Campus Coddling: Why Universities Baby Students

Recently, 18-year-old self-styled activist Ziad Ahmed lauded his extraordinary admission into Stanford. His method of getting into the prestigious college came about when answering the essay question: "What matters to you, and why?" in 100 words or less. Ahmed's response was to reply by writing "#BlackLivesMatter" 100 times, a "feat" that impressed the university enough to offer Ahmed a place.

To Millennials, the word "Activist" is ostensibly enough for them actually to be one - provided they spout the correct buzzwords also. The irony is that his essay is almost (sinisterly) similar to the school punishment of writing lines. The idea being that if something is repeated by rote often enough, it will stick in the brain and become intrinsic to one's thought process.

It is evident that Ziad Ahmed wrote #BlackLivesMatter, then hit CRTL+V 99 times, a method emblematic of groupthink's viral spread. So what exactly is it that makes universities cater to their students so much? Why did a repetitive virtue signal appear more appealing than a reasoned, thought-out and succinct argument? #BlackLivesMatter is a valuable tool for the ideologue because of course, they do, being synonymous with human rights that are indistinguishable with the rights of everyone. However, by making the Black Lives Matter distinction, it creates a perfect outgroup that can target special privileges - hence #AllLivesMatter or #BlueLivesMatter being anathema to these activists.

As for campuses, they cosset students so much to make their schools a "Safe Space." It is easier for them to couch students feelings, especially as they are receiving such large sums in tuition. Universities in America approximately receive anywhere between $61.8 and $76.3 billion annually in funding for education alone. Add to this, donations from alumni, sponsorship and partnership deals, and it is easy to see why colleges serve their students. With the final garnish of professors sympathetic to undergraduates' philosophies, you have fertile breeding grounds for Social Justice.

There is an adage in retail: "the customer is always right." It is overwhelmingly clear that universities became a marketplace a long time ago, with academia on a slow burn until it evaporates. Higher Education merely exists to serve market forces, and now it has been infiltrated from faculty to Freshman that wish to extend their warranty over the goods once home to institutions of scholarly excellence. Along with Black Lives Matter, "Educate Yourself," is a further maxim peddled by social science snake oil salesmen, the phrase implies receiving information via a structured syllabus, where thought gets sanitised by correct beliefs. I would rather learn, thanks, but that is all academic.

#SJW, #BlackLivesMatter, #SocialJustice, #SocialJustice Warrior, #SocialJusticeWarriors, #Feminist, #Feminism.

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