On Friday’s broadcast of HBO’s “Real Time,” CNN host Fareed Zakaria argued that “woke stuff” in colleges is “undermining one of the greatest assets we have” in global competition with China.
While discussing his special on China, Zakaria stated, “The most important part about the woke stuff…is we are undermining one of the greatest assets we have. If there’s one thing we dominate in the world, it’s college education. Our colleges, our research universities, these are the best in the world. Why? Because they have been focused on quality, on merit, on education. The more you turn it into this — I don’t have — it’s not that I have any objection or any specific thing, but the whole focus is on the wrong thing. We should be figuring out how to be — MIT should not be worrying about whether or not a professor can say this or that or the other, they should be figuring out how to win the artificial intelligence competition.”
After host Bill Maher referenced the controversy over gifted programs in New York City, Zakaria said, “One of the reasons why we have done as well as we have, despite the kind of problems you’re talking about, Bill, is that the best in America, the people working at the best tech companies, at the greatest research universities, they’re working hard. They’re hustling. They’re — you don’t need all of the society to do it, but you’ve got to support the talented people, you’ve got to support the people working hard. Because those are the people who are going to take you to the cutting edge, they’re going to lead the society, and if you muddle it all up by saying, well, actually, there’s no difference between all of us and we can all be computer science geniuses, no we can’t. I can’t.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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