Oct 19, 2008

Diversity may be returning to the classroom

There is an article at the link below titled: The ’60s Begin to Fade as Liberal Professors Retire. It reports on the increase in the number of politically moderate professors on campus now compared to three or four decades ago.

Baby boomers, hired in large numbers during a huge expansion in higher education that continued into the ’70s, are being replaced by younger professors who many of the nearly 50 academics interviewed by The New York Times believe are different from their predecessors — less ideologically polarized and more politically moderate.

When it comes to those who consider themselves “liberal activists,” 17.2 percent of the 50-64 age group take up the banner compared with only 1.3 percent of professors 35 and younger.

“These findings with regard to age provide further support for the idea that, in recent years, the trend has been toward increasing moderatism,” the study says.

Link