College Professors Tend To Lean Left

By Daniel Dominguez on January 20th, 2010

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For years people studying the phenomenon of the liberalization of academia have proposed theory after theory trying to understand why college professors tend to lean toward the left. Theories for why conservatives tend not to become college professors abound. Theories such as a left-wing bias, or higher IQs on the left, or the fact that college professors aren’t allowed to bring their firearms with them to class. (Conservatives, like the wrestler “The Undertaker” with his urn, tend to lose their powers when they don’t have their guns). A new study blasts both the bias postulated by the right and the higher IQ theories posited by the left, suggesting that perhaps it is a historical tendency that keeps conservatives from entering the world of academia. The study suggests that since the job of a college professor is generally perceived as a liberal’s job, the way being a nurse is generally perceived as being a woman’s job, liberals tend to be more likely to see themselves as pursuing that profession. For the same reason that boring people tend to become dentists, or child molesters tend to become ice cream men, people just assume certain types belong in certain jobs and then a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy occurs.

The phenomenon is true for a variety of groups in a variety of fields.

For instance, men tend to gravitate toward these jobs: Doctor, Physicist, Astronaut, President — because they have traditionally been seen as male professions.

While these jobs, traditionally felt to be women’s work, attract more women: Baby maker, House wife, Prostitute, Assistant Baby Maker.

African-Americans tend to occupy these roles: Rapper, Hip-Hop Artist, Basketball Player, Freestyle Rapper.

While White people tend to dominate these fields: Oppressor, Nerd.

The issue of people’s perceptions coloring their decision about what they want to “be” is highly problematic. If people stay away from certain professions because they perceive those professions to be “not for them” then those professions suffer from a lack of variety and valuable innovations that might come from a large mix of people being involved might occur. Think how the field of rap, traditionally black, might have suffered without Eminem, or the field of serial killing, traditionally male, might be lesser had it lacked Aileen Wuornos aka “Monster.”

While I don’t often agree with conservative viewpoints, because they are wrong, I still want them to be college professors. Variety begets discussion, after all, and the more viewpoints available the more we grow. Debate is how we learn, and to not have a wealth of differing political and ideological opinions available to college students would rob them of valuable chances for discourse and dialogue. The same is true for all professions. Variety is the seed of advance. I want more interesting people to become dentists, so that when my dentist is talking to me I won’t have to feel like awkwardly nodding politely and quietly thinking to myself that this is the third time he’s remarked on the weather since I’ve been here. I want conservatives to be professors so I can debate them, and both of us can grow. I want men to become nurses so that more hospital patients will live. I want more white people to become rappers because Eminem’s schtick is becoming stale.

So to everyone out there I say, throw off the yoke of traditional viewpoints on who or who should not go into what career. Let’s get some variety up in this bitch.