tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5154389358831836369.post7515622797929752891..comments2024-03-29T00:12:50.089-04:00Comments on The Slack Wire: An Ant Not Even Thinking About Pissing on CottonJW Masonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10664452827447313845noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5154389358831836369.post-4646572467446220522011-06-09T08:21:06.048-04:002011-06-09T08:21:06.048-04:00prof t right, i totally agree. i think many of the...prof t right, i totally agree. i think many of the issues stem from the fact that 'education' is a politically charged term to begin with. what is "education" or "knowledge" under a capitalist economy? what does it mean to actually learn? a significant part of what i would call 'knowledge production' takes place outside university bounds. <br /><br />there's an interesting article of recent weeks in the guardian that talked about MIT and they have some good chomsky quotes in there -- about how free MIT is in terms of promoting creative, independent learning, /even while/ it was at the center of military research in the postwar era. <br />http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/may/18/mit-massachusetts-150-years-geniusDaniel MacDonaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07546752099879983120noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5154389358831836369.post-53057527548471234562011-06-09T07:06:31.149-04:002011-06-09T07:06:31.149-04:00I'm guessing at least some of the crisis talk ...I'm guessing at least some of the crisis talk is coming from the fact that some liberal arts departments have been axed in the current budget disaster. But even here it seems a misplaced focus, given how bad the overall budget situation is. <br /><br />There seems to be something that happens to otherwise smart writers when they try to write about education; whether they're defending or condemning, morality swallows analysis. You can see where it starts when you talk to a lot of academics, who feel very comfortable making huge claims about the mental deficiencies of eighteen year olds, say, that they would never let anyone make about their field without having actually, you know, studied it. The more they defend "the intellect," the less of it they're using.Prof. T.https://www.blogger.com/profile/00284898866409356025noreply@blogger.com