Mr. Rufo, I have enormous respect and appreciation for your work. I am a college professor, and I wish you great success with the New College in Florida.
I subscribed to this Substack to have the opportunity to state my disagreement. Charlie Kirk is correct, but even he understates the case. It is not just that we have lost. The universities you cite as the intellectual heritage of the West were founded in order to preserve Western civilization. Modern academia is sworn to the destruction of Western civilization. They loathe it as they loathe nothing else in this world.
It is not possible to reform the system. There is a deep illness in our society, and it cannot be reformed; it must be excised. I appreciate your youthful exuberance. 30 years from now, you will realize that you have accomplished little. All the cognitive elite institutions - education, media, government, entertainment, big tech - are in the iron grip of the cultural marxist left.
The only way I see to save Western civilization is secession from the USA and starting over from scratch.
I understand the problems in the universities, but I don't think they are as lost as you fear. Most of the people working within these institutions are not die-hard left-wing activists—they are serious scholars and teachers who want to do good work, but have been bullied into submission by the activist minority. My argument is that we should seek to change that dynamic. The reality is that elite universities are not going anywhere. We have 300 million people in our country and very few spots in the Ivy Leagues, so supply and demand ensures that they will be powerful long into the future. We can't simply give up. We have to fight to change the culture, one university at a time, if necessary.
Hope is alive! My teenage daughter's are in Washington, DC as I type this on a week long school trip (one, for her AP Govt class & the other tagging along $$$). The da in AP Govt, a junior, just won best debater for a conservative legislative proposal. Hope is alive! She's been indoctrinated left at her school over and clutched it for years. We offer info from the opposing side (conservative) just so she has it so she can critically think her way through. (I'm center conservative/light left on some issues but who knows how to define left/right anymore.)🤷🏻♀️ I've noticed cracks in her armor. For example, she recently quipped, "the real pandemic was pronouns." 🤓 I agree with Christopher and have always thought we shouldn't swing the pendulum too far in one direction to cut off our nose politically. All or nothing approaches won't work in our favor. We can do two things at once, develop trades, new schools and fight back in/with our universities. I visited High Point University in North Carolina. Great school that didn't seem overly political. Some of the ideological insanity we've seen of late just isn't going to pass the sniff test over time via trial, error (grift) of outcomes. I think some are tiring of it already. Great article so glad someone wrote it! Who better than you!
I believe that many Americans of all ages are still eager to engage in the critical thinking, debate, and search for truths that used to go on in universities. The old schools that have degraded themselves need competition from new schools that give people what they crave. I believe there will be a rush to get into colleges where students resurrect the custom of late night dorm discussions about deep subjects, and where faculty really practice academic freedom. The bottom line for everybody, however, is that they need jobs when they graduate.
Hey, hey Surak - not so glum, guy. Truth has strength of which falsehood can only dream. Truth is like a hugely powerful figure standing beside you, clothed in armor and yielding a mighty sword. The strength of falsehood is illusory. Hang in there baby and don't give in to despair. Two years from now Ron DeSantis will be president, and Congress will be solid Republican, and things will change.
"Two years from now Ron DeSantis will be president, and Congress will be solid Republican, and things will change." That's because Dominion has gone out of business and the deep state has finally given up! Oh wait... I deal in the world of reality, not dreams.
I agree that we need counter elites. In practice, that means networking between the tiny number of conservatives in elite institutions so we can help each other survive. That means we hire and promote each other. How do we start doing that?
Lotsa luck. Your average academic on the tenure track, of whatever political orientation, is a careerist who will not sacrifice his living for an ideal. There do exist various scholarly professional groups that have a more conservative or apolitical philosophy. When I was an extremely minor academic (retired early in 2017), I was a member of the Association of Literary Scholars and Critics https://alscw.org/about/. Such organizations may be a place to begin recruiting organized or networked resistance from within, but, again, it requires the growth of spine in the careerist academic.
Also, as Mr. Rufo has himself pointed out, college faculty hiring practices have, for decades, selected for those who declare themselves proponents of DIE (or opponents clever enough to lie persuasively) in their two-paragraph blurbs "describing how the candidate will implement diversity, inclusion, and equity principles in the classroom." Has anyone ever accurately measured the number of anti-woke tenured faculty?
Finally, if the state colleges are worth preserving, we will be a long time awaiting reform, so in the meantime building alternative academies seems the prudent thing to do, short of a commitment by existing institutions to change course in their missions.
Well said, Chris. The solution is not to be reactionary. We have to plant good seeds and patiently help them grow by giving them attention. It takes time but I am hopeful.
My own approach with my kids is to make them strong, smart, and aware of what's happening. My wife and I send them to a good conservative school and want to make sure they're ready to think for themselves by the time they enter college.
We've seen this script before...conservative elites cynically label all media "left wing" to justify creating their own right wing media safe spaces where they can curate information for the right wing masses (eg, Moon and TWT).
Charlie Sykes admitted it was a concerted to discredit everything that is not explicitly conservative...and he now laments that it has backfired spectacularly, turning GOP into the anti science, "party of stupid."
But I'm sure it will work out following the same script with education. /sarc
Ahhhhhh, they will figure things out. I am not saying that it will be easy. But smart kids can see through a lot. Even in left-wing orgs, there has been so much tumult as of late, that some must be feeling that there is something wrong with their essential world view. Folks will come around. Of course each good person must give his or her all for truth. We can never give in.
I say, the more pressure the university puts on Conservative students the stronger and more ardent supporters of Conservative ideology they will become or they will simply compromise and follow the Pied Piper crowd which the Liberal society has become. As Reagan once said Conservatism is always only one generation from extinction. This is always true and must be true because Liberals have no real strong values or “norms” because they believe in situational ethics and secular humanism. As Patrick Henry once said we have only yet to fight, so we will not back down, we will not give in, and we will not stop defending our freedom and principles!
"Liberals" are united by neo-Marxist identitarianism and its utopian vision. "Conservatives" have no unifying principle to cohere as an effective political bloc, not even the Republican Party, which has notoriously been dominated by advocates of global homogenization via neoconservatism, as their current warmongering demonstrates. Conservatives are always reactionary and inevitably fold under pressure, probably because there is no one, single "conservative ideology."
As Michael Malice puts it, "Conservatism is progressivism driving the speed limit."
I hate to bring up a tangential point. But many of us will never get to hear what you had to say because we just do not have an endless amount of time to listen to/watch everyone's casts and/or because we are visual/reading learners. Autotranscribers are free/cheap and, while imperfect, are plenty good enough. You would be doing a real service to run videos/podcasts through an autotranscriber and publish that as well -- you would increase your reach dramatically. Much to my delight, many/most other folks have, with nudging, started doing this and we are all appreciative.
Good suggestion. Would it be worthwhile if I put the transcripts of these video in the text right below the video for each post? I can definitely do that.
That would be absolutely perfect. Then those who like to listen/watch can do so and those who want to read can do that at the same time.
Also, if you want another educational hill on which it will be worthwhile to die, we should discuss LCME. It is right in your sweet spot and is costing future generations quality medical care in a big way. Have lots of chapter and verse. Feel free to reach out if it interests you.
The more important message here is embracing intellectualism and education rather than associating it with some kind of unobtainable sorcery done by leftists.
So often you see writers and influential people who are skilled with their words and very knowledgeable, but they tend to be left wing. I think it’s partially because that’s in vogue for the left, but the right doesn’t have this push for academic excellence, and it seems like people assume college is the only place to develop your intellect. College does not give you something you didn’t already have, it just forces you to cultivate it, which is something you can do on your own with enough discipline and curiosity.
Degrees are losing their value by the day because more and more people have them, and the institutions do not have the respect they once had, so if you don’t need the degree to do what you want to do in the world, then don’t waste your time.
I don't think that Rufo's memes, mean what he thinks they meme. A practical job that pays well without causing a worker to accumulate a huge debt, in "order" to obscurely regurgitate anciently refuted lies, is not a "meme". Former scholars who still live with their parents after being "educated" into uselessness are not "memes". They are the sad consequences of what Allan Bloom described as "The Closing of The American Mind" in 1987, about 3 years after Rufo's birth. Bloom would have noticed the subjects and topic of his book well before Rufo's conception, given the '60's "revolution for the hell-of-it crowd", pace Abbie Hoffman and the rest of the Chicago 7 (or 8 if you count Bobby Seale).
Bloom was an Academic elitist, who (among other more important things), similarly to Plato, thought that young people should not listen to "Rock Music" (with Plato it was "wrong poetry" or "wrong melodies", rather than "rock")! Ted Nugent, who likes controversy, almost as much as rock music or hunting, literally destroyed Bloom in a public debate on that particular topic. But Bloom was right in other criticisms, particularly his criticisms of American student laziness and functional illiteracy.
As Rufo asserts (post "meme" assertions), somewhat inaccurately, quote, "First off, from a PRACTICAL MATTER, we've had universities in the west for a thousand years, since they were first started in France and Spain and then Italy, some of those great original medieval universities to the founding of our country. You have universities that date back four or five hundred years in America that have always been the training ground for the elites in business, law, government, administration, et cetera."
Considering Plato's Academy, Aristotle's Lyceum, ancient Indian and ancient Chinese schools it's more accurate to say over 2000 years of educational institutions. But it's no "practical matter" to assert the fact of schools of an advanced academic kind. Aristotle pointed out 24 centuries ago that the necessities of life had to be obtained before arts, that do not aim at either utility or necessity, could be developed, quote
ARISTOTLE: "But as more arts were invented, and some were directed to the necessities of life, others to recreation, the inventors of the latter [recreation inventors; e.g. musicians or dramatists KB] were naturally always regarded as wiser than the inventors of the former [necessity inventors; e.g. farmers or goatherders; utility inventors; e.g. shoe makers or cloth weavers KB], because their branches of knowledge did not aim at utility. Hence when all such inventions were already established, the sciences which do not aim at giving pleasure or at the necessities of life were discovered, and first in the places where men first began to have leisure. This is why the MATHEMATICAL arts were founded in Egypt; for there the priestly caste were allowed to be at leisure.
"We have said in the ETHICS what the difference is between art and science and the other kindred faculties; but the point of our present discussion is this, that all men suppose what is called WISDOM to deal with the first CAUSES and the PRINCIPLES of things; so that, as has been said before, the man of experience is thought to be wiser than the possessors of any sense perception whatever, the artist wiser than the man of experience, the master worker than the mechanic, and the THEORETICAL kinds of knowledge to be more of the nature of Wisdom than the productive [e.g. computer chip fabrication today or horse shoes in ancient times KB]. Clearly then, WISDOM, is knowledge about certain principles and causes." [Metaphysics; Bk I, Ch. 1.; 981b line 16 to 982a line 1]
So, even though Mr. Rufo [b. 1984] describes himself as, quote "Leading the fight against the left-wing ideological regime.", it is more likely that a mathematician named James Lindsay [b. 1979; Cynical Theories published 2020] followed the leads of both Jonathan Haidt [b. 1963; The Coddling of The American Mind; published 2018 ] and Allan Bloom [b. 1930; The Closing of the American Mind; published 1987], when he [James Lindsay] and 2 friends had "hoax papers" published in Academic Journals on modernly dubious academic subjects. As a mathematician, turned martial artist and massage therapist, Lindsay arguably had the required leisure (noted by Aristotle long ago) to think-up 20 counter-examples to pseudo-academic subjects. My favourite earlier Lindsay paper was titled: "The Conceptual Penis as a Social Construct", arguably because I am toxically masculine [b. 1948]. However I actually self-identify as a young black transgendered male who can "pass" [Kidding!].
Rufo's thesis, contrary to his alleged "memes", is that Conservatives ought to attend College in America, because Colleges have trained American "elites" for the last 400 years. Great. Which college trained Ben Franklin? Henry Ford? Thomas Edison? Orville and Wilbur Wright? Howard Hughes? Bill Gates? [Correct answer = No College.] There is evidence that Edison, Hughes and Gates took courses at higher institutions in subjects that piqued their interests. But no College degrees were obtained. Of course, Ben Franklin established one (maybe more?) Colleges although his own higher schooling consisted of 2 years of Latin instruction followed by much work and reading. Thus a few counter-examples to Mr. Rufo's thesis.
It is certainly true that you must obtain a College degree to be a medical physician or lawyer. America has had at least one great lawyer --- Abe Lincoln. But, whoops, Abe never obtained a law degree. He just read "the law" and associated with some lawyers until he was credentialed. Then there all the degreed lawyers like Nixon, Spiro Agnew and all those Watergate lawyers, followed by rascally Bill Clinton and his forgiving spouse. Wow for such "elites". Overseas, long ago and far away, a major number of the French Revolutionaries who voted to guillotine Louis the 16th [and then each other as well as "everybody else" from all 3 Estates --- 1. Lords Spiritual, 2. Lords Temporal (notably including Antoine Lavoisier --- a Chemistry mentor of mine) and 3. Commoners!] had law degrees. A full two thirds of the French 3rd Estate (commoners) had law degrees (1/3rd) or legal training (1/3rd). Lenin had a law degree [First Class Honours St. Petersberg]. So much for degrees --- especially law degrees, even though I know that Lavoisier had a law degree! Who didn't in 18th century France? [Kidding again!]
So, Mr. Rufo argues, conservatives should go to college to become a "counter-elite", quote:
RUFO: "I think conservatives need to spend more time creating what for the time being would be a counter elite that has the intellectual capacity, that has the organizational structure, and has the potential for leadership that eventually when we start taking back institutions, when we start winning elections and making sure that those things actually translate into policy and institutional reforms ... "
The above is where Mr. Rufo has got it all wrong. Athens had the same institutions, Courts [better Courts than Americans with 500 citizens as judges and jurists --- no "elites" allowed] and even policies as modern Americans. But the Athenians still "hemlocked" Socrates and ran Aristotle out of town on the same trumped up charges as some few "elites" brought against Socrates. France had the same institutions (Churches and Courts) as early America, when French "elites" turned Joan of Arc over to the enemy-English to be burned at the stake on trumped up charges of witchcraft because she was a "non-elite", successful female-General of France's armies --- armies which were totally demoralized before Joan showed up.
So Rufo is wrong. America needs reformed followers (not leaders) and not reformed institutions or organizations. America has plenty of organizations, run by "elite" scoundrels and fatal "femmes"! But Rufo is right about universities or colleges. They're not going to disappear. Americans should be like Ben Franklin, Abe Lincoln, Howard Hughes, James Lindsay or even Mr. Rufo himself. Make some money, take some courses, do some politics --- but save up first and then spend money on useful courses and learning. [I have a part 2. So I'll reply to this boring tome if possible.]
Most importantly, is that if you learn anything, learn how to refute those you criticize, on their own grounds of reasoning and on their own terms, rather than merely firing them and replacing them with a member of your own "gang" at twice the salary of the person you just fired --- which is exactly what Rufo and his "elite" Governor-friend did to some University President, named Patricia Okker, recently. Whether fired or woke-cancelled, it is the same abuse of power. The political pushback is well under way, in Florida, with the same cry of "Academic Freedom" on behalf of the American Left as is also the case with "Academic Freedom" on behalf of the American Right (who do not want "woke" academics controlling the education curriculum). The argument cannot be settled with any "power", other than the power of logical argument.
Another non-degreed, non-academic, non-elitist, named G.K. Chesterton, pointed out that fact in a little book entitled Thomas Aquinas The Dumb Ox, in the 1930's, when Fabian Socialism began its relentless march through the institutions. Chesterton was willing and able to debate the socialists of his day and time on their own grounds --- and reveled in it, as did socialists like Shaw and Wells. CHESTERTON: "After the great example of St. Thomas, the principle stands, or ought always to have stood established; that we must either not argue with a man at all, or we must argue on his grounds and not ours." [Ch. III; The Aristotelian Revolution p. 95. Image Books Edition 1956]
Much better than his present call for Conservatives to attend expensive "basket weaving" courses at "elite" American Institutions of "higher learning", Rufo did quite well at explaining himself on Jordan Peterson's podcast and even better in the notes he took for a published Atlantic article, where he defined critical race so-called "theory", like so:
"The Atlantic (Adam Harris): How do you define CRT?
"Christopher F. Rufo: I’ll crib from a recent interview: critical race theory is an academic discipline that holds that the United States is a nation founded on white supremacy and oppression, and that these forces are still at the root of our society. Critical race theorists believe that American institutions, such as the Constitution and legal system, preach freedom and equality, but are mere “camouflages” for naked racial domination. They believe that racism is a constant, universal condition: it simply becomes more subtle, sophisticated, and insidious over the course of history. In simple terms, critical race theory reformulates the old MARXIST dichotomy of oppressor and oppressed, replacing the class categories of bourgeoisie and proletariat with the identity categories of White and Black. But the basic conclusions are the same: in order to liberate man, society must be fundamentally transformed through moral, economic, and political revolution."
It is more correct to say, "replacing the class categories of bourgeoisie and proletariat with the identity categories of White, Patriarchal, Males vs. BIPOC, Anarchical, Women & Gender Fluid folks.", which covers more of the culture wars. But the Atlantic article never mentioned Karl Marx, nor Christopher's definition of Critical Race Theory, as old school Marxism with slightly modified and expanded oppressor vs. oppressed classes in Marx's proverbial "class struggle" --- which is a prominent characteristic of dying civilizations but not of actually viable civilizations.
Here is what the Atlantic published by Adam Harris, concerning Christopher, but not Marx:
THE ATLANTIC: The GOP’s ‘Critical Race Theory’ Obsession; How conservative politicians and pundits became fixated on an academic approach
... If a single person bears the most responsibility for the surge in conservative interest in critical race theory, it is probably Christopher Rufo. Last summer, Rufo, a 36-year-old senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a libertarian think tank, received a tip from a municipal employee in Seattle. (Rufo had lived in the city and, in 2018, ran unsuccessfully for city council.) According to the whistleblower, the city was conducting “internalized racial superiority” training sessions for its employees. Rufo submitted a Freedom of Information Act request and wrote about his findings for the institute’s public-policy magazine.
“In conceptual terms,” Rufo wrote, “the city frames the discussion around the idea that black Americans are reducible to the essential quality of ‘blackness’ and white Americans are reducible to the essential quality of ‘whiteness’—that is, the new metaphysics of good and evil.” The training was rampant, he wrote, infecting every part of the city’s municipal system. “It is part of a nationwide movement to make this kind of identity politics the foundation of our public discourse. It may be coming soon to a city or town near you.” His article—which did not include the phrase critical race theory—inspired a rush of whistleblowers from school districts and federal agencies, who reached out to him complaining about diversity training they had been invited to attend or had heard about.
A month later, Rufo employed the term for the first time in an article. “Critical race theory—the academic discourse centered on the concepts of ‘whiteness,’ ‘white fragility,’ and ‘white privilege’—is spreading rapidly through the federal government,” he wrote. He related anecdotes about training influenced by critical race theory at the Environmental Protection Agency, the FBI, and the Treasury Department, among others. In early September, Tucker Carlson invited him on his Fox News show during which Rufo warned viewers that critical race theory had pervaded every institution of the federal government and was being “weaponized” against Americans. He called on President Donald Trump to ban such training in all federal departments.
“Luckily, the president was watching the show and instructed his Chief of Staff to contact me the next morning,” Rufo wrote to me. (He would agree to be interviewed only by email.) Within three weeks, Trump had signed an executive order banning the use of critical race theory by federal departments and contractors in diversity training. “And thus,” he wrote to me, “the real fight against critical race theory began.” [End Quote of the Atlantic Article]
In Christopher's notes he says at the end of his interview, quote: "In the end, the critical race theorists can’t hide from the ugly consequences of their own ideas. I’ll make sure of that.", to which Adam Harris replies in his article, quote
ATLANTIC (Harris): But that is not the fight that has materialized over the past nine months. Instead, it is a confrontation with a CARTOONISH version of critical race theory. For Republicans, the end goal of all these bills is clear: initiating another battle in the culture wars and holding on to some threadbare MYTHOLOGY of the nation that has been challenged in recent years.
Marxism is "cartoonish", particularly when it is not defined. And as to Christopher's making sure that Marxist theorists "can't hide from the ugly consequences of their own ideas", Mr. Harris replied, quote
"ATLANTIC (Harris): Meanwhile, a strong majority of Americans, 78 percent, either had not heard of critical race theory or were unsure whether they had."
Harris concludes with a tweet by Christopher, quote
ATLANTIC [Quoting Rufo's tweet]: “We have turned critical race theory into a national issue and conservative political leaders are starting to fight.”
Then The ATLANTIC advertises Derek Bell's book, which initiated Critical Race Theory, quote
ATLANTIC: Race, Racism, And American Law By Derrick A. Bell;
Buy Book When you buy a book using a link on this page, we receive a commission. Thank you for supporting The Atlantic. Adam Harris is a staff writer at The Atlantic.
In sum, according to the Atlantic, Rufo and GOP friends are "threadbare myth peddlers" straw manning a "cartoon", so buy Derek Bell's book and get some good information on Critical Race Theory. American Marxist Slick! Only Americans could integrate capitalism with Marxism to make a buck.
Does one absolutely need a college degree to lead? Many business founders and leaders have done so without one. Why not develop trade schools that specialize in the leadership role a student wishes to pursue? A business school, a government school, an entertainment school, etc. I believe we should withdraw public funding from all universities and establish taxpayer funded higher education ESAs with complete school choice. Only the universities that operate on merit and produce students who achieve at high levels in their chosen endeavors will survive.
Reinventing The University, me thinks is wrong. In my very first Liberal Arts course, the very first assignment was a paper on Cardinal Newman's book "The Idea of a University." The learning became: there are student's who need a vocational education; and there are students who desire a liberal arts degree ... because they have no need for a vocation.
I think once you plant that seed, maybe revisit it on the first day of every liberal arts course, you'll achieve your goal.
I have a classically trained high school junior that I’d love to go to the Hillsdale of the South. And I’m excited about what Gov.
Desantis and you are trying to do at New College. But I’m worried that you’re too early on the curve to make the experience meaningful for an incoming class in Aug 2024 - that as long as the professors are from the old guard that the administration won’t make that much of a difference.
Am I wrong? How long do you think it will take to make meaningful inroads on the path to a classical and conservative-friendly environment?
I do think a moderate Republican president could enforce the Constitution, i.e. there is no good descrimination and actually support free speech, not forced totalitarian echo chambers that much of the unconstitutional Wokeism professes across the country and certainly on campuses, including K-12. Any school that gets Federal dollars could be held accountable which I think is what Chris was doing before the regime change. Question is can we elect a moderate Republican or not?
Exactly right. And we are making huge progress with K-12 schools right now. We're getting universal school choice passed in state legislatures, and classical education and homeschooling are both growing very fast. I'm optimistic.
I do not think it is "supression" to tell teachers, "you are working on my dime and talking to my kid, so I get to have a 'say' in what you say. If you want to 'put down' my group, go do it on your own time, to people who are not compelled to sit and listen."
I'm Jewish too, Torah observant and MAGA. That is one amazing answer you put together there. That deserves more than a comment; you have earned yourself a Substack. Go for it!
Please, please do not say that the first amendment gives gov. employees the right to say whatever they want while doing their paid work, speaking before a captive audience of young listeners. I agree with your conclusion, but regulation of government speech and protecting kids from compelled speech falls comfortably within the scope of the 1st am. And it is not "book banning" to remove porn and hate speech from libraries for children. The question is, "who decides?" Should the school librarian or administrator have untrammelled authority?? I sure hope not. We live in a democracy, they are agents of the voters, and they should accept that the voters are the final authority or be voted the hell out of office.
I am not a lawyer, but my understanding is that previous SCOTUS's have ruled that speech that is a part of an American's "work" is not protected. When a person's job consists mostly of conversing with others, I think it makes sense that an employer or licensing authority should have some power to regulate what that person says. Things have gotten to the point, however, where self-expression that is categorized as "professional speech" is very vulnerable to hyper-regulation by employers and even by state governments, via professional licensing boards. Bureaucrats who head up these boards as well as corporate DEI departments are taking advantage of this avenue to increasing their authoritarian power over both employees and state-licensed contract workers, including self-employed professionals such as doctors and psychologists.
One obstacle is that the woke/"progressive"/"social justice" establishment refuses to define itself as a political organization or as a religion, or as anything besides the obvious (to them only) bearers of the "Truth." It's a very effective strategy that cults have not used much in the past. Historically, they have liked the benefits of having official status as a tax exempt religion.
The main obstacle to ethics complaints is that the professional associations that publish ethics standards have mostly been captured by the woke cultists. The new ethics standards are then enforced as law by state licensing boards, overriding long standing ethical and scientific traditions in those professions. In my state (Oregon), much of the extreme leftist agenda for public schools has also been encoded into state law, overriding local control of education by parents and other concerned citizens.
Your point about the teachers' unions is well made. That is definitely an option that could be used, if anyone in the union is actually willing to support the teacher who stands up to the woke mob.
Mr. Rufo, I have enormous respect and appreciation for your work. I am a college professor, and I wish you great success with the New College in Florida.
I subscribed to this Substack to have the opportunity to state my disagreement. Charlie Kirk is correct, but even he understates the case. It is not just that we have lost. The universities you cite as the intellectual heritage of the West were founded in order to preserve Western civilization. Modern academia is sworn to the destruction of Western civilization. They loathe it as they loathe nothing else in this world.
It is not possible to reform the system. There is a deep illness in our society, and it cannot be reformed; it must be excised. I appreciate your youthful exuberance. 30 years from now, you will realize that you have accomplished little. All the cognitive elite institutions - education, media, government, entertainment, big tech - are in the iron grip of the cultural marxist left.
The only way I see to save Western civilization is secession from the USA and starting over from scratch.
I understand the problems in the universities, but I don't think they are as lost as you fear. Most of the people working within these institutions are not die-hard left-wing activists—they are serious scholars and teachers who want to do good work, but have been bullied into submission by the activist minority. My argument is that we should seek to change that dynamic. The reality is that elite universities are not going anywhere. We have 300 million people in our country and very few spots in the Ivy Leagues, so supply and demand ensures that they will be powerful long into the future. We can't simply give up. We have to fight to change the culture, one university at a time, if necessary.
Hope is alive! My teenage daughter's are in Washington, DC as I type this on a week long school trip (one, for her AP Govt class & the other tagging along $$$). The da in AP Govt, a junior, just won best debater for a conservative legislative proposal. Hope is alive! She's been indoctrinated left at her school over and clutched it for years. We offer info from the opposing side (conservative) just so she has it so she can critically think her way through. (I'm center conservative/light left on some issues but who knows how to define left/right anymore.)🤷🏻♀️ I've noticed cracks in her armor. For example, she recently quipped, "the real pandemic was pronouns." 🤓 I agree with Christopher and have always thought we shouldn't swing the pendulum too far in one direction to cut off our nose politically. All or nothing approaches won't work in our favor. We can do two things at once, develop trades, new schools and fight back in/with our universities. I visited High Point University in North Carolina. Great school that didn't seem overly political. Some of the ideological insanity we've seen of late just isn't going to pass the sniff test over time via trial, error (grift) of outcomes. I think some are tiring of it already. Great article so glad someone wrote it! Who better than you!
Ugh, wish there was a comment edit option. 🙃
Try clicking the three dots (...) and I believe you can edit.
I believe that many Americans of all ages are still eager to engage in the critical thinking, debate, and search for truths that used to go on in universities. The old schools that have degraded themselves need competition from new schools that give people what they crave. I believe there will be a rush to get into colleges where students resurrect the custom of late night dorm discussions about deep subjects, and where faculty really practice academic freedom. The bottom line for everybody, however, is that they need jobs when they graduate.
Hey, hey Surak - not so glum, guy. Truth has strength of which falsehood can only dream. Truth is like a hugely powerful figure standing beside you, clothed in armor and yielding a mighty sword. The strength of falsehood is illusory. Hang in there baby and don't give in to despair. Two years from now Ron DeSantis will be president, and Congress will be solid Republican, and things will change.
"Two years from now Ron DeSantis will be president, and Congress will be solid Republican, and things will change." That's because Dominion has gone out of business and the deep state has finally given up! Oh wait... I deal in the world of reality, not dreams.
Sometimes dreams come true!
It looks like they might after all! I pray that Trump appoints Rufo to head his new education initiative!
We will see. Time will tell.
I have to agree with Surak on this. Anyone who thinks electing more Republicans is going to fix this is dreaming.
Good Lord what a fatalist point of view! I agree w/Rufo - plus we can fight from within academia if we are literally in it.
I agree that we need counter elites. In practice, that means networking between the tiny number of conservatives in elite institutions so we can help each other survive. That means we hire and promote each other. How do we start doing that?
Lotsa luck. Your average academic on the tenure track, of whatever political orientation, is a careerist who will not sacrifice his living for an ideal. There do exist various scholarly professional groups that have a more conservative or apolitical philosophy. When I was an extremely minor academic (retired early in 2017), I was a member of the Association of Literary Scholars and Critics https://alscw.org/about/. Such organizations may be a place to begin recruiting organized or networked resistance from within, but, again, it requires the growth of spine in the careerist academic.
Also, as Mr. Rufo has himself pointed out, college faculty hiring practices have, for decades, selected for those who declare themselves proponents of DIE (or opponents clever enough to lie persuasively) in their two-paragraph blurbs "describing how the candidate will implement diversity, inclusion, and equity principles in the classroom." Has anyone ever accurately measured the number of anti-woke tenured faculty?
Finally, if the state colleges are worth preserving, we will be a long time awaiting reform, so in the meantime building alternative academies seems the prudent thing to do, short of a commitment by existing institutions to change course in their missions.
Well said, Chris. The solution is not to be reactionary. We have to plant good seeds and patiently help them grow by giving them attention. It takes time but I am hopeful.
I like the Conservative principles provided by Republican Congressman Mike Johnson:
1) individual freedom; 2) limited government: 3) the rule of law; 4) peace through strength; 5) fiscal responsibility; 6) free markets; 7) human dignity.
https://mikejohnson.house.gov/7-core-principles-of-conservatism/
These are the tenets of liberalism, but we've lost sight of them in the post-liberal / progressives-rule environment in America today.
OK, work from the Inside But how to get kids through the exposure to indoctrination without losing them?
My own approach with my kids is to make them strong, smart, and aware of what's happening. My wife and I send them to a good conservative school and want to make sure they're ready to think for themselves by the time they enter college.
Wait a minute. “good conservative “ Is this opting out? K-12? Also perilous.
I like to think of it as "opting in" to a better alternative than K-12 public.
We've seen this script before...conservative elites cynically label all media "left wing" to justify creating their own right wing media safe spaces where they can curate information for the right wing masses (eg, Moon and TWT).
Charlie Sykes admitted it was a concerted to discredit everything that is not explicitly conservative...and he now laments that it has backfired spectacularly, turning GOP into the anti science, "party of stupid."
But I'm sure it will work out following the same script with education. /sarc
Ahhhhhh, they will figure things out. I am not saying that it will be easy. But smart kids can see through a lot. Even in left-wing orgs, there has been so much tumult as of late, that some must be feeling that there is something wrong with their essential world view. Folks will come around. Of course each good person must give his or her all for truth. We can never give in.
I say, the more pressure the university puts on Conservative students the stronger and more ardent supporters of Conservative ideology they will become or they will simply compromise and follow the Pied Piper crowd which the Liberal society has become. As Reagan once said Conservatism is always only one generation from extinction. This is always true and must be true because Liberals have no real strong values or “norms” because they believe in situational ethics and secular humanism. As Patrick Henry once said we have only yet to fight, so we will not back down, we will not give in, and we will not stop defending our freedom and principles!
"Liberals" are united by neo-Marxist identitarianism and its utopian vision. "Conservatives" have no unifying principle to cohere as an effective political bloc, not even the Republican Party, which has notoriously been dominated by advocates of global homogenization via neoconservatism, as their current warmongering demonstrates. Conservatives are always reactionary and inevitably fold under pressure, probably because there is no one, single "conservative ideology."
As Michael Malice puts it, "Conservatism is progressivism driving the speed limit."
I hate to bring up a tangential point. But many of us will never get to hear what you had to say because we just do not have an endless amount of time to listen to/watch everyone's casts and/or because we are visual/reading learners. Autotranscribers are free/cheap and, while imperfect, are plenty good enough. You would be doing a real service to run videos/podcasts through an autotranscriber and publish that as well -- you would increase your reach dramatically. Much to my delight, many/most other folks have, with nudging, started doing this and we are all appreciative.
Good suggestion. Would it be worthwhile if I put the transcripts of these video in the text right below the video for each post? I can definitely do that.
That would be absolutely perfect. Then those who like to listen/watch can do so and those who want to read can do that at the same time.
Also, if you want another educational hill on which it will be worthwhile to die, we should discuss LCME. It is right in your sweet spot and is costing future generations quality medical care in a big way. Have lots of chapter and verse. Feel free to reach out if it interests you.
Okay, I'll try doing this for videos in the future. Thank you for the feedback!
The more important message here is embracing intellectualism and education rather than associating it with some kind of unobtainable sorcery done by leftists.
So often you see writers and influential people who are skilled with their words and very knowledgeable, but they tend to be left wing. I think it’s partially because that’s in vogue for the left, but the right doesn’t have this push for academic excellence, and it seems like people assume college is the only place to develop your intellect. College does not give you something you didn’t already have, it just forces you to cultivate it, which is something you can do on your own with enough discipline and curiosity.
Degrees are losing their value by the day because more and more people have them, and the institutions do not have the respect they once had, so if you don’t need the degree to do what you want to do in the world, then don’t waste your time.
I don't think that Rufo's memes, mean what he thinks they meme. A practical job that pays well without causing a worker to accumulate a huge debt, in "order" to obscurely regurgitate anciently refuted lies, is not a "meme". Former scholars who still live with their parents after being "educated" into uselessness are not "memes". They are the sad consequences of what Allan Bloom described as "The Closing of The American Mind" in 1987, about 3 years after Rufo's birth. Bloom would have noticed the subjects and topic of his book well before Rufo's conception, given the '60's "revolution for the hell-of-it crowd", pace Abbie Hoffman and the rest of the Chicago 7 (or 8 if you count Bobby Seale).
Bloom was an Academic elitist, who (among other more important things), similarly to Plato, thought that young people should not listen to "Rock Music" (with Plato it was "wrong poetry" or "wrong melodies", rather than "rock")! Ted Nugent, who likes controversy, almost as much as rock music or hunting, literally destroyed Bloom in a public debate on that particular topic. But Bloom was right in other criticisms, particularly his criticisms of American student laziness and functional illiteracy.
As Rufo asserts (post "meme" assertions), somewhat inaccurately, quote, "First off, from a PRACTICAL MATTER, we've had universities in the west for a thousand years, since they were first started in France and Spain and then Italy, some of those great original medieval universities to the founding of our country. You have universities that date back four or five hundred years in America that have always been the training ground for the elites in business, law, government, administration, et cetera."
Considering Plato's Academy, Aristotle's Lyceum, ancient Indian and ancient Chinese schools it's more accurate to say over 2000 years of educational institutions. But it's no "practical matter" to assert the fact of schools of an advanced academic kind. Aristotle pointed out 24 centuries ago that the necessities of life had to be obtained before arts, that do not aim at either utility or necessity, could be developed, quote
ARISTOTLE: "But as more arts were invented, and some were directed to the necessities of life, others to recreation, the inventors of the latter [recreation inventors; e.g. musicians or dramatists KB] were naturally always regarded as wiser than the inventors of the former [necessity inventors; e.g. farmers or goatherders; utility inventors; e.g. shoe makers or cloth weavers KB], because their branches of knowledge did not aim at utility. Hence when all such inventions were already established, the sciences which do not aim at giving pleasure or at the necessities of life were discovered, and first in the places where men first began to have leisure. This is why the MATHEMATICAL arts were founded in Egypt; for there the priestly caste were allowed to be at leisure.
"We have said in the ETHICS what the difference is between art and science and the other kindred faculties; but the point of our present discussion is this, that all men suppose what is called WISDOM to deal with the first CAUSES and the PRINCIPLES of things; so that, as has been said before, the man of experience is thought to be wiser than the possessors of any sense perception whatever, the artist wiser than the man of experience, the master worker than the mechanic, and the THEORETICAL kinds of knowledge to be more of the nature of Wisdom than the productive [e.g. computer chip fabrication today or horse shoes in ancient times KB]. Clearly then, WISDOM, is knowledge about certain principles and causes." [Metaphysics; Bk I, Ch. 1.; 981b line 16 to 982a line 1]
So, even though Mr. Rufo [b. 1984] describes himself as, quote "Leading the fight against the left-wing ideological regime.", it is more likely that a mathematician named James Lindsay [b. 1979; Cynical Theories published 2020] followed the leads of both Jonathan Haidt [b. 1963; The Coddling of The American Mind; published 2018 ] and Allan Bloom [b. 1930; The Closing of the American Mind; published 1987], when he [James Lindsay] and 2 friends had "hoax papers" published in Academic Journals on modernly dubious academic subjects. As a mathematician, turned martial artist and massage therapist, Lindsay arguably had the required leisure (noted by Aristotle long ago) to think-up 20 counter-examples to pseudo-academic subjects. My favourite earlier Lindsay paper was titled: "The Conceptual Penis as a Social Construct", arguably because I am toxically masculine [b. 1948]. However I actually self-identify as a young black transgendered male who can "pass" [Kidding!].
Rufo's thesis, contrary to his alleged "memes", is that Conservatives ought to attend College in America, because Colleges have trained American "elites" for the last 400 years. Great. Which college trained Ben Franklin? Henry Ford? Thomas Edison? Orville and Wilbur Wright? Howard Hughes? Bill Gates? [Correct answer = No College.] There is evidence that Edison, Hughes and Gates took courses at higher institutions in subjects that piqued their interests. But no College degrees were obtained. Of course, Ben Franklin established one (maybe more?) Colleges although his own higher schooling consisted of 2 years of Latin instruction followed by much work and reading. Thus a few counter-examples to Mr. Rufo's thesis.
It is certainly true that you must obtain a College degree to be a medical physician or lawyer. America has had at least one great lawyer --- Abe Lincoln. But, whoops, Abe never obtained a law degree. He just read "the law" and associated with some lawyers until he was credentialed. Then there all the degreed lawyers like Nixon, Spiro Agnew and all those Watergate lawyers, followed by rascally Bill Clinton and his forgiving spouse. Wow for such "elites". Overseas, long ago and far away, a major number of the French Revolutionaries who voted to guillotine Louis the 16th [and then each other as well as "everybody else" from all 3 Estates --- 1. Lords Spiritual, 2. Lords Temporal (notably including Antoine Lavoisier --- a Chemistry mentor of mine) and 3. Commoners!] had law degrees. A full two thirds of the French 3rd Estate (commoners) had law degrees (1/3rd) or legal training (1/3rd). Lenin had a law degree [First Class Honours St. Petersberg]. So much for degrees --- especially law degrees, even though I know that Lavoisier had a law degree! Who didn't in 18th century France? [Kidding again!]
So, Mr. Rufo argues, conservatives should go to college to become a "counter-elite", quote:
RUFO: "I think conservatives need to spend more time creating what for the time being would be a counter elite that has the intellectual capacity, that has the organizational structure, and has the potential for leadership that eventually when we start taking back institutions, when we start winning elections and making sure that those things actually translate into policy and institutional reforms ... "
The above is where Mr. Rufo has got it all wrong. Athens had the same institutions, Courts [better Courts than Americans with 500 citizens as judges and jurists --- no "elites" allowed] and even policies as modern Americans. But the Athenians still "hemlocked" Socrates and ran Aristotle out of town on the same trumped up charges as some few "elites" brought against Socrates. France had the same institutions (Churches and Courts) as early America, when French "elites" turned Joan of Arc over to the enemy-English to be burned at the stake on trumped up charges of witchcraft because she was a "non-elite", successful female-General of France's armies --- armies which were totally demoralized before Joan showed up.
So Rufo is wrong. America needs reformed followers (not leaders) and not reformed institutions or organizations. America has plenty of organizations, run by "elite" scoundrels and fatal "femmes"! But Rufo is right about universities or colleges. They're not going to disappear. Americans should be like Ben Franklin, Abe Lincoln, Howard Hughes, James Lindsay or even Mr. Rufo himself. Make some money, take some courses, do some politics --- but save up first and then spend money on useful courses and learning. [I have a part 2. So I'll reply to this boring tome if possible.]
Kevin
Most importantly, is that if you learn anything, learn how to refute those you criticize, on their own grounds of reasoning and on their own terms, rather than merely firing them and replacing them with a member of your own "gang" at twice the salary of the person you just fired --- which is exactly what Rufo and his "elite" Governor-friend did to some University President, named Patricia Okker, recently. Whether fired or woke-cancelled, it is the same abuse of power. The political pushback is well under way, in Florida, with the same cry of "Academic Freedom" on behalf of the American Left as is also the case with "Academic Freedom" on behalf of the American Right (who do not want "woke" academics controlling the education curriculum). The argument cannot be settled with any "power", other than the power of logical argument.
Another non-degreed, non-academic, non-elitist, named G.K. Chesterton, pointed out that fact in a little book entitled Thomas Aquinas The Dumb Ox, in the 1930's, when Fabian Socialism began its relentless march through the institutions. Chesterton was willing and able to debate the socialists of his day and time on their own grounds --- and reveled in it, as did socialists like Shaw and Wells. CHESTERTON: "After the great example of St. Thomas, the principle stands, or ought always to have stood established; that we must either not argue with a man at all, or we must argue on his grounds and not ours." [Ch. III; The Aristotelian Revolution p. 95. Image Books Edition 1956]
Much better than his present call for Conservatives to attend expensive "basket weaving" courses at "elite" American Institutions of "higher learning", Rufo did quite well at explaining himself on Jordan Peterson's podcast and even better in the notes he took for a published Atlantic article, where he defined critical race so-called "theory", like so:
"The Atlantic (Adam Harris): How do you define CRT?
"Christopher F. Rufo: I’ll crib from a recent interview: critical race theory is an academic discipline that holds that the United States is a nation founded on white supremacy and oppression, and that these forces are still at the root of our society. Critical race theorists believe that American institutions, such as the Constitution and legal system, preach freedom and equality, but are mere “camouflages” for naked racial domination. They believe that racism is a constant, universal condition: it simply becomes more subtle, sophisticated, and insidious over the course of history. In simple terms, critical race theory reformulates the old MARXIST dichotomy of oppressor and oppressed, replacing the class categories of bourgeoisie and proletariat with the identity categories of White and Black. But the basic conclusions are the same: in order to liberate man, society must be fundamentally transformed through moral, economic, and political revolution."
It is more correct to say, "replacing the class categories of bourgeoisie and proletariat with the identity categories of White, Patriarchal, Males vs. BIPOC, Anarchical, Women & Gender Fluid folks.", which covers more of the culture wars. But the Atlantic article never mentioned Karl Marx, nor Christopher's definition of Critical Race Theory, as old school Marxism with slightly modified and expanded oppressor vs. oppressed classes in Marx's proverbial "class struggle" --- which is a prominent characteristic of dying civilizations but not of actually viable civilizations.
Here is what the Atlantic published by Adam Harris, concerning Christopher, but not Marx:
THE ATLANTIC: The GOP’s ‘Critical Race Theory’ Obsession; How conservative politicians and pundits became fixated on an academic approach
By Adam Harris (May 7th, 2021)
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/05/gops-critical-race-theory-fixation-explained/618828/
... If a single person bears the most responsibility for the surge in conservative interest in critical race theory, it is probably Christopher Rufo. Last summer, Rufo, a 36-year-old senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a libertarian think tank, received a tip from a municipal employee in Seattle. (Rufo had lived in the city and, in 2018, ran unsuccessfully for city council.) According to the whistleblower, the city was conducting “internalized racial superiority” training sessions for its employees. Rufo submitted a Freedom of Information Act request and wrote about his findings for the institute’s public-policy magazine.
“In conceptual terms,” Rufo wrote, “the city frames the discussion around the idea that black Americans are reducible to the essential quality of ‘blackness’ and white Americans are reducible to the essential quality of ‘whiteness’—that is, the new metaphysics of good and evil.” The training was rampant, he wrote, infecting every part of the city’s municipal system. “It is part of a nationwide movement to make this kind of identity politics the foundation of our public discourse. It may be coming soon to a city or town near you.” His article—which did not include the phrase critical race theory—inspired a rush of whistleblowers from school districts and federal agencies, who reached out to him complaining about diversity training they had been invited to attend or had heard about.
A month later, Rufo employed the term for the first time in an article. “Critical race theory—the academic discourse centered on the concepts of ‘whiteness,’ ‘white fragility,’ and ‘white privilege’—is spreading rapidly through the federal government,” he wrote. He related anecdotes about training influenced by critical race theory at the Environmental Protection Agency, the FBI, and the Treasury Department, among others. In early September, Tucker Carlson invited him on his Fox News show during which Rufo warned viewers that critical race theory had pervaded every institution of the federal government and was being “weaponized” against Americans. He called on President Donald Trump to ban such training in all federal departments.
“Luckily, the president was watching the show and instructed his Chief of Staff to contact me the next morning,” Rufo wrote to me. (He would agree to be interviewed only by email.) Within three weeks, Trump had signed an executive order banning the use of critical race theory by federal departments and contractors in diversity training. “And thus,” he wrote to me, “the real fight against critical race theory began.” [End Quote of the Atlantic Article]
In Christopher's notes he says at the end of his interview, quote: "In the end, the critical race theorists can’t hide from the ugly consequences of their own ideas. I’ll make sure of that.", to which Adam Harris replies in his article, quote
ATLANTIC (Harris): But that is not the fight that has materialized over the past nine months. Instead, it is a confrontation with a CARTOONISH version of critical race theory. For Republicans, the end goal of all these bills is clear: initiating another battle in the culture wars and holding on to some threadbare MYTHOLOGY of the nation that has been challenged in recent years.
Marxism is "cartoonish", particularly when it is not defined. And as to Christopher's making sure that Marxist theorists "can't hide from the ugly consequences of their own ideas", Mr. Harris replied, quote
"ATLANTIC (Harris): Meanwhile, a strong majority of Americans, 78 percent, either had not heard of critical race theory or were unsure whether they had."
Harris concludes with a tweet by Christopher, quote
ATLANTIC [Quoting Rufo's tweet]: “We have turned critical race theory into a national issue and conservative political leaders are starting to fight.”
Then The ATLANTIC advertises Derek Bell's book, which initiated Critical Race Theory, quote
ATLANTIC: Race, Racism, And American Law By Derrick A. Bell;
Buy Book When you buy a book using a link on this page, we receive a commission. Thank you for supporting The Atlantic. Adam Harris is a staff writer at The Atlantic.
In sum, according to the Atlantic, Rufo and GOP friends are "threadbare myth peddlers" straw manning a "cartoon", so buy Derek Bell's book and get some good information on Critical Race Theory. American Marxist Slick! Only Americans could integrate capitalism with Marxism to make a buck.
Kevin
Does one absolutely need a college degree to lead? Many business founders and leaders have done so without one. Why not develop trade schools that specialize in the leadership role a student wishes to pursue? A business school, a government school, an entertainment school, etc. I believe we should withdraw public funding from all universities and establish taxpayer funded higher education ESAs with complete school choice. Only the universities that operate on merit and produce students who achieve at high levels in their chosen endeavors will survive.
Reinventing The University, me thinks is wrong. In my very first Liberal Arts course, the very first assignment was a paper on Cardinal Newman's book "The Idea of a University." The learning became: there are student's who need a vocational education; and there are students who desire a liberal arts degree ... because they have no need for a vocation.
I think once you plant that seed, maybe revisit it on the first day of every liberal arts course, you'll achieve your goal.
Why are there not more private colleges like Hillsdale? Conservatives need to get together, get funding, and start more private colleges.
Chris -
I have a classically trained high school junior that I’d love to go to the Hillsdale of the South. And I’m excited about what Gov.
Desantis and you are trying to do at New College. But I’m worried that you’re too early on the curve to make the experience meaningful for an incoming class in Aug 2024 - that as long as the professors are from the old guard that the administration won’t make that much of a difference.
Am I wrong? How long do you think it will take to make meaningful inroads on the path to a classical and conservative-friendly environment?
I do think a moderate Republican president could enforce the Constitution, i.e. there is no good descrimination and actually support free speech, not forced totalitarian echo chambers that much of the unconstitutional Wokeism professes across the country and certainly on campuses, including K-12. Any school that gets Federal dollars could be held accountable which I think is what Chris was doing before the regime change. Question is can we elect a moderate Republican or not?
Thank you for this opinion - very thought provoking.
Love the videos! Keep them coming.
Exactly right. And we are making huge progress with K-12 schools right now. We're getting universal school choice passed in state legislatures, and classical education and homeschooling are both growing very fast. I'm optimistic.
How do we take the schools back?
I do not think it is "supression" to tell teachers, "you are working on my dime and talking to my kid, so I get to have a 'say' in what you say. If you want to 'put down' my group, go do it on your own time, to people who are not compelled to sit and listen."
I'm Jewish too, Torah observant and MAGA. That is one amazing answer you put together there. That deserves more than a comment; you have earned yourself a Substack. Go for it!
Please, please do not say that the first amendment gives gov. employees the right to say whatever they want while doing their paid work, speaking before a captive audience of young listeners. I agree with your conclusion, but regulation of government speech and protecting kids from compelled speech falls comfortably within the scope of the 1st am. And it is not "book banning" to remove porn and hate speech from libraries for children. The question is, "who decides?" Should the school librarian or administrator have untrammelled authority?? I sure hope not. We live in a democracy, they are agents of the voters, and they should accept that the voters are the final authority or be voted the hell out of office.
I am not a lawyer, but my understanding is that previous SCOTUS's have ruled that speech that is a part of an American's "work" is not protected. When a person's job consists mostly of conversing with others, I think it makes sense that an employer or licensing authority should have some power to regulate what that person says. Things have gotten to the point, however, where self-expression that is categorized as "professional speech" is very vulnerable to hyper-regulation by employers and even by state governments, via professional licensing boards. Bureaucrats who head up these boards as well as corporate DEI departments are taking advantage of this avenue to increasing their authoritarian power over both employees and state-licensed contract workers, including self-employed professionals such as doctors and psychologists.
One obstacle is that the woke/"progressive"/"social justice" establishment refuses to define itself as a political organization or as a religion, or as anything besides the obvious (to them only) bearers of the "Truth." It's a very effective strategy that cults have not used much in the past. Historically, they have liked the benefits of having official status as a tax exempt religion.
The main obstacle to ethics complaints is that the professional associations that publish ethics standards have mostly been captured by the woke cultists. The new ethics standards are then enforced as law by state licensing boards, overriding long standing ethical and scientific traditions in those professions. In my state (Oregon), much of the extreme leftist agenda for public schools has also been encoded into state law, overriding local control of education by parents and other concerned citizens.
Your point about the teachers' unions is well made. That is definitely an option that could be used, if anyone in the union is actually willing to support the teacher who stands up to the woke mob.