Ayn Rand Among Young People Today
Ayn Rand has always appealed to teens and young adults. In the 1960s, "Students of Objectivism" and "Radicals for Capitalism" clubs were common on college campuses. Not much has changed, except that now, a full generation (and maybe four "gens") later, the phenomenon is all the more evident.
It is too easy to complain about "brainwashing" in public schools. Kids resist authority naturally because that is part of the process of becoming an adult. (Admittedly, not all do.) I point to the Esssy Contests sponsored by the Ayn Rand Institute. Go to their website and spend time reading the lists of winners.
http://aynrandnovels.org/essay-contests/...
In 1998, 195 junior high and high school students placed winning essays for "Anthem" and 2013, "Anthem" drew 235. So, call it 200 per year for 15 years. Atlas Shrugged is the college assignment. Last year, 85 essays earned awards and mentions.
Traditionally, the ARI sponsored contests for Anthem (grades 8-10), The Fountainhead (11th and 12th), and Atlas Shrugged (college). In 2011, they added "We the Living" for grade 10, 11, and 12. The first year drew 112 worthy essays; again this year, 115. Not surprisingly, while boys and girls are about even throughout, young women especially were drawn to "We the Living".
Moreover, examine their schools. Search the lists for "St. " and similar strings and you will find Catholic schools easily. Our Lady of Lourdes in Miami, Florida, ran away with place awards. They must have a cabal there driving the nuns to distraction.
And these are just the kids who wrote essays that merited mentions and awards. Very many more read the books, but did not participate.
I entered college first in 1967. Over the years, I attended several schools but always for personal or professional development. I did care about the degrees. Then, following the Dot Com Meltdown, 9/11, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Mortgage Meltdown and the Banking Crisis, work just got hard to find. I could not even apply for a job as a technical writer without a bachelor's degree. So, my wife returned to college and university. At my community college, after a sociology class, coming down the stairs two girls were above me and I heard one complain to the other, "America sucks, America sucks, week after week its the same stuff: America sucks." Obviously, she was not buying what the instructor was selling. Working on my master's, I had two classes in international economics. One of my professors was a Marxist, and I am not just calling him names. He was a pretty good guy and I learned a lot. Marxists are all about economics... So, one class was about "Extractive Industries." These imperialists make sweetheart deals with military dictatorships, strip the resources and leave slag heaps and worse behind. It was easy for me to understand. He was shocked and disappointed when several people turned in essays about the GOOD things these companies do, like building roads, schools, and hospitals. These were not right wingers, or conservatives, just your middle of the road Keynesians. In fact, one of the others whom I did agree with, a pretty good conservative, a bit older, working on a second master's, agreed with the professor, as I did. But these young people all had ideas of their own and they did not agree with him. Period.
It is no different today than it was in 1960. Baby boomers, Gen X, Gen Y, Gen Next, Millennials... Every decade, every cohort discovers their right to live their own lives by their own standards. It was not always so. In most times and most places most people were successful by learning the traditions of their culture. In our time we have a tradition of challenging tradition. Ayn Rand was the sparkplug for that engine.
It is too easy to complain about "brainwashing" in public schools. Kids resist authority naturally because that is part of the process of becoming an adult. (Admittedly, not all do.) I point to the Esssy Contests sponsored by the Ayn Rand Institute. Go to their website and spend time reading the lists of winners.
http://aynrandnovels.org/essay-contests/...
In 1998, 195 junior high and high school students placed winning essays for "Anthem" and 2013, "Anthem" drew 235. So, call it 200 per year for 15 years. Atlas Shrugged is the college assignment. Last year, 85 essays earned awards and mentions.
Traditionally, the ARI sponsored contests for Anthem (grades 8-10), The Fountainhead (11th and 12th), and Atlas Shrugged (college). In 2011, they added "We the Living" for grade 10, 11, and 12. The first year drew 112 worthy essays; again this year, 115. Not surprisingly, while boys and girls are about even throughout, young women especially were drawn to "We the Living".
Moreover, examine their schools. Search the lists for "St. " and similar strings and you will find Catholic schools easily. Our Lady of Lourdes in Miami, Florida, ran away with place awards. They must have a cabal there driving the nuns to distraction.
And these are just the kids who wrote essays that merited mentions and awards. Very many more read the books, but did not participate.
I entered college first in 1967. Over the years, I attended several schools but always for personal or professional development. I did care about the degrees. Then, following the Dot Com Meltdown, 9/11, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Mortgage Meltdown and the Banking Crisis, work just got hard to find. I could not even apply for a job as a technical writer without a bachelor's degree. So, my wife returned to college and university. At my community college, after a sociology class, coming down the stairs two girls were above me and I heard one complain to the other, "America sucks, America sucks, week after week its the same stuff: America sucks." Obviously, she was not buying what the instructor was selling. Working on my master's, I had two classes in international economics. One of my professors was a Marxist, and I am not just calling him names. He was a pretty good guy and I learned a lot. Marxists are all about economics... So, one class was about "Extractive Industries." These imperialists make sweetheart deals with military dictatorships, strip the resources and leave slag heaps and worse behind. It was easy for me to understand. He was shocked and disappointed when several people turned in essays about the GOOD things these companies do, like building roads, schools, and hospitals. These were not right wingers, or conservatives, just your middle of the road Keynesians. In fact, one of the others whom I did agree with, a pretty good conservative, a bit older, working on a second master's, agreed with the professor, as I did. But these young people all had ideas of their own and they did not agree with him. Period.
It is no different today than it was in 1960. Baby boomers, Gen X, Gen Y, Gen Next, Millennials... Every decade, every cohort discovers their right to live their own lives by their own standards. It was not always so. In most times and most places most people were successful by learning the traditions of their culture. In our time we have a tradition of challenging tradition. Ayn Rand was the sparkplug for that engine.
