John M. Ellis
The James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal, Jan. 8, 2025
“Why are college students, of all people, so ignorant of simple historical facts that make nonsense of their slogans? Short answer: That’s the way their radical teachers want them.”
The scale of support on college campuses for militant antisemitism and even for Hamas barbarism has alarmed most Americans, but there’s something else here that ought to trouble us, too: a startling ignorance of the most basic facts of Middle Eastern history. These are college students being educated on renowned campuses—yet they know virtually nothing about the matter they are protesting.
How can that be?
Let’s begin by asking what a serious education about the conflict in the Middle East would look like. At a minimum, we would expect students to have a basic grasp of the case made by each of the two sides. They should be able to evaluate both sets of claims, but that would require knowledge of the major historical events that each side appeals to when justifying its position.
Professors are withholding anything that might interfere with their radical ideology, which means keeping students ignorant.FacebookTwitterEmailPrintShareA grasp of both sides is education; exposure to only one is propaganda.
Unfortunately, propaganda regarding Israel is now routine on our campuses. College teachers are withholding from their students anything that might interfere with their radical ideology, which really means keeping their students ignorant of what they’re supposed to be teaching.
Consider a few examples of the huge gap between the slogans that students have been taught to chant and the facts of Middle Eastern history…..SOURCE