Conservative Speech on Liberal Campus

One of the other more difficult transitions to College (besides  not living at home with Mom and Dad, who are leveling influences and are readily available to offer you advice which you probably won't consider for another decade or so) is to assimilate dramatically different social and moral values from what you learned in Podunk, USA.

Ben Shapiro New York Times Op-Ed Response | National Review:

In an op-ed published in the New York Times, Jane Coaston accuses conservative commentator Ben Shapiro of exhibiting “hollow bravery” during his much-publicized speeches on campus. Coaston outlines what she considers to be Shapiro’s trick: Set up a speech in a progressive bastion, ideally a college campus full of coastal elites who have never left their bubble. Spar with snowflakes who are offended by something he says about race or gender and perhaps even believe he never should have been invited in the first place. Post the exchange on the internet and use it as proof that the cultural consensus is stacked dramatically against conservatives.

I've always thought that there were four levels of "education"

The first level of education is "Kindergarten", where you're taught not to fight  and how to raise your hand when you have to go to the bathroom.

Second level is Elementary School, (grades 1-6), where "not fighting" is enforced, and you learn the basic "Three R's" (Reading, wRiting, and aRithmatic, plus wRassling for those who missed out on kindergarten),

Third level is more ... complicated.  Ignore girls during class (this is difficult!). Become someone who has been elevated beyond 'forced' to read some books, but instead to  discover that they are interesting in and of themselves.  More socialization, more civilization, and perhaps develop a hunger for learning more!

Then those who actually stick it out through four boring years of "high school" have the option of a College Education.

The Fourth Level:

Now that you've learned to be a "person", learned the tools needed to learn more, and realize that you are smarter than The Average Bear ... you are ready to either to go to the next step, or take that $5.45 an hour job at the local gas station.

Those who hunger for more will opt for College; not because they "have to", but because they have a sneaking suspicion that the world has more to offer than was dreamed of in their philosophy, Horatio.

Cultural Shock:  folks in college are paying more attention to their gonads than to their education.  How to get past this most difficult step?  I don't know ... I never learned it.

But I suspect, based upon my own campus experience, that Shapiro's tactics are much less draconian than Coaston postulates.   It just may be that Sapiro, and other Conservative speakers, are offering a world view to which the collegiates have not previously been exposed.

This is "A Bad Thing"???

Frankly, considering the increasing "liberalization" of the Collegiate Experience to which our current generalization appear to have been exposed, it might serve as a refreshing counter which advanced might consider a benefit.

When you're inculcated in "Liberal Thoughts and Attitudes" for 9 months of the year, it might be a benefit for the Well Rounded Student to be informed that there are "other thoughts" which they might consider.   Certainly, in some institutions, they are unlikely to consider the Conservative viewpoint in other than a pointing-fingers-at-a-Bad-Person context.

Any man who is not a Liberal in his 20th year, needs to listen to his Heart.
Any man who is not a Conservative in his 40th year, needs to listen to his Head.