Quote:
Originally Posted by CliffFletcher
Haidt has talked about schools branding and promoting themselves on their primary value. So some schools can sell themselves as a place where students will be challenged, made uncomfortable, and exposed to free speech in the pursuit of truth, and others can sell themselves as place where students will be nurtured and supported in efforts to remake the world into a more equal place. Let the market meet the wants of different students.
https://heterodoxacademy.org/one-tel...ial-justice-2/ |
Haidt actually built this whole argument from a false dichotomy of his own construction. He built the notion that universities and colleges must choose between two competing values - truth or social justice. As a social psychologist who studies morality, Haidt should know better than to build this frame.
The fight for social justice usually includes exposing the truth to harsh light of day. The two are not competing values, but complimentary values, both important to the expansion of understanding and establishment of equitable system where all people are viewed as equals. Attempting to paint this as a choice is just bad reasoning on the part of Dr. Haidt. He should likely go back and re-read his own book to refresh his memory on morality and reasoning.
I will enter into the discussion the fact that Haidt is making all of these assumptions off of a claim that "protesters at 80 universities made demands that their universities/colleges make greater comments toward social justice, often including mandatory courses and training for everyone in social justice perspectives and content." These are protesters, NOT the administrations making any sort of commitment to do so. I will also point out that those 80 universities are reflective of less that 2% of all colleges and universities in the United States. More colleges already enforce chastity or religious pledges for students and faculty. Seems an extreme position to be making these claims based on less than 2% of colleges being
asked for these statements by a segment of their student body.