No wonder most college students are such dumbasses. Where is von Mises, Hayek, and Rothbard? We’re Doomed.
Guest Post by Tom Bemis
Bible doesn’t even show up in database of works on syllabi
Getty ImagesTrigger warning: The following blog post includes the use of ironic tone which may be confusing or upsetting to people reading outside their safe zones.
In case you had any doubts that America’s college campuses are dominated by Godless communists, fresh statistical evidence is at hand.
More than 25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the onset of market economy practices in China, “The Communist Manifesto” still ranks among the top three most frequently assigned texts at American universities.
By contrast, the Bible doesn’t show up at all.
That’s according to data from Open Syllabus project, which tracks books and other works assigned to students in more than 1 million syllabi.
The database is assembled using computer algorithms that scrape the data from publicly available sites. It is still very much a work in progress, according to its web site. The syllabi analyzed are primarily from the U.S. and cover the past decade or so, according to the site.
Each text is assigned a count, registering the number of times it appears in syllabi, and a teaching score, “a numerical indicator of the frequency with which a particular work is taught,” according to the site.
Some books show up where you might not expect them.
For instance, a search for “economics” shows Paul Krugman at the top of the list with his iconic “Economics,” which gets a count of 1,081 and score of 89.4. However, Gregory Mankiw’s “Macroeconomics,” doesn’t appear at all under the same search, even though it gets a count of 989 and a teaching score of 87.5.
Karl Marx’s classic receives a count of 3,189 and a score of 99.7. It doesn’t actually show up under economics texts either, as it is generally taught along with philosophy texts such as “The Social Contract,” by Jean-Jacques Rousseau; “Leviathan,” by Thomas Hobbes; and “On Liberty,” by John Stuart Mill.
The only books assigned more frequently than “The Communist Manifesto” were “The Elements of Style,” the writing guide by William Strunk which was popularized by E.B. White, and “The Republic,” by Plato.
Among other standouts, “Mein Kampf,” by Adolph Hitler, received a count of 697 and a score of 75.7. “What Is To Be Done,” by Vladimir Lenin received a count of 361 and a teaching score of 45.9.
Here’s a look at the most frequently taught works by notable economists (and others) relating to economics and money:
| Author | Most frequently taught work | Count | Teaching score |
| Karl Marx | The Communist Manifesto | 3189 | 99.7 |
| Adam Smith | Wealth of Nations | 1587 | 95.5 |
| Paul Krugman | Economics | 1081 | 89.4 |
| Gregory N. Mankiw | Macroeconomics | 989 | 87.5 |
| Thomas L. Friedman | The Lexus and the Olive Tree | 733 | 77.8 |
| Milton Friedman | Capitalism and Freedom | 556 | 65.7 |
| Joseph Stiglitz | Economics | 528 | 62.8 |
| John Maynard Keynes | The General Theory of Employment | 348 | 44.2 |
| Malcolm Gladwell | The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference | 225 | 28.7 |
| John Kenneth Galbraith | The Affluent Society | 177 | 22.5 |
| Michael Lewis | Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game | 50 | 6.4 |
| Ben Bernanke | Nonmonetary Effects of the Financial Crisis in the Propagation of the Great Depression | 40 | 5.1 |
| Janet Yellen | Efficiency Wage Models of Unemployment | 31 | 3.9 |
| Nouriel Roubini | Crisis Economics: A Crash Course in the Future of Finance | 16 | 2 |
| Alan Greenspan | The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World | 16 | 2 |
| Source: Open Syllabus Project / MarketWatch analysis | |||
Why in hell would the Bible be assigned unless attending a religious school?
Well there must be something to old Marx because our Commander And Thief sure loves the guy. Oreo loves the guy so much he even set out to appoint Marxists to most of the WH positions and the first Christmas in the WH Oreo even put ornaments with Mao and Marx on them on the Christmas trees.
Our students should know all about Marx as his economic treatise is fast becoming our accepted way of life. (sad but true)
So, are students only supposed to learn one side of an argument, just the Capitalist side? How then would they be able to intellectually refute Communism if they do not learn about it? Historically, Communism has been a significant event. That is what students should be studying, significant things in History and their effects.
The Bible? Haven’t we enough religious nutcakes in the world? Religion should be taught in the home, not by the State.
I have read the Koran and the Communist Manifesto and they are both as stupid as the people Mark Dice interviews. Rdawg, “By contrast, the Bible doesn’t show up at all.” The Bible is one of the greatest pieces of literature in the world but morons like you can’t see that. It also contains prophecy like Is53 that was written about 700 years before Jesus; and the NT contains stories about the greatest philosopher and only Savior of mankind.
Marx looked at people’s behavior as controlled by outside influences and social forces.
He proposed that controlling these would control behavior and improve the masses.
This is why the left denies personal responsibility and blames the environment over personal choice for people’s behavior. (i.e. it’s guns that cause violence, not the violent people using them, and getting rid of them will stop violence.)
Of course he never seemed to realize that it that were true -that these outside forces could be controlled by people- it would invalidate his theory since it would be people controlling them.
Marxism, socialism, all leftist thought is based in demonstrable fallacy.
B ,you don’t see importance of the Bible because you are a degenerate reprobate.
Why Marxism ? Cause academia is full of subversive pieces of shit who could never amount to anything in the private sector so they become envious of the free market system that rewards individuals based on skills.
Hey Bobby Siddell,
Go fuck yourself. If you want your kids to read the Bible, send them to church.
I have no time to waste on mythology and fairy tales.
/sarcon
I believe that the stories of King Arthur really happened. Sure there are some factual errors, but that’s to be expected for a text older than the earth itself. Merlin really existed, as a wizard, and fought the forces of evil magic with good magic. That shit really happened, and if you don’t believe then you’re a heathen and you have nothing of value to say since the forces of evil magic have clearly blinded you to the one and only truth! Long live King Arthur, all hail the round table.
/sarcoff
A scientist looks at the real world and tries to explain how it works in theory; an economist looks at his theory and tries to explain why the real world is wrong; a ‘churchie’ looks at the real world and needs someone else to explain things; a spiritual person looks at the real world and shrugs, they know this is only part of the journey.
And BigStupid looks at the world and actually thinks he knows everything about it.
When he actually knows somewhere between nothing and very little.
Hence the screen name.
Not my problem; you’ll have Eternity to regret it.
No chance. By the way, what if you’re wrong?
Won’t Vishnu, Zeus, Allah, or whoever be pissed?
See, you don’t believe in any of the thousands of other gods man has invented.
I just go one further.
If you gave kids a good education in critical thinking and taught them to think for themselves and question things they are told, they would not vote for the correct people from the professors and teachers union’s points of view.
It’s funny to me now that I spent most of my life despising Karl Marx when I didn’t even bother to read his life story. Did you guys know that he never worked a day in his life? He mooched off of his BFF and other rich people till the day he died.
He’s my new hero. Fuck Ayn Rand and Von Mises, I want to iive the remaining few years of my life like Karl spent his entire life.
Sure, you can call him names. You could say he was a loser, a bum, a parasite, and even go as far as calling him one of the most destructive people who ever lived. But you got to admit he was clever. Anybody who can slide through this world without breaking a sweat, and living in style to boot, is a smart dude
His name is burned into the pages of history. I worked my balls off and will be as memorable as a fart in a hurricane.
Before any of you say that at least I have my pride, well, allow me to tell you how I feel about pride. Hold pride in one hand and shit in the other and see which one fills up first.
So they’re teaching about Marx in college, eh? Good! I wish I learned about him when I was in school. It’s a little late now. Thanks to whatever you want to call this fucked up system I live under I am screwed, blued and tattooed.
Karl Marx. My hero! 😉
Just google “the declining rate of profit” and tell me Marx wasn’t a genius at describing the nature of capitalism. His remedies may leave something to be desired, but as a diagnostician he is unparalleled.
During his early adulthood he was confessing Christian. Wrote an article for Christianity Today magazine called.. In Christ (at age of 17 ).. You can still read that article. Something happened to him in his early 20s
that caused him to completely reject Christ.From then he became a total apostate and devout enemy of God.