I went to the graduate school at Rutgers (sociology), which was quite progressive and critical of the status quo. As far as the undergrads were concerned, however, there were several kinds:
- the frat-jocks (perhaps not the majority but very loud and obnoxious) - stupid and reactionary, interested mainly in sports and parties and barely making it through the course, or not making;
- the white suburban kids (probably the majority) - treating college as a continuation of high school, doing as little as possible to pass, pretty conventional and pro-status quo
- the black urban males - without a clue and seeing conspiracies everywhere;
- the black urban females - no BS, businesslike "what do I need to do pass this class"
- the feminist white females (a vocal minority) - basically ok, but sometimes too soft-skinned
- the assorted odds and ends, lefties, pwogies, etc. (a colorful minority).
My favorite was teaching intro to sociology with a heavy dose of Marxism. Most students did not give a shit and hinted that "I go back where I came from" - however, one working class white female found it very relevant to her own experience as a supermarket sales clerk - reading her term paper on deskilling of service labor was worth putting up with the other 80 or so doofuses.
Wojtek