On friday the 24th I attended a conference presented by "The center for Cultural Analysis" titled, "The Public University in the 21st Century". The conference was running all day and I missed most of it due to other classes however I did get to catch a lecture from a former professor of the Philosophy department at Middlesex University in the UK. He was initially planning on speaking on the philosophical and financial aspects of the private and public university however after the days talks he changed his direction a little bit. He explained the situation in England and other parts of Europe, a situation which is entirely possible in the future in the US. He described how many nations had completely gotten rid of their "boards of education" or similar entities and given all responsibility to divisions that handle economic and financial duties. These nations governments have laid out goals for increased privatization and the effects have been profound. The focus on vocational and technical skills has completely devalued the disciplins of the arts and humanities. People's primary focus, and the governments focus are on providing technical and specialized areas of education. The professor also explained that there is literally no federal or state level funding provided for institutions in England anymore which means that their cirriculum and faculty have lost the autonomy that they once enjoyed and tuition has increased "300 %", equivalent to about $15,000 at the minimum. The anger and protests in the UK are with good reason because the government has turned the Deans of institutions there into "managers" who are no longer academically tied to the school, their seemingly sole function is to provide an economically efficient product. The professor ended his discussion with a statement that implied that this is very possible and can happen here in the US if it is allowed to.
On friday the 24th I attended a conference presented by "The center for Cultural Analysis" titled, "The Public University in the 21st Century". The conference was running all day and I missed most of it due to other classes however I did get to catch a lecture from a former professor of the Philosophy department at Middlesex University in the UK. He was initially planning on speaking on the philosophical and financial aspects of the private and public university however after the days talks he changed his direction a little bit. He explained the situation in England and other parts of Europe, a situation which is entirely possible in the future in the US. He described how many nations had completely gotten rid of their "boards of education" or similar entities and given all responsibility to divisions that handle economic and financial duties. These nations governments have laid out goals for increased privatization and the effects have been profound. The focus on vocational and technical skills has completely devalued the disciplins of the arts and humanities. People's primary focus, and the governments focus are on providing technical and specialized areas of education. The professor also explained that there is literally no federal or state level funding provided for institutions in England anymore which means that their cirriculum and faculty have lost the autonomy that they once enjoyed and tuition has increased "300 %", equivalent to about $15,000 at the minimum. The anger and protests in the UK are with good reason because the government has turned the Deans of institutions there into "managers" who are no longer academically tied to the school, their seemingly sole function is to provide an economically efficient product. The professor ended his discussion with a statement that implied that this is very possible and can happen here in the US if it is allowed to.
Great! Thanks for going to the conference. Love your blog background.
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