Putting Aside Current Political Issues of University Protests, Let’s Reflect on Our Youth
At least in the United States, rebellion is quite common. Children have a lot of pent-up energy, and those who go to college are often seen as smarter and more dynamic than their peers, leading to ongoing debates between “citizens” and “academics.” In 1355, the “St. Scholastica Day riot” occurred at Oxford University, where records show that “62 Oxford students and scholars lost their lives.”
Moving back to the U.S., in the 1960s and early 1970s, protests against the Vietnam War often escalated into riots, as we have recently witnessed. In 1973, President Richard Nixon ended the draft and withdrew all troops from Vietnam, bringing an end to the riots.
In 2024, protesters mainly oppose U.S. policies and university support for Israel’s conflict with Hamas in Gaza.
However, let’s delve deeper into this.
The economic prosperity of the 1960s lasted until 1974, making it easier for protesters who graduated during that time to find jobs and affordable housing. Despite inflation starting to rise, people could cope with high prices due to higher wages.
In the 1970s, while studying at the University of Michigan and Hillsdale College, despite the ongoing malaise of President Jimmy Carter’s era, the future still looked bright for any student at a college or university. My own experiences are detailed in the book “Hillsdale Is the Model: To Deal With Protests, Privatize Colleges and Universities.”
Student loans were low, or even non-existent. Blue-collar jobs decreased with industrial development, but most university graduates in various fields could start earning wages shortly after graduating.
Then, in the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan implemented tax cuts and deregulation, leading to a decrease in inflation rates and economic prosperity – a point now acknowledged by most liberals as well.
During that era, while Western cultural traditions were on the decline, they still held significant influence. In 1987, after Reverend Jesse Jackson and protesting Stanford University students shouted “Hey hey, ho ho, Western Civ has got to go!” Stanford abolished the requirement for a Western Civilization course. As historian John Fonte wrote in an article for the Hudson Institute in February this year, “Jackson and radical students achieved their goal. The comprehensive and rigorous study of Western civilization in most American higher education institutions has indeed been shown the door. The study of Western civilization, once a required course for undergraduates, has been replaced by elective courses in fields such as race, gender, queer, multicultural, and post-colonial studies, and the foundation of American constitutional democracy is no longer a compulsory subject for our young citizens.”
Nihilism prevailed. Over the past 37 years, students from Stanford and other prestigious schools have gained control over universities, public schools, government, and even many churches.
Now let’s examine the issues faced by children today:
– $1.7 trillion in student loan debt
– The average price of a home in California is $783,666 according to Zillow
– The average home price in Los Angeles, where USC and UCLA are located, is $974,105
– Since President Joe Biden took office in 2021, inflation rates have exceeded 20%
– California’s unemployment rate in March was 5.3% and may increase in the coming months
– In-state tuition for California State University students is $6,084 per year compared to being free in 1968
– In-state tuition for University of California students is $14,436 per year compared to being free in 1968
– $35 trillion in federal debt
– California is projected to have a $73 billion deficit for the 2024-25 fiscal year starting on July 1
The 1960s had its problems, but in several aspects, it was much better than today:
– Traditional families were largely intact despite some friction
– A single income could support a wife and several children
– Divorce, although increasing, was still relatively rare
– The manufacturing industry was booming, providing good job opportunities for the middle class
– Southern California had a robust aerospace industry within the manufacturing sector
– Silicon Valley was rapidly developing
– California’s public schools were once the envy of the nation, with Apple co-founders Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs receiving excellent math and science education here
– California’s population surged from 16 million in 1960 to 20 million in the 1980s, a 25% increase
Of course, there were issues. The civil rights movement brought major riots to many cities, including the 1965 Watts riots in Los Angeles, the 1967 Detroit riots, and nationwide unrest after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in 1968.
The Vietnam War was a noble cause to stop the spread of communism in South Vietnam, but mishandling from the start provided the leftists on campus with an excuse to launch anti-American protests, including riots and flag burnings. Most kids just got caught up in the anarchic atmosphere without facing consequences for their actions, and were even praised.
The most radical troublemakers at the time actually rose to prominence in society later on. Bill Ayers was a terrorist and former leader of the Communist revolutionary organization “Weather Underground,” which bombed several government buildings to protest U.S. policies. He later became an influential radical education theorist, professor, and advisor to future President Barack Obama.
Kathy Boudin was one of the founders of the “Weather Underground,” convicted of murder and sentenced to 23 years in prison for her involvement in a 1981 robbery. After parole, she became a professor at Columbia University, which once again became a center for revolutionary protests. Her son, Chesa Boudin, was an extreme and lenient district attorney in San Francisco until 2022 when, amidst rampant crime, voters recalled him. He was considered too far-left even for the left-wing city.
Finally, today’s technology is vastly different from that of 1968. The advent of the Internet has provided incredible resources for everyone but has also brought issues, including children being glued to their smartphones all day instead of running and playing, TikTok and other social media corroding the minds of teenagers, and even elementary school students being exposed to explicit content.
Smartphones also make organizing campus protests more convenient and offer real-time videos to document everything happening.
Like every generation, today’s children will find a way to survive and thrive in society. Unfortunately, adults have not provided them with a solid foundation to move forward.
About the Author:
John Seiler is a seasoned political writer from California, USA. For nearly 30 years, he has written editorial articles for “The Orange County Register” in Southern California. He is a retired U.S. Army veteran who worked as the press secretary for California State Senator John Moorlach. His blog URL is JohnSeiler.Substack.com; email address: [email protected].
Original Article: “Bleak Futures: Is Despair Also Driving University Protests?” published in the English edition of “Epoch Times.”
Please note that the views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and may not necessarily reflect the stance of Epoch Times.