cheers,
jrg
On Fri, 27 Sep 1996, Michael J. Salvo wrote:
> At 12:38 AM 9/27/96 -0700, Kenneth Robert Wright wrote:
> >I don't mean capitalism in the sense
> >that one needs money to keep the system going. What I mean is
> >that the shaping force of the system is conceived in capitalistic
> >terms. After all, much (most? all?) of our current college
> >system is conceived of in terms of exchange value. We, or if not
> >us our students, view education in terms of what its material
> >worth is or will be or will translate into:
>
> YES! yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
>
> all the talk about academia being a protected province, gene's crystal
> castle, seems to me to spring from the idea that the university *is*
> shielded from the cultural values of capitalism. we're not -- nor should we
> be totally removed from responding to the needs of our students. these
> students, i would posit, are not customers or consumers but CONSTITUENTS of
> the university. and the companies, corporations -- all the entities that
> hire graduates or pay students' tuition -- are constituents of the university.
>
> i'm so very troubled by the (seemingly recent) move to make universities
> profit-producing entities -- or a break-even enterprise. we're simply not
> going to make money (as an institution) teaching. similarly, we need to
> look at the other variables in this equation. the military doesn't "make"
> money ... but it does protect the interests of those who make vast amounts
> of money -- profits out of wack with the money they put into the
> military/industrial complex. education does support the interests of
> business in much the same way.
>
> now, the fracture is between the training employers *want* their
> college-graduated new employees to have and the skills they actually show up
> with. and there are big problems with this gap. colleges must respond to
> these demands, and they (we!) are by and large failing in this task. on the
> other hand, we (as educators) must continue providing the most liberal (as
> in liberal arts -- although i don't mind a liberal-value institution myself)
> education possible.
>
> balance. both/and.
>
> let me add that even the circus is an institution. it'll just be an
> institution without roots or a way or maintaining consistent delivery. *i*
> don't want to put on grease paint before every class.
>
> the institution of the university (or whatever it will come to be called)
> will be re-formed (both in the sense of changed with progress *and* re-built
> from the ground up) as we face the changes of the new millenium. i am
> concerned, however, that if all the folks i respect (on this list, elsewhere
> is cyberspace, at my new institution) who have the potential to enact change
> take their show on the road, the very people who have the potential to
> change the university will leave it, thereby extracting their own force from
> the momentum of change.
>
> a few months ago, becky rickly described the pace of change like steering a
> battleship. we've almost faught our way onto the bridge, and then the real
> work of steering the ship will begin. it'll take a *long* time to turn the
> ship, but once it's turned ... it's just as difficult to put it into reverse.
>
> balance. both/and.
>
> in this case, both/and will mean working both online and in print, it will
> mean working both in the institutions and outside them, working with the
> rarified geniuses in the upper chambers of the crystal palace and with the
> penny rabble at the globe. it means working as a nomad and as "part of the
> problem," part of the institution. seems to me, we work contrary to our own
> goals by putting ourselves outside the very institutions to which we have
> valuable contributions to make, institutions that can profit from our
> insight -- and i have faith that if we do this *right* there will be a
> reformation of value.
>
> and if *that* doesn't work, and i'm still treated like the poor country
> cousin, then i'll join the circus. bowles and gintis, _schooling in
> capitalist america_ is still the reference for me ...
>
>
> mike
>
\
\ Jeffrey R. Galin
_/ Department of English
o// California State Univ. San Bernardino
/-/ 5500 University Parkway, 92407-2397
/\/
|/ (412) 521-1472 (H)
// Galin+@pitt.edu
o |\ http://www.pitt.edu/~jrgst7/homepage.html
|< \ WebRights-L@list.pitt.edu (print/digital publishing)
_____/_\__/ Majordomo@list.pitt.edu (subscribe WebRights-L <name>)
_/ \___________________________________________________ . . .