Post #22,898
1/2/02 6:59:24 PM
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Well.. 'actual debate' is still favored, I am told.
And (very) occasionally a speaker like say, Gore Vidal shows up at one of these - and properly skewers the pompous along with their coterie of grad students, etc.
Or a George Carlin or - I saw Kurt Vonnegut twice! at nearby Sonoma State. Thus there is .. a certain amount of cross-pollination, despite the Campus Orthodoxies and their tenured adherents. The Web also - appears to be YAN sometimes beneficent opener of windows for fresh air.
So.. warts and all - 'academia' remains our last bastion of hope for - enough reverence for (and defense of!) Language. This amidst a sea of bizness/Econ speakers of nonsense + an entire Corporation devoted to the utter dismantling of Language itself: and I think you know which one I am speaking of. Politics of course - never was about - communication; only about disinformation. (Perhaps why The Campus is a fav target of the bombast-laden Pols and of the 3-5% who actually direct the Pols in their daily scavenging for reelection funding: their actual vocation.)
We'd best Love it and not Leave it to.. er 'Free Enterprise' buy-outs and HMO-like atrocity. Y'know? Imagine Billy teachin English from Encarta (this week's rev. with new definitions as suit The Corporate Vision).
Ashton
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Post #22,907
1/2/02 7:20:08 PM
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Re:'academia' remains our last bastion of hope
Then we've no hope at all. Think that's hyperbole? Go teach a class, then tell me what you think.
I saw Lynne Cheney on a replay of a speech she was giving at a university. She was ranting about how little college students knew of US history. I nearly passed out - way to much static for my neural net. It's a good thing for her US students don't know anything about history! She wouldn't be the V.P.'s wife if they did. No, that's too strong. They'd have to know US history AND care, which is something the lot of them are incapable of.
bcnu,
Mikem
-I'd have a sig, but we Americans have to "watch what we say, watch what we do now."
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Post #22,918
1/2/02 8:49:01 PM
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As I said: warts and all.
If the students are presenting selves with inflated grades, miniscule attention spans and a predisposition to: 'major' in Bizness, get-in; steal as much as possible - and retire at 27?
Then what exactly could any educator do to make up for such appalling parent-prep and such egregious raw material?
The idea of a liberal education (when that word meant what centuries of dictionaries said it 'meant') likely survives in certain clusters about the world. But Muricans always did think (mostly) of the U. being a pre-paid ticket to getting into the 5% who rule.. via a familiarity with the buzz words of commerce. Physics and er Humanities (!) were frills that seemed a necessary dilution of this prime purpose - so these and the other sciences were left in:
Someone had to invent the new toys for the consumers to buy from the Corps. And the techno-weapons to assure that We Rule. Or.. these would have been axed, like that other non-essential: music. Watch for more 'frills' to be axed in the primary grades - as we morph towards an Efficient Bizness EMO Model. This especially... as the 'recession' looks more and more like that other d-word (whose state inhabits the psyche of so many Muricans, especially those in cubicles - or just being downsized from one).
Nope, IMhO academia is in reasonable shape and with the familiar warts as accompany any Ego-guided endeavor, given the conditions. It's the raw material which has arrived with a level of dumbth and ennui not seen in previous generations. Many of these students suffer from newly minted diseases - for which daily, new Pharm-Chem products are spawned to 'treat' them (and their parents). Among these are: social fear at parties. Yes, I saw That one on the Tee Vee - choreography by Stephen King. Wish I'd recorded it for posterity.
We've built ourselves a real Monster - in subordinating every aspect of life to inane ideas of Bizness efficiency via Language-mangling for 'profit' (in all activities - even prisons! and next, schools). Educators are caught in the middle.. and never were intended to be rewarded for 'excellence': just for setting the stage for Johnny to get rich - screw Manuel and Lavonna all along the way, from Kindergarten on.
It all may devolve to a simplest possible explanation: GIGO.
Ashton
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Post #22,982
1/3/02 1:37:17 PM
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There must be Balm, if not in Gilead, then...
somewhere, surely? I don't pretend to have "mainstream" ideas. I understand better than most your point about the stupidents of today. Tell me, if you will, what I am to do. I have two daughters aged 9 and 11. If they are to "succeed" in this country, surely they must adopt, (if only to feign support of), the mores (such as they are) of their society. Should I "teach" them to be "good Americans" (you know, the brand of Good American that Resident Bush wanted us to be when he encouraged us to "be good Americans. Go on with your lives. Go shopping") or should I try to expose them to other philosophies? If I chose the latter, am I not condemning them to an intellectual life replete with misery?
You see, it is not only the educators who are in a hopeless conundrum. Some of us parents are right there with them.
Mikem
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Post #23,008
1/3/02 4:05:08 PM
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Tell them the truth as you see it and always explain both
sides of the issues equally. With mine I say some people want to be safe, our country was meant to be free, you cant have both at the same time.
thanx,
bill
My Dreams aren't as empty as my conscience seems to be
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Post #23,042
1/3/02 5:59:15 PM
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A sobering responsibility,
trying to supply the necessary tools, inculcating just the principles of ~ 'how to think to some purpose about ___ (anything)'. {sigh}
Offhand though, I can't think of a worse ego-trap than - imagining one can 'teach teachers' (unless you are that rare one who is good at expressing principles via damn good stories - like the Sufis?)
All I can come up with is - looking back.. what do I wish my esteemed educators had mentioned ever so briefly - before I had to find out by the usual processes of disillusionment?
1) Country was founded by pretty-wise folks, with pretty-fine 'Principles' stated in almost wondrous prose. These are Ideals, pretty hard to follow - but very good guides.
2) Many folks who live here, are not well acquainted with what these founding folks meant - but claim that they do understand. Be aware of the differences between what people say they believe, and how you see them 'living'.
3) Adults (also) lie, quite a lot - while advocating that truth-telling is better. It's a human thing, since everyone feels inadequate in some area of life. You can (I hate 'ought' in such matters) try to do better; try not to pick just the easist course.
4) What you can remember to do is: listen carefully. Later, use your best mode of thinking about what you hear. Discard the obvious puffery and nonsense: add what's left to your own store of sensible views. Keep refining those. No one can do this for you - not even I, your Parent God.
Oh and..
5) Question Authority. Yes, it was a cliche a few decades back but - remember that everything you read or hear was said by someone human; none of those utterances IS "The Truth" about anything - it is only a pointer (if it's well done). You have to fill-in the meaning, for yourself.
6) Good Luck, Kid!
Well.. anyway: Good Luck to You. Yours is the most difficult of all human duties, but at least you understand that! Probably that will keep you er honest ;-) Gawd help the kids with parents unclear on most-all the concepts :(
Ashton
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Post #23,102
1/4/02 9:46:04 AM
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Thanks to you both. Very good thoughts.
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