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How Do We Fight Back Against Marxism in Academia?

AP Photo/Steven Senne

America is at a critical point in many different areas, education being near the top of the list. Over the past few decades, we have seen more higher learning institutions become cesspools of Marxist ideology. We are currently seeing the impact of this paradigm today on college campuses.

The rise in antisemitic sentiment being spread in universities since the start of the Israel-Hamas war is but one manifestation of how leftist thought has dominated academia. This has prompted widespread concerns over the educational environment in which younger generations are immersed.

RedState’s Bob Hoge noted the sharp increase in antisemitic viewpoints among younger Americans:

Antisemitism has run rampant on many campuses, and when three top school heads appeared before Congress, they failed to condemn "protesters" who were harassing Jewish students, shouting "intifada revolution," and calling for the extermination of the entire country.

But the news about the poison being spread in our system of higher education just keeps getting more disturbing as a new Harvard-Harris poll shows that an astonishing 51 percent of American youth aged 18-24 indicated support "For Israel to be ended and given to Hamas and the Palestinians."

There can be little doubt that this shift in attitudes is the result of ideological indoctrination taking place in higher learning institutions. Even more dire is that the far left is staging a wholesale takeover of K-12 education, leveraging government-run schools to start the indoctrination at earlier ages.

In a recent op-ed, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) addressed the anti-Jewish trends on college campuses and rightly pointed out that this is the offspring of the Marxist movement in America.

I use that word very intentionally. I know “Marxism” has a history of being misused and overused. But there is no better way to describe the ideological narratives responsible for the past decade of “woke” craziness at colleges and universities.

Like communism before them, these left-wing cultural narratives divide the world into oppressed and oppressors. The so-called “LGBT community” versus the “straight-cisgender patriarchy.” “People of color” versus “white people.” “Native Palestinians” versus “Zionist colonizers.”

Rubio then asks questions that have been on many minds over the past two months: 

Are we willing to confront the depths of this evil in response? Are elites willing to reject the whole ideological thread, not just its most recent manifestations?

The answer to the latter question is a clear “no,” but to the former, the jury is still out.

The question is: How do we push back against this?

RedState’s Brandon Morse put forth a few plausible solutions.

Firstly, these universities need to stop getting our taxpayer dollars. If they hate us and this country that much, then they'll be deprived of the funds we give them to continue hating and working against us.

Secondly, we need a cultural change in our thinking about universities. For generations, we made going to university one of the top priorities of youth, yet as we can see, this has often resulted in insane amounts of debt and does not guarantee a job anyway. We should put far more emphasis on trade schools or some other forms of education that will lead to minimal debt and a well-paying job.

Withholding funding from these universities is a welcome step, but many of these universities have shown they quite possibly willing to put ideology over money. But a cultural change is definitely needed to ensure that younger generations are not buying into left-wing authoritarianism as the answer for America’s problems.

The way to bring about this cultural change is to educate as many people as possible about the dangers the Marxists in academia pose to the prosperity of the United States. More people need to wake up to what is happening in lower and higher education. Then, they need to stop feeding the beast by sending their children to these institutions.

For K-12 education, parents need to be pushing their legislators to pass school choice legislation that will allow them to have more options regarding where and how their children are being educated. Private schools and homeschooling are a positive step toward making sure students are learning what they need to learn--instead of being preached at about progressive ideology.

In higher education, students must be encouraged to seek out universities that are not intent on inculcating them with Marxist thought instead of teaching them the skill they need to learn to be productive. Believe it or not, there are still plenty of colleges that promote free speech and the free expression of a variety of ideas. These are the institutions that are worth promoting to those making decisions on which schools they wish to attend.

Indeed, there are already signs that this is happening. Harvard’s early admissions applications fell by 17 percent for the fall semester of 2023, showing that fewer students are interested in attending the university despite its prestige.

Of course, this is not to say we should abandon the fight against the spread of Marxism in the education system. It is certainly a battle worth fighting. But in the meantime, we must ensure that we are safeguarding the younger generation from indoctrination.

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