(from Forbes):
By Thomas K. Lindsay
Of late, the media have been awash with news accounts of student protests on college campuses around the country. From Mizzou, to Harvard, to USC, to Yale, and beyond, protesters have, among other things, forced the resignations of a president, a chancellor and a professor, all of whose political views were deemed beyond the pale by the protesters.
Throughout, charges of “institutional racism,” lack of “sensitivity” and the need for “safe spaces,” have highlighted the protesters’ demands.
These actions have produced an equally vocal reaction: Critics, on the left as well as the right, have assailed both the protesters and what they deem the weak-kneed responses to these protests by college administrators. These critics worry that American college students are becoming “coddled,” intolerant and historically illiterate.
These charges carry some weight, but an additional “enabling” factor has largely been missed: Some students protest because they can. And they can because many have a lot of time on their hands. They have a lot of time because, today, they study only about half of much as students did fifty years ago. CONTINUE READING HERE