To gain admittance to college in the 17th century, students had to be able to read and translate various Latin authors on sight. 100 years ago, students were required to have read various classical works before being admitted.
Today, however, many American students are being admitted to colleges without ever having read a book from start to finish. They are part of a cohort of students known as “book virgins.”
Ronald Reagan was president the last time those on the right outnumbered those on the left
College students have a reputation for being liberal, but first-year students haven’t described themselves as this liberal by this measure since 1973, when the Vietnam War was winding down and the draft was ended.
Some 33.5% of students described themselves as liberal or far left, compared with 31.7% in 2014 and 29.6% in 2012, UCLA’s annual CIRP survey of first-time, full-time freshmen found. In 1973, the total was 36.4%.
On the other side of the political spectrum, 21.6% described themselves as conservative or far right, slightly more than the 21% that said so in 2014. In 1973, 14.9% described themselves that way, the survey found.
The last time those on the right outnumbered those on the left among college freshmen was in 1981, just after Ronald Reagan was elected president. Among the shrinking plurality that describes themselves as middle of road, more have shifted liberal than conservative since then.
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