michael perelman I can only comment based on my experience in Chico. As Jim mentioned, students have to work for wages for too long, just to cover tuition. Also, many of the faculty are discouraged by management nonsense, often pushed to supposedly make everything "a center of excellence." Finally, students are not stupid. They know that everything is screwed up and that their future is at risk.
------- This seems a pretty good summary. But still I want to add that there is no reason that what economists, Marxists, Humanities profesdsors, etc think is important is not the measure of human knowledge & the good life. It's legitimate for those who want it or need it, but they must learn not to sneer at those who don't have their knowledge. Back in the '60s Andre Gorz wrote about a visit he paid to one of the elite technical schools they had (have?) in France. While there, he asked someone, what is taught here that the students couldn't learn on the job. After thinking a moment, the man replied: Calculus. Next question: Will they need that in their work? Answer: No. And read what Newman has to say on the 18th-c Oxford & Cambridge: how vile they were and what good results they produced. It's hard to measure, but in addition to the obscene costs & low state support, leading to long hours at work, I think in quantitative terms a lot more work has been piled on current students as well as (Joanna notes this) just more nervous tension. I hope everyone remembers that in the original greek, the root of school, scholar, etc meant "leisure." Students, like the whole working class, need more time to loaf. Tht should be the very center of left struggled. More time to loaf. It would even make a good revolutionary slogan. Carrol _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
