Interesting organization, FIRE. I think it is very good that this org exists, that it serves as a kind of watchdog to make sure that everyone's rights are being excercised in the university/college environment. Yes, institutions of higher learning can tend towards isolationism from the working world (the Ivory Tower)- some more than others, & some professors have very big egos & rule their classrooms in dictorial fashion. I have had some of these instructors & wanna be instructors (teaching assistants) who have been on sad little power trips for sure. I have also had many great teachers who are true educators...they know that the meaning of education is to draw out...not to hammer in! ;~)
I read the intro to the Shadow University. I will be interested in hearing Brenda's review when she has read the book. While I don't doubt for a minute that there are injustices being committed in higher education (everywhere there are humans there are injustices), what is very hard for me to digest is that there is some overall (intentional? sinister?)value system at work in the myriad of colleges & universities across our country, such as is suggested here in the intro to the book: "Contrary to the expectations of most applicants, colleges and universities are not freer than the society at large. Indeed, they are less free, and that diminution is continuing apace. In a nation whose future depends upon an education in freedom, colleges and universities are teaching the values of censorship, self-censorship, and self-righteous abuse of power. Our institutions of higher education greet freshmen not as individuals on the threshold of adulthood, but as embodiments of group-identity, largely defined in terms of blood and history, who are to be infantilized at every turn..." So I guess what I would need to understand is what kind of research & bibliography went into the writing of this book to determine if what the authors are saying is a prevailing educational culture or just a list of specific injustices at a variety of institutions. ******************************************** Kate Bennett www.katebennett.com sponsored by Polysonics www.polysonics.com Discover the Indies at Taylor Guitars: http://www.taylorguitars.com/artists/awp/indies/bennett.html ********************************************
