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Obama Criticizes 'Coddling' of Students | InsideHigherEd

Inside Higher Ed: President Obama spoke at an Iowa high school this week and was asked about proposals to cut off federal funds to "politically biased" colleges. The president didn't think such a plan was workable or desirable, but he gave a strong statement about the value of being exposed in college to new ideas, including those that are different from one's own and even appear offensive. "The purpose of higher education is not just, as I said before, to transmit skills. It's also to widen your horizons … to help you to evaluate information, to help you make your way through the world," Obama said. "The way to do that is to create a space where a lot of ideas are presented and collide and people are having arguments and people are testing each other's theories, and over time people learn from each other. … They are getting out of their own narrow point of view."

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