If over 80% of students say they submitted classwork that misrepresented their views to align with professors, higher education may be rewarding performative conformity over honest reasoning. This incentive structure trains graduates to signal orthodoxy rather than engage in open inquiry. The behavior reportedly extends beyond classrooms into friendships and dating, eroding trust.
— It implies universities are selecting and socializing future leaders by ideological compliance, with downstream effects on institutional culture and public debate.
Steve Sailer
2025.10.09
67% relevant
The Harvard Classroom Social Compact Committee report describes students’ reluctance to speak due to social sanction fears and notes rampant grade inflation letting them 'coast.' That aligns with the claim that incentives in higher ed reward performative conformity over honest reasoning.
Arnold Kling
2025.08.23
60% relevant
FAIR’s white paper on California’s ethnic studies curriculum alleges it rewards political conformity and chills dissent, paralleling evidence that education systems incentivize ideological compliance over open inquiry.
Steve Stewart-Williams
2025.08.13
100% relevant
Romm and Waldman: “More than 80 percent said they had submitted classwork that misrepresented their views in order to align with professors.”
Steve Stewart-Williams
2025.08.06
62% relevant
The article argues liberals and conservatives obey different authorities; in universities, professors function as liberal authorities, aligning with evidence that students conform their expressed views to match professors to obtain grades.