How have we come — seemingly so quickly — to the place where Marxists and Islamists are reshaping the Democratic primaries?

In an article for First Things, Shai Goldman provides one explanation. He writes of his years attending Columbia University, as rabid antisemitism was exploding on campus.

Mr. Goldman’s time at Columbia overlapped with that of Darializa Avila Chevalier, who recently became the Democrats’ nominee to represent upper Manhattan in Congress. She was a leader of the Gaza movement, which spread throughout the student body.

Much of the Core Curriculum at Columbia is taught in small seminars. Mr. Goldman writes: “At every seminar, twenty of us would sit around a table, each with the same goal: to fool the professor into believing we had read the assigned material.” He admits, “we would attempt to expound on texts in a manner that appeared profound and reasonable without revealing that we actually had little to no idea what we were talking about.” This often elicited praise for critical thinking.

Two years later — Mr. Goldman says, “I have come to believe that this game lies at the heart of what has gone wrong at America’s top institutions of higher learning.”

He continues: ”When college seminars reward students for speaking confidently about topics they do not understand, the students learn to become experts at doing just that.” 

And now, they’re doing it on a national stage. Darializa Avila Chevalier, is calling for the seizure of property from landlords and the abolition of police and prisons. She and other young radicals are winning primaries based upon promises that sound good to their peers, but are often misinformed and could potentially destroy our economy and system of government. 

In the 90’s, parents became concerned that schools were shortchanging basics. We were told our children were learning something better: “critical thinking.” Students — and candidates — may sound smart. But without serious study of a subject, critical thinking “yields misguided and dangerous conclusions.