{"id":943,"date":"2015-08-14T13:57:11","date_gmt":"2015-08-14T17:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/pschmid1\/?p=943"},"modified":"2024-05-28T08:14:39","modified_gmt":"2024-05-28T12:14:39","slug":"some-quick-thoughts-on-current-debates-about-higher-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/pschmid1\/?p=943","title":{"rendered":"Some quick thoughts on current debates about higher education"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Everyone Thinks the Current State of Higher Education is Awful. Who is to Blame?<\/a>”
\nDaniel W. Drezner, The Washington Post<\/em>, 14 August 2015.<\/p>\n

This article summarizing some current debates about higher education is worth reading. In the U.S. we\u2019re definitely in danger of harming higher education and therefore our future\u2014even as other nations are trying to copy our \u201cliberal arts\u201d model of education. The piece summarizes two different analyses of what\u2019s wrong and what should be done, and each one has some valid points. Since the author is rather vague about his own position, though, let me be less vague about mine. (I\u2019ve been a college teacher for over 30 years.)<\/p>\n

Yes, \u201cprotecting\u201d students in the name of education is a contradiction in terms. Students need safe spaces, however; it\u2019s valid to request them (you all had some; think back). But the classroom should NOT a safe space. Or, rather, it\u2019s a place where students and teacher can explore the really difficult stuff with support and help, so that they can understand why we all make mistakes and why we\u2019re in the fix we\u2019re in. In short, like any good story, class discussions have to move into dangerous spaces in order for us to grow. But heroes need trustworthy guides as well; they can\u2019t do it all on their own. This is particularly true when the scary stuff discussed involves race, gender, sexuality, the ways in which power and evil work in the world, and other such topics.<\/p>\n

Yes, the consumer model (and the neoliberal market) is in danger of taking over academia; it shows up everywhere, including when students talk about \u201cshopping\u201d for courses and administrators discuss whether or not things are \u201ccost-effective.\u201d It\u2019s driven by debt worries, the economic crisis, people thinking they have to sell skill sets, and by know-nothing state legislators, governors, and others who have for decades systematically cut back on financial support for universities and colleges and for the students who want to attend them.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the alternative? First, show how even from a \u201cmarket\u201d perspective current trends are disastrous. Companies want graduates who can think critically and resourcefully as they identify and then solve problems. They want to hire people who find and respect relevant facts and won\u2019t be fooled by false solutions (that\u2019s why we try to teach \u201ccritical thinking\u201d). We need a more diverse (and diversely trained) workplace, given how the population is changing\u2014and a generation of students not so burdened by debt that they will be afraid to take employment risks and confront injustice when they encounter it.<\/p>\n

Second, one of the best and most engaging ways to teach character\u2014which is toughness mixed with tenderness, morality mixed with openness towards others\u2014is via a study of history and of imaginative works of art, literature, and performance. There\u2019s never any guarantee that students will be transformed by such study. (Nazi officers loved listening to Brahms in the concentration camps, so we are told, probably to reassure themselves that they were civilized.) But the best that people have thought and said when they were faced with tough choices has a transformative effect on students\u2014I\u2019ve seen it again and again. It makes them able to IMAGINE more deeply and more daringly. Societies need citizens with powerful, empathic imaginations. Societies that don\u2019t know how to grow these are soon rotten. Check out writer Neil Gaiman\u2019s great statement about this, \u201cWhy Our Future Depends on Libraries, Reading, and Daydreaming\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Everyone Thinks the Current State of Higher Education is Awful. Who is to Blame?” Daniel W. Drezner, The Washington Post, 14 August 2015. This article summarizing some current debates about higher education is worth reading. In the U.S. we\u2019re definitely … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5,6,7,8,9,1],"tags":[117,118,119],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/pschmid1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/943"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/pschmid1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/pschmid1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/pschmid1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/pschmid1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=943"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/pschmid1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/943\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":947,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/pschmid1\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/943\/revisions\/947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/pschmid1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/pschmid1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/pschmid1\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}