Last April, I visited Boston addressing the New Anti-Semitism, the Academic Intifada, and the Great Betrayal American Jews experienced as Woke U becoming Jew-Bashing U. One morning, I jogged to Harvard. Running along the Charles River, the heaviness of the wars against Israel and against the Jews lifted. Reaching Harvard Yard, I time-traveled. The decades separating me and today鈥檚 undergraduates 鈥� and some of the anger distancing me from some Harvard colleagues 鈥� vanished 鈥� at least temporarily.

I remembered my undergraduate years as a Harvard Crimson Key tour guide sharing Harvard lore. Here 鈥� Weld 32 — is where John Kennedy lived in 1936-1937. There — the Sever Hall basement bathroom — is where Marilyn French was inspired to write her feminist blockbuster The Women鈥檚 Room.听 听

The students looked unchanged: fresh-faced, enthusiastic, adults-in-the-making. You imagined all the brain-power churning. You could taste the wealth and power epitomized by the historic buildings, and some well-dressed, older, corporate types wandering the Yard, escorted by eager-beaver undergrads. You felt like harvesting the pheromones from the budding romances, as young couples arm-in-arm exited their dorms 鈥� or his or her dorm. And you remembered, beyond it all, how this universe was fueled by ideas, ideas, and more ideas.

In short, a year after the encampments, amid the confusion as Jews wondered how America鈥檚 president could be so illiberal yet so against anti-Semitism, the university鈥檚 forever-magic triumphed. Despite its problems, North America鈥檚 Higher Education system remains the most marvelous laboratory for instilling knowledge, nurturing ideas, generating innovations, and cultivating young minds invented since the Babylonian Yeshivas. That鈥檚 why so many of us oppose what鈥檚 happening on campus 鈥� while still encouraging students to enter what could be toxic environments.

鈥淟ook at me,鈥� I tell students, 鈥淚鈥檓 a case of arrested development. I got to university and never left.鈥� But many of us fear that the liberal-minded, critical, substantive university I fell in love with, left us. 听

These then, are the clashing realities every thoughtful student, 91传媒 and non-91传媒, faces.

Just as David Ben-Gurion advised Zionists during World War II to fight the British as if there were no Nazis, while fighting with the British against the Nazis, modern students must live a paradox.听 The Academic Intifada continues. Beyond demonizing Israel, Zionists, Jews, a small fanatic group of 鈥渉ack-ademics鈥� hijack the holy classroom podium. They turn it into a political platform obsessed with romanticizing 鈥渢he oppressed鈥� while targeting the 鈥渙ppressors.鈥� While it鈥檚 worse in elite social sciences and humanities faculties 鈥� my world — some medical schools teach 鈥淒eColonizing Anatomy,鈥� not basic bone structure, and some mathematicians brand adding numbers correctly 鈥渨hite supremacist.鈥�

Similarly, some overly-influential students practice an all-or-nothing politics of intolerance, orthodoxies, litmus tests and cancel culture.听

So, yes, dear students, as this series will teach, you must be ready to resist this academic intifada. But only a small minority of hyper-politicized faculty and students have ruined the atmosphere. Their toxicity varies from campus to campus, department to department, class to class.听

Beware, if you see it everywhere 鈥� you鈥檒l learn nowhere; it鈥檚 much harder to learn, laugh, live, thrive, if you鈥檙e constantly tense or on the defensive.

The greater obstacles to good education include parents鈥� and students鈥� obsession with credentials, grades, and future jobs, combined with too many professors鈥� over-investment in research, not teaching.

Relax. Make sure to see the magic, seek the magic, and cultivate higher education鈥檚 forever-magic. Your parents, your society, your upbringing, have given you a mind-expanding, soul-stretching, character-building opportunity. Unlike in much of the rest of the world, most young Americans and Canadians don鈥檛 have to serve in the army or work so many hours that they cannot enjoy the four-year-gift of college, which nearly 40 percent extend to graduate school. 听

Make sure to see the magic, seek the magic, and cultivate higher education鈥檚 forever-magic.听

Start a new ritual: on your first day of school, call 鈥� don鈥檛 text 鈥� the people in your life most responsible for this gift. A little gratitude goes a long way to helping you see the good around you not just the bad, and in this case, appreciate the structures of education that still work, beyond the misfires.

Throughout the next ten weeks, this column will advise learners of all ages 鈥� and their parents 鈥� to maximize the wonderful opportunities many take for granted. You want to take challenging, thought-provoking, classes from open-minded, rigorous professors and don鈥檛 just go for the 鈥済ut course鈥� 鈥� easy grade. You want to learn how to be an effective educational consumer, advocating for your rights when necessary, but seizing great learning moments always. You want to taste what it鈥檚 like to live the life of ideas, staying up late arguing with friends about the meaning of life, who your role models are, and what is the best ice cream flavor.听 And I hope you鈥檒l have experiences that get you questioning some of your core assumptions, either to change them, or to dissect them, re-examine them, reaffirm them, and then defend them passionately. 听

You want to taste what it鈥檚 like to live the life of ideas, staying up late arguing with friends about the meaning of life, who your role models are, and what is the best ice cream flavor. 听

To model the kind of journey you might follow, applying eternal wisdom from great books, to how you learn, think, live, consider Pirkei Avot, Ethics of the Fathers, 4:1. Ben Zoma said: 鈥淲ho are wise? Those learning from everyone鈥� 鈥� your peers have much to teach, along with your professors.听

鈥淲ho are mighty? Those subduing their evil inclinations鈥�.鈥�听 Life unsupervised easily degenerates into life undisciplined. Know who you are, what you want, and how to limit yourself to achieve your best self.

鈥淲ho are rich? Those rejoicing in their lot鈥�.鈥� Universities are filled with smarty-pants superstars who can outdo you 鈥� alongside normies who find you intimidating. Spend less time competing with others, or feeling inadequate, and find your inner satisfaction, your balance, your happiness with who you are and what you have.

Finally: 鈥淲ho gets honored? Those who honor others鈥�.鈥� Ultimately, Woke U runs on disrespect. A small, self-righteous, overly-influential group dismisses open-ended inquiry and thoughtful disagreement.听

Go in the other direction. Cultivate respect for others, stay open-minded, self-controlled, and satisfied with who you are 鈥� and be grateful for the magnificent opportunities universities offer to flourish.

Gil Troy, a senior fellow in Zionist Thought at the 91传媒 People Policy Institute, is an American presidential historian. His latest books, 鈥淭o Resist the Academic Intifada: Letters to My Students on Defending the Zionist Dream鈥� and 鈥淭he Essential Guide to October 7th and its Aftermath鈥� were just published.听