“One of the more important functions of college — that it exposes young people to ideas and arguments they have not encountered at home — is redefined as a problem.”

—  Ellen Willis

"The Pernicious Concept of 'Balance'" http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/1124.html, The Chronicle of Higher Education (9 September 2005)
Context: Some conservatives have expressed outrage that the views of professors are at odds with the views of students, as if ideas were entitled to be represented in proportion to their popularity and students were entitled to professors who share their political or social values. One of the more important functions of college — that it exposes young people to ideas and arguments they have not encountered at home — is redefined as a problem.

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Ellen Willis 43
writer, activist 1941–2006

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