Adventures in Illinois Higher Education: Introduction and Predictions for Spring 2015

By: Shane Radliff

January 4th, 2016

Along with this new year, comes a new higher level indoctrination campus, since I received the first of two “magical pieces of paper”, more commonly known as an Associate’s Degree. I’m hard pressed to believe that the policies and ideologies propagated at Illinois State University (ISU) could be worse than what I witnessed at Heartland Community College (HCC), but, as is the trend with “progressivism”, I’m sure it will only get “progressively” worse.

At HCC, I had firsthand encounters with mindless Millennials, but only a small number expressed outright their advocacy for socialism. I believe my experiences at ISU will prove to be quite different, as I have, after the fact, learned about two Bernie Sanders rallies in Downtown Normal that happened earlier this year, in 2015; both of those being substantial enough, that they received coverage in the school newspaper, as well as the Pantagraph (the newspaper for Bloomington/Normal). I’m sure that’s pretty typical at your hometown college, but unlike your average “journalist”, I intend on challenging these economically illiterate lunatics on their dangerous policy proposals in the Spring edition of Adventures in Illinois Higher Education.

That being said, I figured I would inform you all about the classes I will have to suffer through, as well as provide some predictions on what I expect from them. Since this is one of the most popular series available exclusively at Liberty Under Attack, I thought it would be a good idea to give my readers something to ponder for the next week or so, before I begin my regimen of classes.

For the new readers of this series, it’s worth a mention that I am majoring in journalism and minoring in philosophy.

My class schedule is as follows:

Monday/Wednesday
- Philosophy 112: Language, Logic, and Mathematics
- Communications 161: Convergent Media Writing (Lecture Period)
- Communications 111: Introduction to Communication Theories
- Communications 160: Introduction to Mass Media
Tuesday/Thursday
- Philosophy 223: Ethics
Friday
- Communications 161: Convergent Media Writing (Discussion Period)

Now that I have disclosed the class regimen, let’s make some predictions regarding the content of the aforementioned classes, as well as the implementation of a “risk rating”, on a scale of 1-5 (with 5 being the riskiest).

I’ll deal with the two philosophy classes in bulk. From my experiences at HCC, I think philosophy will be bearable. Depending on the content covered in class, I’m not sure there will be the opportunity to promote communism or political correctness. Additionally, I think I might actually enjoy Philosophy 112, considering that it deals with “logic”, the caveat being, “progressive logic” cannot be classified as logic, so I guess we will have to see on that one. As for Philosophy 223, ethics will definitely be interesting; that being said, I’m sure Murray Rothbard’s, The Ethics of Liberty, will not be something that is covered, albeit it is a crucial reading if one is to truly understand natural rights, or liberty more generally.

>Risk Rating: 2.5 (Neutral)

The description of “Convergent Media Writing” put forth on the university catalog states that it is an: “Introduction to the variety of mass communication media students may encounter in their careers. Preparation and presentation of various mass communication formats.”

Well, that seems harmless, right? Not necessarily. In Spring of 2015, I took a class at HCC called “Writing for the Media.” I despised the “inverted pyramid” formula, which is the process of putting the most important information at the beginning of the article (the “Five Ws”), with most everything else being scrapped by the editors. When you write watered down garbage for government controlled media, that is probably enough, but when you are writing about subjects found here on Liberty Under Attack, the introduction must “hook” the reader and tell them why they should care. That is not conducive to the bullshit “inverted pyramid” formula.

To conclude, the class description sounds like everything I am already doing—preparing and presenting information using different mediums (articles, videos, and the radio show, for example). I will admit, I may learn one or two things from this class, but considering the cost of higher level indoctrination today, I can safely say that it is not worth it.

>Risk Rating: 3

“Introduction to Communication Theories”, as put forth by the catalog, “Introduces the student to numerous basic communication theories and underlying assumptions of theory building.”

Pardon the expletive, but what the fuck does that even mean?! I consider myself to be an intelligent individual, but I’m not even sure what there is to suss out, based off of that description.

>Risk Rating: 4, purely based off of the inadequate description

“Introduction to Mass Media” will be the only “5” in the set based off of this description: “Mass media development and function in modern society: technological basis, economic and political foundations, social implications.” [emphasis added]

If you’re a normal reader of Liberty Under Attack, that description should tell you enough. Anytime politics or economics is discussed during higher level indoctrination, you’re going to have a bad time, and especially when it’s in regards to government controlled media.

From what I experienced in the “Writing for the Media” class, the best I can hope for is watching a video of a police extortionist outright murdering a citizen; but that, in and of itself, comes with negative consequences as well, mainly the defense of said police extortionist.

>Risk Rating: 5

I’ve been working on completing all of the necessary obligations in order to be allowed to take classes this semester for almost a month. After being admitted, registering for classes, and paying tuition, there are still a couple more hoops that I have to jump through before I start on January 11^th. I have to turn in proof of immunizations, get a parking pass, purchase overpriced books and supplies, and wait for my transcript proving that I received my Associate’s Degree. I’m hoping to accomplish this all in one day, but that is surely wishful thinking.

If I had it my way, I would prefer to just get on with my life, but unfortunately, that is not conducive to my current life situation. Many of the great entrepreneurs didn’t even bother with college due to the massive opportunity costs, and I share their sentiments. I will be spending 5 days a week at ISU, possibly working my ass off, to get a degree that could have no impact on my (un)employment situation.

Rather, I’d like to think that all of the articles I have written for this website provide a much better resume than any college degree ever could. Reason being, even if an alternative media outlet disagrees with my views, they at least know that I am committed and that writing is one of my talents.

At 23 years old, I still have a significant amount of uncertainty about my future, and I can safely say that part of that is due to the current gridlock I find myself in, in regards to higher level indoctrination.

Given the opportunity costs, how much time will I have wasted when this is all said and done?

Adventures in Illinois Higher Education: Introduction and Predictions for Spring 2015