Are Colleges and Universities “Indoctrination Mills”?Santorum Has a Lot to Learn from My Undergraduate Students
In his recent interview with conservative television host Glenn Beck, Rick Santorum, a GOP presidential hopeful, referred to U.S. colleges and universities as “indoctrination mills.” “The indoctrination that is going on at the university level is a harm to our country,” he said.
According to the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, “indoctrinate” means “fill the mind with particular ideas or beliefs.” The synonyms for “indoctrination” include “brainwashing,” “propaganda,” and “proselytization.” What follows is a scene from a college classroom that constitutes a core space of what Santorum refers to as an “indoctrination mill.”
It is a lower-level undergraduate course called Women and Religion. There are 24 students in the class; all are young women of African descent, ages 17 to 22,[i] who come from diverse backgrounds. In terms of religiosity, the majority of them come from a Christian background, which is diverse in itself. For many of these students, this is their first religious studies course, and they struggle with challenging questions in every class session.
Earlier this semester, the students read the introduction to Women and Religion (2007) by Mary Pat Fisher, where the author briefly talks about the significance of motherhood in various religious traditions. While recognizing the crucial role that motherhood and/or the symbol of the mother plays in different religious traditions, the author points out that what is considered the ideal of motherhood is “not universally experienced. Not every home is a safe and nurturing place, nor do all women choose motherhood” (18). The author also briefly discusses women as mystics and ascetics. As a class activity, I asked for volunteers who would share their discussion questions based on the day’s assigned reading. While about six students wrote their questions on the board, I asked the class to think about the assumptions, presuppositions, and hypotheses that are embedded in each question.
One of the questions that generated a lively discussion was, “Why do women practice ascetic celibacy, when it is ‘God’s’ gift to women to bear and nurture children?” The student who raised this question added “deity, sacred being, and higher being” in brackets next to “God,” and explained that although she is a Christian she does not want to assume that everyone in class is Christian, thus trying to indicate that others may use different terms for “God.” It was her way of being “sensitive” and “considerate” to the students who may not come from so-called monotheistic religious traditions, though her question was later challenged by other students from various angles.
What I heard on that day in class was not what happens in “indoctrination mills”:
“Being a mother and giving birth are what only women can do. But, men are also capable of nurturing kids.”
“Why do we assume that all women want to or can give birth?”
“I can understand why some women choose to become ascetics, abandoning their role as wife and mother.”
“Not all religious traditions have a belief in god or in one god.”
“Buddhism does not believe in god, does it?”
“It is not fair to say that giving birth is a gift from God because not every woman wants to have a baby.”
“How do we know if it is a curse or a gift from God?”
“Why do we say only women are nurturing? Men can be nurturing too! And, some women are not nurturing…”
In another recent interview, Rick Santorum said that abortion should never be allowed, even in cases of rape or incest, because “this horribly created” pregnancy is “nevertheless a gift in a very broken way, the gift of human life, and accept what God has given to you.”
What would my students have told him if he were saying this in front of them? Their critical minds, openness to difference, and readiness to explore would have enabled them to point out what Santorum would not be able to fathom. He and any other politician who dares to speak from a narrow, unreflective, uncritical, uninformed, and “indoctrinated” perspective has a lot to learn from my undergraduate students, who, at least, acknowledge that their views and experiences are limited, and they are thus more than willing to listen to different viewpoints and perspectives on the many issues that affect their daily lives. It must be college students’ passion and willingness to question that Santorum seems to be afraid of recognizing when he calls U.S. colleges and universities “indoctrination mills.” And, he’d better be.
[i] Sometimes I have “nontraditional” students who are much older, but I do not have them in this particular class.