Recent studies indicate that 2/3rds of those who graduate college show no improvement in critical thinking ability, in fact 1/3rd emerge with a decline in critical thinking ability. Another study indicates that those with advanced degrees on the Left have as every bit of whack-a-dew skewed perceptions as those with no education on the Right (note: only one group has power). Now there is another study indicating that those in the ‘elite’ (making over $150k with an advanced degree) and even more so for Ivy League grads who are the preeminent conformists to the mainstream narratives and have unshakable faith in mainstream narratives and the ability of the government and large institutions to solve problems. Having an advanced degree in the 2020s signifies “selling out”. These are folks want the safety, comfort, and ease of a large bureaucracy. With a number of exceptions, advanced degrees prepare one to work for others, to fall in line.
All federal government “leaders” are considered ‘elite’. Practically all of the federal government is in the top 3%. The D.C. blob of bureaucrats, consultants, contractors, academics, bandits and political animals are extremely envious, highly materialistic, driven by careerism that has led to massive institutional corruption. Education is no longer pursued to satisfy curiosity or gain knowledge, it is what gives a person value in the market place. If you spent your whole life preparing yourself to “sell out”, you certainly aren’t going to rock-the-boat or go against-the-grain, they don’t.
A significant part of the story of the West’s decline, is the crack-up of the former “thinking class”. It is their theories, uninformed by practical experience or common sense, that are driving us apart and mad. It is precisely the people we are taught from birth to respect, trust, and look up to who are failing. The working-class and middle-class showed up and did what they were supposed to do, they fulfilled their end of the bargain, it is “leadership” at nearly all levels who has failed and has seemingly gone crazy. Academia thought they knew better than God and Nature, that they could engineer a perfectly just utopia, instead they gave into greed, gluttony, and lust, and took up virtue signalling and projecting their sins onto others.
Something terribly wrong has happened yet the old paradigm remains unquestioned.