College Polarization

Neil Gross in the NY Times:

The good news is that most young people going to college today will find like-minded peers to connect with and will take engaging courses that speak to their interests and values. Relatively few will spend their college years browbeaten by arrogant professors or militant students whose political views are antithetical to their own.

The bad news is that this mostly congenial experience is made possible by a pervasive insularity. To a striking degree, young people now pick their college based in part on the school’s political reputation, make friends with and date other kids with similar political views, choose majors that reinforce their outlook on the world and generally gravitate toward what is ideologically familiar.

This self-sorting not only undercuts the development of the critical thinking skills that a college education is supposed to foster; it also deepens the polarization that is imperiling our country.

I doubt this trend is as powerful or pervasive as Gross makes it seem, but it is absolutely real; friendships between MAGA and DSA young Americans seem to me to be very rare indeed. People don't just oppose their political enemies, they hate them, and many of us seem to think that nothing else matters nearly as much.