A Conservative Student’s Experience in the Liberal Sciences
I started out in my first year of college right before President Obama was elected for his second term. It was my first election to vote, and I was relatively indifferent to the outcome. Contrast that with the most recent election, and I can hardly believe that person was me. I saw our country teetering on the edge of disaster, almost wholly contingent on who won the Executive. I have changed a lot in four years, and have college to thank for it.
Upon deciding to go to nursing school, I was excited to learn about the human body and how to care for people through different physical ailments. I expected to learn about disease processes and most effective protocols for patient care. Imagine my surprise in my first class when I started learning social justice themes. I figured that this must just be the obligatory class to social awareness and cultural sensitivity that has become common core for virtually every institution of higher learning in the United States. Well, I was wrong. Throughout the classes of Nursing Research, Nursing Theory, Adult Health 1, Fundamentals of Nursing, Nursing Pharmacology, and Nursing Research topics covered included: America’s institutional and systemic racism, multiculturalism, LGTBQ sensitivity, and the wage gap between genders (or rather sexes, because gender isn’t physical, but instead mental, at least that’s what I’ve been told). Who knew fighting for minority rights and administering benzodiazepines had so much in common?
As I learned more and more about social justice (or injustice, rather), something struck me that gave severe cognitive dissonance. I was constantly learning about “tolerance,” “acceptance,” and “diversity,” but all three seemed to be missing from my personal collegiate experience, as well as my observations of the common college experience nationwide. Diversity is present in almost every form at my school: sex, race, ethnicity, wealth. There’s one category missing, and a significant one at that…thought. Diversity of thought is almost nonexistent, and my school is not unique in this respect. Colleges across the nation are intellectually homogenous, incubating people in one worldview and ideology. This is where the Left is tested on its acceptance and tolerance. Ann Coulter. Milo Yiannopoulos. Dennis Prager. All well-known conservative speakers who have endured the wrath of the tolerant Left at universities in some form or fashion over the past year (think Berkely).
Further investigation and experiences in my classes showed me the answer. People are afraid. A fellow classmate told me she was afraid she would be ostracized if she mentions her conservative views. One of my family members says that her friends don’t know who she is, and if they find out, they might discontinue the friendship entirely. Sadly, this seems to be more the rule instead of the exception.
So, I have come to the conclusion that I am a conservative. I’m not ashamed, and I’m not scared. I’m told to believe certain things every single day in my classes, and those things have influenced me in the opposite way than they are intended. Instead of being told what opinions I need to have, I’ve decided to form opinions on my own. They are counter-culture in our institutions of higher learning, and certainly are not popular. However, I have a feeling that there are silent people with beliefs like mine sitting in seats next to me. This video (https://www.prageru.com/courses/life-studies/college-made-me-conservative) is a perfect example of other people in the same boat I’m in. It is my hope that freedom can be brought back into the classroom and diversity of opinion will become more important than diversity of skin color.











