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Conservative Revolution

Britain and the world’s oldest conservative think tank

Conservative Revolution

Britain and the world’s oldest conservative think tank

Bow Group Survey of Conservative Students Reports Clear Bias in British Education

Oct 27, 2017 | Archive, Policies

“For too long universities in Britain have been taking both taxpayer’s and students’ money and giving them an extremely skewed view of the world. It’s utterly disengenuos; investigating this problem does not curtail free speech, it promotes it.” – Cllr Ben Harris-Quinney, Bow Group Chairman 

The Bow Group & Conservative Progress have conducted a survey of conservative students in Britain, it demonstrates a damning report of clear and extreme bias in British education against both support for Brexit and conservative views.

  • More than 400 people have responded to a survery conducted by the Bow Group on bias in UK education
  • 81% of respondants do not believe Brexit is taught in an impartial manner
  • Of those who responded saying they did not believe it was impartial, 97% said they believed the lecturing was negative towards Brexit.
  • 85% said they believe the public have a right to know what content is being taught and the level of bias it is being taught with.
  • Students & teachers have anonymously given their stories on direct experiences of bias (below).
Quotes:

“For too long universities in Britain have been taking both taxpayer’s and student’s money and giving them an extremely skewed view of the world. It’s utterly disengenuos, whatever the personal views of students or academics there is a duty incumbent upon educators to give a balanced view, or to ensure a balance of views is reflected across the faculty. 
The protest by academics to Chris Heaton-Harris MP’s attempt to investigate the level of bias on campus tells its own story. They know how bad the problem is, but they don’t want anyone else to know. Exposing the scale of this bias does not curtail free speech, it promotes it.” – Cllr Ben Harris-Quinney, Bow Group Chairman 

“Any education institution that refuses to address the problem of biased and inaccurate teaching should have all state funding withdrawn and their accreditation reviewed” – Dr Jon Stanley, Bow Group Senior Research Fellow

Quotes from Students & teachers (anonymous):

“I don’t want to come out as conservative yet, it is not safe to do so at my uni (Sussex)”

“I didn’t risk writing anything that could be construed as anti-EU/pro-Brexit in my EU law exam.” 

“Lecturer in a Criminology lecture stated how he believed when we left the EU no planes would be able to fly into or from Europe. He then continued to slam anybody who had voted to leave which was a clear attempt to make people such as myself feel uneducated and guilty. After we moved on he came back to the topic stating that he’d love to teach a module on ‘The aftermath of Brexit’ and be able to educate idiots on the consequences of decisions.”

“Educational left wing bias is rife, I am a qualified long time secondary school teacher. It has become more rampant and vicious, totalitarian even in the last few years”
“All my fellow students and lecturers were pro remain and to keep the peace if anyone wasn’t they kept quiet , this is plain wrong!”
“I work in a university – the extent to which some academics are seething and/or emotionally unstable on this issue is so great that it is impossible for them not to carry considerable bias into their lectures. There will also be a huge amount of confirmation bias and groupthink, given the leanings of students on these issues.”
“If you have a pro-brexit opinion, during debates you got abuse thrown at you not only from other students but lecturers as well. Which is why it’s mainly biased against brexit as the pro-brexit students choose not to say anything during debates. You find it’s only people on the left side of politics who shout and cause issues during our debates. So in the end those on the middle ground or to the right. Just sit there in silence as not worth losing a whole lecture. Which is what happens when we voice our opinions”
“As someone who works in secondary schools. I am unable to express my opinion on brexit as I am immediately shouted down and told I am racist. These comments potentially could affect my job prospects.”
“I am a PhD candidate  and am studying by distance so I only see my supervisor occasionally, however every time I have met with her for supervision she has made strong, anti-Brexit comments. Prior to the referendum she stated that voting to leave was racist, xenophobic and she would leave the country in the event of Brexit. The day after article 50 was triggered I had a supervision meeting with her, and she ranted that ‘the stupidity had to be stopped’. Up until this point I had kept my pro-Brexit views to myself, but I challenged her comments about trying to overturn the result. She then explicitly asked me how I voted, and because I was not prepared to lie, I told her that I supported Leave. She abruptly left the room stating that she needed to put some cold water on her face, when she returned she said that she no longer wanted to discuss the subject with me.”