Re: college students again and a question

[joanna bujes]

What happened at American universities in the 60's was

1) anyone who didn't want to be drafted headed for a graduate program --
and many of these folks were radicalized by the war.
2) the universities had to hire and give tenure because teachers were in
short supply when universities were trying to process the baby boomers
and those who stayed in college to avoid the draft.
So, it was a seller's market that was skewed leftward by the war and
increasing prosperity. By the seventies, this was finished.
Joanna

E. Ahmet Tonak wrote:

Radical economists cannot get teaching positions at those universities
respected or otherwise if there is no demand for them.  The demand itself is
always created by the general political and cultural mood.  Sometimes,
certain segments of society signal/provoke those "mood" swings, e.g.
youngsters in the 60's and the landless peasants in contemporary Brazil,
etc.  I think, what happened in the US universities (as I was told by
American friends) in the 60's is one concrete illustration of this
connection between academia and society at large, i.e. radicals
"infiltrated" to all kind of programs throughout, including economics
departments: Marglin of Harvard, Harris of Stanford, Foley of
Barnard/Columbia, etc.
Am I making sense as an outsider--as another Turk?

Ahmet Tonak

----- Original Message -----
From: "Sabri Oncu" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2003 1:30 AM
Subject: Re: college students again and a question



Many of the students seemed convinced that
neoclassical economics was an inadequate tool
for analyzing production and distribution.
But several of them wanted to know why it was
so popular and dominant in the schools.  Why
weren't most students presented with alternatives?
What would pen'lers have told them?
Michael Yates


Hi Michael,

Once on PEN-L I claimed that one of the reasons for
that was that most of the economists on PEN-L, as well
as others like them, had not resisted hard enough to
keep their rightful places at the "respected"
universities. Whether we like it or not, it is at
these "respected" universities that one can outshout
the others. Those who outshouted the alternative views
did that from their posts at these "respected"
universities.
Whether PEN-Lers and others like them had any chance
to find a place at such universities is a question to
which I am not qualified to provide an answer. I
simply do not have enough information to do that.
But it is my belief that it is time for those who have
the knowledge and ability to present alternative views
to reclaim their rightful places at these "respected"
universities.
Otherwise, they will continue to be outshouted or so I
believe.
Sabri