTC is at odds with what they hold “sacrosanct.” Sacrosanct is a very strong and ancient word, with quasi-religious connotations:

Regarded as sacred and inviolable.

OK?

So, without getting into the specific reasons they hold opposition to ROTC as sacrosanct, that word means they consider the subject to be beyond debate, and not open to question in any way.

So how on earth can they reconcile their “sacrosanct” belief system with the claim that the university “cultivates a critical and constantly questioning consciousness”? Because if in fact the university does that, then it means not accepting anything as “sacrosanct,” and any assertion claimed to be “sacrosanct” would be inherently at odds with university principles. And those who insist on certain things being sacrosanct are doing little more than training people for obedience to the chain of command.

I realize the pompous idiots who wrote the above cannot speak for all educators, but I only hope they are few in number, and do not typify their profession.

If educators are at odds with the very principles they claim to champion, no wonder there’s an education bubble.

UPDATE: Many thanks to Sarah Hoyt (who is guest blogging at Instapundit) for linking this post, and a warm welcome to all.

Comments appreciated, agree or disagree.


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21 responses to ““Obedience to the chain of command””

  1. bob sykes Avatar
    bob sykes

    Frankly, I think it is clear that students who attend any elite university should be systematically excluded from the military. They simply cannot be trusted to take seriously the defense of the US and our constitution.

    It would even be better if we could exclude them from public office, but that horse has been running wild to long to be tamed.

  2. Man Mountain Molehill Avatar
    Man Mountain Molehill

    1) I wonder if these edumacaters know what “sacrosanct” really means or if it’s just a nifty word they saw once.

    2) I wonder if any of them ever served. Doesn’t seem like it, just leftover hippie radicals still panty twisting over Viet Nam.

    3) Even better if all Ivy Leaguers got drafted. They might learn something.

  3. Bram Avatar
    Bram

    As a former Marine who attended a liberal arts college, I can say without a doubt that the Marine Corps places a much higher value on logic, critical thinking, and innovation.

    I can also say the culture of Ivy League Schools does not reflect every individual. My first company commander in the Reserves was a Harvard Professor. He was the definition of a good officer. Whenever things got hairy, he would grab an M16 and bellow “follow me!”

  4. […] Question all authority but the educator’s seems to be the order of business at many schools.  (I noticed that trend as my kids went through K-12, and I noticed it getting worse over the years.) […]

  5. Steve Skubinna Avatar
    Steve Skubinna

    The real issue is that these academics are anti-military, yet they’ve figured out that it doesn’t play at all well outside the faculty lounge. So they dredge up ex post facto justifications.

    Doesn’t hurt that most of them have mo exposure to the military at all, so their opinions are unpolluted by experience.

  6. willem Avatar
    willem

    John Taylor Gatto offers remarkable insight into the supremacist mentality of the typical educator, including the tyrannical nature of those who demand to be given a monopoly over the compulsory institutionalization of children. The postmodern educators run day prisons masquerading as schools. Here’s one confessional from a former New York State teacher of the year:

    http://www.lewrockwell.com/gatto/gatto-uhae-pre.html

  7. Inigo Montoya Avatar
    Inigo Montoya

    I do not think it means what they think it means.

  8. Joseph Hertzlinger Avatar

    “The nation that makes a great distinction between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools.” — Thucydides

    He was almost right. The thinking will also be done by fools.

  9. Lee Reynolds Avatar

    Can a university qualify as an elite institution when its faculty largely pursue ideologies and cop attitudes that are destructive to that institution and to society as a whole?

    Can a university be called elite when it has ceased to be a place where the truth is pursued and has instead become a cathedral to fashionable and malignant nonsense?

    When an institution has been eaten away by corruption and failure, but continues to attract support from the society in which it exists solely on the basis of its brand equity, it is not long for this world. Its moral collapse has already occurred. The collapse of its status will not be far behind.

    Stories like this one demonstrate that these universities are the academic equivalent of Enron, and warn the public not to send their sons and daughters away to these schools to be educated.

  10. Sector Senate Avatar

    Does it make sense?
    To assume a difference between philosophical assumptions
    and practical assumptions gives rise to three times foolish.
    Sector Senate September 30, 2012

  11. PacRim Jim Avatar

    Soldiers, you created and preserved this country. Now get out.

  12. Foobarista Avatar
    Foobarista

    Who’s more likely to value “out of the box” thinking? An organization where mindless obedience to received wisdom may get you killed, or one where it will typically get you good grades?

  13. Number Six Avatar
    Number Six

    Liberal dogma is full of contradictions that they cannot discuss it and express outrage when you point it out to them.

    The ‘Question Authority’ slogan is a stale leftover from the 1960’s. If you think they want you to question authorities, just watch what happens if you disagree with one of the teachers. They’ll immediately reply with ad hominem attacks. In example, anyone who questions Obama’s competence must be a racist.

    The new dogma is Obedience to the Collective. You must make greater sacrifices for the greater good.

    Children! Practice you skills in deception. Tell the teachers what they want to hear. Save your true words and thoughts for a place where the teacher can’t punish you.

    The same thing applies to jobs.

  14. […] Joseph Hertzlinger (no I do not know who the hell he is) “The Middle East is one of the hardest-hearted areas in the world.  It has always been fought over, and peace has only reigned when a major power has established firm influence and shown that it will maintain its will.  Your friends must be supported with every vigour and if necessary they must be avenged.  Force, or perhaps force and bribery, are the only things that will be respected.  It is very sad, but we had all better recognize it.  At present our friendship is not valued, and our enmity is not feared.” — Winston Churchill […]

  15. John Fembup Avatar
    John Fembup

    “I only hope they are few in number, and do not typify their profession.”

    I think that is a forlorn hope.

    btw Bram correctly states above “As a former Marine who attended a liberal arts college, I can say without a doubt that the Marine Corps places a much higher value on logic, critical thinking, and innovation.”

    That’s because it’s a Marine’s duty to go where you can get killed because of stupid / illogical thinking. Same is true for anyone in the uniformed services. But in a University, you can get an A for stupid, illogical thinking. Big difference. Huge difference.

  16. Otter Avatar
    Otter

    Ladies and gentlemen, I’ll be brief. The issue here is not whether we broke a few rules, or took a few liberties with our female party guests – we did.
    [winks at Dean Wormer]

    But you can’t hold a whole fraternity responsible for the behavior of a few, sick twisted individuals. For if you do, then shouldn’t we blame the whole fraternity system? And if the whole fraternity system is guilty, then isn’t this an indictment of our educational institutions in general? I put it to you, Greg – isn’t this an indictment of our entire American society? Well, you can do whatever you want to us, but we’re not going to sit here and listen to you badmouth the United States of America. Gentlemen!
    [Leads the Deltas out of the hearing, all humming the Star-Spangled Banner]

  17. Manolo Avatar
    Manolo

    This is not limited to colleges and universities, but is pervasive throughout public elementary and secondary education. Parents are routinely viewed as impediments to teachers and schools, not as partners. They are not even seen as the sources of revenue that provide for the schools and the teachers’ jobs. That is credited to the state, the apparatus that extrudes the funding from parents through onerous taxation. Children and parents are to only obey and accept what is delivered without question…outcome-based performance be damned. This explains why most college freshmen are unprepared for the rigors of post-secondary academia.

  18. Kurt Avatar
    Kurt

    I work at a university (but not in a teaching capacity) and a few years back had the misfortune of having to represent my division on the faculty senate. When a student group invited a speaker who had offended the sensibilities of the usual leftists in the humanities departments, you should have seen how they carried on. I responded to a few colleagues on the senate (but not to the whole list) by detailing the many logical fallacies and false or misleading assertions in the professors’ complaints about the speaker. The results were rather like your analysis of the contradictions inherent in the comment above.

    It would be funny if it weren’t so well established, but most leftist academics want to “deconstruct” everything except the assumptions which undergird their leftist worldview.

    Likewise, although I find the political posts by most of the leftists I know on facebook annoying, the ones who are tenured professors are often the most shameless in posting or parroting Democrat talking points and blatantly misleading partisan propaganda.

  19. […] Can anyone imagine if a university stated that its “non-negotiable values” included patriotism or love of country? If it did, it would immediately be attacked by the same hypocrites who attacked ROTC as “odds with what we, as educators, hold sacrosanct.” […]

  20. […] Marching For Tyranny Posted on December 10, 2012 1:30 pm by Bill Quick Classical Values » Rendering education non-negotiable Can anyone imagine if a university stated that its “non-negotiable values” included patriotism or love of country? If it did, it would immediately be attacked by the same hypocrites who attacked ROTC as “odds with what we, as educators, hold sacrosanct.” […]

  21. […] They see the above words as naked aggression against all that the educators consider sacrosanct. […]