The Legacy of William Ayers

by Liberty and Power

The penetration of the"social justice" movement into our society can be glimpsed in schools of education. Jay Schalin, writing for the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy, has looked carefully at syllabi of one school, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

He quotes from the description of the school's educational leadership program:

". . . we are first and foremost concerned with the agenda of constructing democratic learning communities which are positioned in the larger society to support an agenda of social action which removes all forms of injustice.”

There's much more. (A previous article explores the philosophy behind"social justice.") And you thought education schools were about teaching teachers how to teach.

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Jane S. Shaw - 11/18/2008

Actually, the article published by the Pope Center was well researched. A number of sources indicate that C. Wright Mills espoused Marxism. For example, Wikipedia says:

"While Mills never embraced the 'Marxist' label, he nonetheless told his closest associates that he felt much closer to what he saw as the best
currents of flexible, humanist Marxism than to its alternatives. He
considered himself as a "plain Marxist", working in the spirit of young Marxas he claims in his collected essays: "Power, Politics and People" (Oxford
University Press, 1963)."

Marxists.org says: "The New Left in the United States emerged out of the student movement,especially S.D.S. – Students for a Democratic Society.

C. Wright Mills was not himself a student at the time, or participant in
this movement but he was able to give a Marxist voice to it, and his books
criticizing the 'power elite' – later to be called the 'military-industrial
complex' – sold by the million."

There are others. Perhaps Dr. Marina has information that suggests Mills changed his views late in life. If so, perhaps he could improve the Wikipedia description.

William Marina - 11/3/2008

If one is really concerned about the "Legacy" of Wm Ayers and his possible influence on a US presidential candidate today, checking out the following link might be of interest regarding Ayers and John McCain:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article21134.htm

William Marina - 11/3/2008

I find Jay Schalin’s two pieces, linked at Jane Shaw’s blog comment of interest. According to his biographical note, he “joined the John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy in August 2007. He researches and writes about higher education issues, primarily in North Carolina, and oversees the center’s Web site and weekly newsletter, Clarion Call.
A Philadelphia native, Schalin began working as a freelance journalist for the Asbury Park Press in New Jersey in 1994, and has written for several other papers in New Jersey and Delaware. In 1998, he returned to school to complete his education, graduating from Richard Stockton College in New Jersey with a B.S. in Computer Science in 2001. After graduation, he was employed as a software engineer with Computer Sciences Corporation.
Schalin is scheduled to complete his M.A. in Economics from the University of Delaware in February of 2008.”

Although that bio has apparently not been updated, one assumes he did perhaps obtain an MA in Economics last February. I also acknowledge that a BS in Computer Science does not disqualify one from writing on policy matters relating to Higher Education. That having been said, I find much of what he writes vitriolic nonsense!

Among his favorite words are “subversion,” “subversive,” and “infiltrated.”

We here in North Carolina, specifically UNC-Chapel Hill, appear to have been infiltrated by the subsersive ideas of Marxists such as William Ayers. And, Gosh, as Sarah and John know, this knave has some kind of distant relationship to --Gasp! -- Barack Obama. Oh Dear, the Commies are Coming, the Commies are Coming!

The whole “social justice” curriculum at Chapel Hill has been infiltrated by these Marxist subversives, Latin American Marxists like Paolo Freire and others. We must be careful for this kind of thing leads to Adolf Hitler and Mein Kampf.

The movement for “social justice” has existed for a very long time, including activists like John Dewey and thinkers like John Rawls. While I do not agree with the much of the thrust of their ideas and commented on Rawls right after his book came out in the early 1970s, these pioneers in “social justice” are hardly Marxists!

I am more concerned, according to a recent questionnaire sent out to 150 leading schools, that the ideas of Hegel in Philosophy, Marx in Economics and Freud in Psychology, are no longer much taught at all, except briefly touched upon in infrequently offered histories of these subjects.

Schalin calls the sociologist, C. Wright Mills a Marxist. That is simply not true, although like many radical intellectuals, he may have been impresssed, as I have as a libertairian, with some of Marx’s ideas. I had the opportunity to speak with Mills shortly before his death, and have in my possession a number of his letters from his years in Texas, Wiconsin and after.

I hope this kind of shoddy writing is not indicative of the overall quality of the work of the Pope Center.

Common Sense - 11/1/2008

The social justice agenda a Ed schools is a serious problem, but this guy is using it to smear Obama. Obama's connection with this agenda is tenuous at best.