Why are so-called conservatives so resentful and afraid of universities? On every right-wing blog or radio show, we can count on hearing mocking comments about the "pansy elites" and their efforts to corrupt our pure youth.
I think it 's because conservatives really are afraid of education. Education is a force for change, for growth, for moving toward the unknown - and that scares the pants off a typical right-wingnut.
They claim to education but their actions betray a deep and subconscious fear of the results. What a conservative really supports is training. The whole"no child left behind" fiasco focused on training children, not educating them. The difference springs from the latin word e-ducare from which we derive "educate". Educare means to lead forth, to lead out. It means we don't know where we will end up at the end of the process. Human progress throughout history has occurred when brave souls had the guts to go in a new direction.
Training is a whole different process whereby the ends are pre-determined. We can train children to perform tasks, and measure those tasks with rubrics and exams. We can't measure education so easily. A true education may simmer for years before producing flowers that are unique and lovely. How can we measure this?