RE: End The University As We Know It To The Editor
I know you must have gotten thousands of letters on this topic, but I was intrigued to note the near-universal rejection of Mark C. Taylor’s ideas, which I found quite appealing. It seemed to me that none of the other respondents, not even Dr. Taylor Carman, professor of philosophy, have been equipped with a suitable critical apparatus to recognize the modern university for what it is: a regime of truth that produces technocrats with little to no critical foundations or ability to stir up trouble in the real world.
You can verify my claim by noting how the neo-cons succeeded in bringing our country to its knees, as suggested by the recent wonderful book, “French Theory”; no university would have the likes of a Paul Wolfovitz or a Don Rumsfeld as a tenured professor, so, like the dogs of hell, they were unleashed in the only other institution that would have them: the US government. Dogmatic universities did not want dialog or dissent happening on their campuses. And we all know how that turned out.
All of the rabble rousers at my alma mater certainly never got tenure and found themselves on the street shortly after I graduated; I was just lucky to be at the right place at the right time to actually learn something (McGill ‘98). [Addendum: Rather than protect freedom of speech, tenure leads to unilateral dogmatism, and a highly charged political atmosphere where any deviation from the departmental status quo is not tolerated for long. It stifles innovation and is the wrong reward for talent worth retaining. It creates a mob-boss, union intimidation style environment for what should be the most intellectually diverse, challenging, AND safe places in our world.]
Of course, it is technocratism, with its total lack of depth and narrowness of focus, that has brought about our economic predicament as well. Regardless of their field, students have been taught how to participate in a highly bureaucratic institution that teaches them how to sit for an exam and get a good mark by following the rules.
I am saddened by the lack of dialog or critical discourse found in the unilateral academic rejection of changing the status quo. I also found it interesting how none of the academics offered any real useful alternatives, just vague gestures of, “something else will have to do that would not cause me to lose my chair.” What a lot of timid cowards. Perhaps if they had to read some books outside their specialties, they might recognize their institutions for what they are: either state-run tax-base enhancement vehicles, or privately-held bridges limiting the passage into the privileged hallways of power.
Universities will never change until the demand for their product declines. The ever-increasing middle class obsession with premium college-degree product seems to indicate that there is no sign of demand waning, so I’m not holding my breath. I will just make sure my kids do what I did, and go to school in Canada. If you’re not going to change with the times, you may as well have to actually work hard to get a good mark.
