A controversial academic and commentator has made furious remarks in response to scientists and other academics who disagree with the idea of merit in research.
In a paper written in collaboration with prominent scholars and intellectuals, Dr. Jordan Peterson, including John McWhorter and Peter Boghossian, argues that political interference in science threatens the very foundation of free societies and that modern education has replaced the idea of merit with “politically motivated criteria.”
As stated in the paper, “Scientific truths are universal and independent of the personal attributes of the scientist. Science knows no ethnicity, gender, or religion.”
Since then, the academics have indicated that they have been unsuccessful in their attempts to publish the paper in scholarly journals. One publication advised them to eliminate the word “merit,” and another declared the article to be “hurtful.”
Dr. Peterson also tweeted, “Merit is Oppressive. Particularly to those who lack merit.”
In recent years, there has been growing concern that politics have compromised higher education. One of the consequences of this is that American college students feel the need to censor their own words to avoid causing offense. This fear is largely attributed to “woke” college administrators, who outnumber conservative administrators by 12 to 1, based on Newsweek polls.
Additionally, 86% of administrators across US colleges believe that institutions should concern themselves with a student’s personal values, and these opinions are considered to be as important as their academic abilities. This belief places an emphasis on subjective criteria that may not be related to the academic performance of a student.
This trend suggests that higher education is becoming increasingly politicized and polarized, raising concerns about the quality and integrity of academic institutions. The emphasis on personal values may affect the academic freedom of scholars, which could lead to a lack of diversity of opinion in a discipline, limiting the pursuit of knowledge and challenging established knowledge.
Most administrators support Marxist notions of oppression and reject capitalism, based on a study conducted by Sarah Lawrence College politics professor Samuel J. Abrams.
According to Abrams, the propagation of these ideas in American institutions is turning students into left-wing activists. The majority of administrators, as he discovered, have educational backgrounds. He also added that degrees in education and teacher training are among those that threaten free and open inquiry the most and result in graduates who have very similar ideas.
