universities Archives | MelaniePhillips.com

Education in the moral maze

July 16, 2020July 17, 2020 Melanieeducation, Moral Maze, universities, vocational

On BBC Radio Four’s Moral Maze this week, we discussed education. While the Institute for Fiscal Studies is claiming that as many as 13 universities may no longer be financially viable, the government has abandoned the policy of getting half of school-leavers into university and says it wants to concentrate instead on vocational qualifications. With grade inflation rampant not just in the universities but down through the school system, we asked whether university places should be available to all who wanted a university degree or whether the 50 per cent…

Culture wars

The barbarians inside the gates

June 16, 2020 MelanieIdentity politics, relativism, universities, western civilisation

For the past three decades, some of us have been warning that the inevitable outcome of what the universities have been pumping out under the misnomer of “education” would be what we are indeed seeing today – a shocking and violent onslaught against the core western and civilised values that they have so systematically undermined. It was university-based dogma that abolished objectivity and replaced it by the authority of subjective feelings. All values became relative. No-one had the right to say that the way anyone lived, or the principles or…

Britain Culture wars

Communism thrives in our moral vacuum

November 12, 2019 MelanieCommunism, Labour party, universities

One of the many unsettling aspects of this general election concerns the extremism of Jeremy Corbyn and his cadre of ideological soulmates who are in control of the Labour Party. They have rightly been described as unreconstructed Marxists, Trotskyites, Leninists and even Stalinists who, if they came to power, would destroy Britain’s economy, leave it defenceless against its enemies and undermine freedom and democracy. This has created a Stop Corbyn movement, with many voters reportedly planning to shelve their normal party allegiance — or support for a clean Brexit —…

Britain

The university becomes a vehicle for the suppression of ideas

March 29, 2019March 29, 2019 MelanieCambridge, Jordan Peterson, universities

The Canadian psychology professor, best-selling author and intellectual celebrity Jordan Peterson has had his offer of a two-month visiting fellowship at Cambridge University’s school of divinity withdrawn. To explain why it disinvited him, the university first said cryptically that it was “an inclusive environment and we expect all our staff and visitors to uphold our principles. There is no place here for anyone who cannot.” The university is increasingly turning from the crucible of ideas, argument and debate into a vehicle for the suppression of ideas, the enforcement of dogma…

Israel

Secular heresies and intellectual diversity

June 5, 2018June 5, 2018 Melaniedebate, free speech, universities

Views that challenge the left are seen as secular heresies to be silenced. Argument is replaced by smears, name-calling and character assassination designed to stifle dissent. As with all heresies, however, the fundamental motivation for silencing them is fear — fear of even hearing contrary arguments. This is because at some level such “progressives” fear that their arguments are built on sand and they might be persuaded that the contrary view is correct. Since to such people anything contrary to leftism is not just wrong but evil, they are terrified…