Steve Volk Office Hours:
[email protected] Tuesdays, 11:00 AM - Noon
Office: Mudd 052A Wednesdays, 2:00-3:00 PM
Tel: x58522 (440-775-8522) Thursdays, 2:00-3:00 PM
Classroom: Mudd 456 And by appointment
Of the many things we know about higher education in the United States, two compose the ground floor of this class: (1) a post-secondary (“tertiary”) education is increasingly required for economic success in this country – that being defined as being more than one step away from ruin, and (2) it is in a state of crisis. Both of these statements have to be unpacked: is “an education” solely, or even primarily, about one’s economic future? Does an education serve other purposes, such as the ability to enjoy "know oneself," to be a purposeful citizen, or to live life to the fullest? And what IS the crisis in higher education? Financial? Organizational? Structural? Existential? This course will address these issues and others by looking at the history of (some forms of) higher education in the United States, and then exploring four questions about its current shape (who gets in? what gets taught? who pays for it? who's in charge?). We will debate a set of “cultural conflicts” that are currently roiling the waters of higher ed (higher education's role in the production of inequality; "disruption" and challenges to traditional governance structures; the conflict between free speech protected space; and the university role in democracy). And finally, we will discuss the future of higher education and whether technology will re-make the higher education in the United States.
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Our questions we will often be broad and philosophical,
and not necessarily the ones that trustees, presidents, or chief
financial officers might ask about the institutions they oversee. We
will not be asking how colleges can “bend the cost curve,” which is
terribly important for the future of liberal arts colleges, or (at least
not directly) how to convince high school students that they should be
willing to take on a large debt in order to get a college degree. Both
are important questions, but our course will do more to explore the
social and economic conditions that have shaped the current environment
of higher education than to propose specific policy approaches to
address the crisis.
The course will be eclectic, but hopefully not haphazard. While the private, residential, liberal arts college experience will inform many of the questions that shape the class, we will be examining higher education in all its forms: public and private, not-for-profit and for-profit, 2-year and 4-year. On the other hand, we will not be considering graduate education or the field of “adult” or “continuing” education. |
Course Goals
There seems to be no shortage of commentators who seem eager to address this the state of higher education, and we have much to learn from many of them. But, I often find that they are either asking the wrong questions or that the questions they ask leave unchallenged some fundamental assumptions. I've adopted the "Tressie-test" (from Tressie McMillan Cottom of Virginia Commonwealth University) when I read about higher education crises and fixes, starting with the fact that neoliberalism has largely shaped the economic and political environment in which higher education environment currently struggles to exist. With this in mind, the central goals of this course are to: 1. Ask productive, meaningful questions about higher education in the United States. 2. Be clear about the assumptions underlying our questions. 3. Become better informed about both the history and current organization of higher education in the United States. 4. Apply the lessons learned beyond this class. 5. Develop strong communication, collaborative, and critical thinking skills. 5. Approach the examination of higher education critically, looking for answers democratically, and taking what we do and what we learn seriously. |
Co-curating the Class
The syllabus and its weekly readings are organized to cover topics that I think are important, but they are certainly not the only ones. If, as members of the class, you think that there are critical topics currently not included and that fall within the parameters set out above, you will have time to raise them in the first two weeks of class. If you suggest a new theme to be added to the syllabus, you must also recommend which topic it should replace. Final decisions on swapping topics will be made by class vote. I will leave open the possibility of adding new readings to the syllabus, or removing others, should they prove to be too much. This course is intended to look not just at the past and present of higher education, but its future as well. Because I’m a constructivist who believes that you learn best through doing, I decided to challenge some traditional course structures by using technology to connect with some people who aren’t physically in Oberlin and to create an inter-generational discussion about education. The course has four different “student bodies”: 1) Enrolled students ("undergrads") who have registered for the class in a normal way; 2) four staff and faculty members interested in the topic who have asked to participate in the class; 3) a group of seven Oberlin alumni who have applied to be in the course and who will join us remotely via Zoom video conferencing; and 4) a larger group of Oberlin alumni who just couldn’t fit in the virtual group plus anyone else in the world who wants to form part of a DOCC (Distributed Online Collaborative Course). This group will be formed of people who will have access to the course syllabus, all on-line readings, and a weekly summary of our discussions that two “regular” students will prepare. They will be encouraged to post observations, questions, and suggestions to a discussion board/blog. |
Assignments and Responsibilities
Each of these groups will be have slightly different responsibilities in the class. Registered Oberlin students will be responsible for all assigned readings and all assignments; faculty, staff, and virtual participants will be expected to keeping up in a reasonable way with the readings and, if they want, the other assignments including posting to the discussion board; and members of the DOCC are free to do as much or little as they want. 1. As a seminar, there is a lot of reading for the class. Some weeks, everyone will be required to do all the readings; some weeks different groups will be assigned different sets of readings. Undergrad students are required to come to class with a reading response and written questions of any one reading assigned for that week that is starred (*) in the syllabus (you can select among various ones that are starred and only have to do one per week or [CLARIFICATION: 9/4] you can choose to write on all the readings for the week, comparing and contrasting them, or on a group of readings as long as there is one (*) among them. It is your choice.) Click here for instructions on reading responses. They are also in a tab at the top of the syllabus. 2. Each undergrad student will be in charge of facilitating two weekly discussion. 3. Each undergrad student will be in charge of taking notes each week and posting them to the discussion board/blog. 4. [NOTE: Bibliography project removed 11/3] 5. Final Paper/Project: Undergrad students will be responsible for a final project in which you address any topic concerning higher education. Full details on this paper or project can be found by clicking on this link or following the link at the top of the syllabus. Paper topics are due on November 4; a bibliography of sources you will use is due on December 2. The final paper or project is due no later than 11:00 AM on December 20. |
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Grades and Grading Policy
I hate grading; you probably hate getting grades. We will discuss early in the semester whether you want to adopt the grading system I have below or use a “contract” or alternative system. In the meantime, your grade will be determined as follows:
Weekly reading responses: 30% (total)
Organizing class two sessions: 15% (both together)
Note taking: 10% (both together)
Participation: 15% (discussion rubric to be posted)
Final Project: 30% (includes timely submission of topic and bibliography)
[NOTE: grading updated on 11/3: 5% from bibliography added to weekly reading responses]
Grades are based on your final GPA in the course. To get the letter grade, you must average above the posted GPA:
A+ = 4.165; A = 3.85; A- = 3.50; B+ = 3.165; B = 2.835; B- = 2.50; C+ = 2.165; C = 1.835; C- = 1.50
Most assignments (e.g. weekly reading response) are due at the start of class. If you are in charge of organizing the class session, you will be required to post your questions the to Blackboard day before class (Tuesday) by 8:30 PM. I will give you instructions on the other projects. Your final paper/project will be due Sunday, Dec. 20 at 11:00 AM. Assignments that are turned in late will be docked one grade step (e.g. from a “B” to a “B-“) for each day late. The final assignment cannot be turned in late without an official incomplete.
You may request an Incomplete ONLY for the final paper. To be counted, all other work must be turned in by 4:30 PM on the last day of the Reading Period, December 15.
Plagiarism and the Honor Code:
All students must sign an “Honor Code” for all assignments. This pledge states: “I affirm that I have adhered to the Honor Code in this assignment.” For further information, see the student Honor Code. If you have questions about what constitutes plagiarism, particularly in the context of joint or collective work, please see me or raise it in class.
Attendance, Tardiness, Class Behavior, Accommodations
This is your class – you are teachers as well as students and you have a responsibility to be in class. Please let me know if you have to miss a class. If you miss more than two, we will have a talk. The class room is a relatively small space, so coming in late can create an unnecessary hubbub. Similarly, laptops are to be used only for class purposes – do not keep your email, Instagram, Facebook or other apps open. We will discuss Twitter use in class.
Finally, if you have a documented disability and wish to discuss academic accommodations, please contact me as soon as possible.
Give Us This Day Our Daily Education News
One indication of the growing crisis in higher education (and in education in general) is that many newspapers that used to have a regular education beat now publish infrequently on the topic. But (as the syllabus will indicate), there's plenty of news to read. I'd like to begin each class with a brief summary of some of the week's education news. The best places to keep up with it are:
The Chronicle of Higher Education. Many of its articles will be for subscribers only, but the college has a subscription, so you can get access with your oberlin.edu account via the library homepage.
Inside Higher Ed - whose content is still free and available to all.
Course Materials
Required readings are available either:
Online (click the link)
On Blackboard (organized by week)
On reserve (for required books only)
Some materials are also linked to eBooks available from OBIS
Please inform me if a link is broken or (if not available online) is not in Blackboard.
NOTE: Many weeks have “Further Bibliography” listed. These are not required or even recommended. They are there if you want to follow up on the topic at a later time.
Books Recommended for Purchase
These books have been ordered at the bookstore. You can buy/rent them there, find them on reserve in Mudd, order them through an online bookseller, or get them through OhioLINK. Those which show an active link are available as eBooks.
Andrew Delbanco, College: What it Was, Is, and Could Be (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012).
Suzanne Mettler, Degrees of Inequality: How the Politics of Higher Education Sabotages the American Dream (NY: Basic Books, 2014).
Jeffrey J. Selingo, College (Un)Bound: The Future of Higher Education and What it Means for Students (Boston: New Harvest, 2013).
Rebecca Chopp, Susan Frost, and Daniel H. Weiss, Remaking College: Innovation and the Liberal Arts (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014). eBook available.
Required readings are available either:
Online (click the link)
On Blackboard (organized by week)
On reserve (for required books only)
Some materials are also linked to eBooks available from OBIS
Please inform me if a link is broken or (if not available online) is not in Blackboard.
NOTE: Many weeks have “Further Bibliography” listed. These are not required or even recommended. They are there if you want to follow up on the topic at a later time.
Books Recommended for Purchase
These books have been ordered at the bookstore. You can buy/rent them there, find them on reserve in Mudd, order them through an online bookseller, or get them through OhioLINK. Those which show an active link are available as eBooks.
Andrew Delbanco, College: What it Was, Is, and Could Be (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012).
Suzanne Mettler, Degrees of Inequality: How the Politics of Higher Education Sabotages the American Dream (NY: Basic Books, 2014).
Jeffrey J. Selingo, College (Un)Bound: The Future of Higher Education and What it Means for Students (Boston: New Harvest, 2013).
Rebecca Chopp, Susan Frost, and Daniel H. Weiss, Remaking College: Innovation and the Liberal Arts (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014). eBook available.
SYLLABUS
INTRODUCTION
Sept. 2: WHY I AM GOING (WHY I WENT) TO COLLEGE
To prepare for the first class, read William Deresiewizc, "The Neoliberal Arts: How College Sold its Soul to the Market," Harper's Magazine (September 2015). [NOTE: A pdf of the article is in Blackboard.]
Deresiewizc's claims are highly polemical: What is his argument? What do you find resonates with your own experience? What doesn't? What are the questions he raises that you think we should be examining?
Andrew Delbanco, College: What it Was, Is, and Could Be (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012): Chapter 1 (9-35).
HIGHER EDUCATION - WHAT IT WAS
INTRODUCTION
Sept. 2: WHY I AM GOING (WHY I WENT) TO COLLEGE
To prepare for the first class, read William Deresiewizc, "The Neoliberal Arts: How College Sold its Soul to the Market," Harper's Magazine (September 2015). [NOTE: A pdf of the article is in Blackboard.]
Deresiewizc's claims are highly polemical: What is his argument? What do you find resonates with your own experience? What doesn't? What are the questions he raises that you think we should be examining?
Andrew Delbanco, College: What it Was, Is, and Could Be (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012): Chapter 1 (9-35).
HIGHER EDUCATION - WHAT IT WAS
Sept. 9: HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE UNITED STATES: A Quick Historical Overview
As Clark Kerr reminds us, “The university started as a single community – a community of masters and students.” From its original, medieval (Oxonian) notion – often still embodied in today’s residential liberal arts colleges – it has expanded to what Cardinal Newman called “the high protecting power of all knowledge and science, of fact and principle, of inquiry and discovery, of experiment and speculation…” Knowledge, for Newman, was its own end. But that wasn’t the end. Abraham Flexner argued that the heart of the “Modern University” was in its professional graduate schools. And Kerr himself talked of the “Multiversity,” the communities of undergraduate and graduate students, of humanists, social scientists and scientists, of academic and nonacademic personnel. The college was also founded on principles of exclusion, and its past should be understood before we talk of its future.
Readings:
*Delbanco, College: What it Was, Is, and Could Be: Chs. 2-3 (36-101);
*Craig Steven Wilder, “Ebony and Ivy: Enslaved People on Campus,” in Ebony and Ivy: Race, Slavery, and the Troubled History of American Universities (NY: Bloomsbury Press, 2013), Chapter 4 (112-146 ).
Thomas Jefferson, Report of the Commissioners for the University of Virginia (1818)
Henry Adams, “Harvard College (1854-1858),” in The Education of Henry Adams. A Centennial Version, ed. Edward Chalfant and Conrad Edick Wright (Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 2007): 42-53.
Geoffrey Blodgett, “Myth and Reality in Oberlin History (1971),” in Oberlin History: Essays and Impressions (Oberlin: Oberlin College, 2006), pp. 5-18.
*Jonathan Cole, The Great American University: Its Rise to Preeminence, Its Indispensable National Role, Why It Must Be Protected (NY: Public Affairs, 2010), Chapter 2 (pp. 45-74).
Further Bibliography (click on link)
HIGHER EDUCATION - WHAT IT IS: Four Difficult Questions
Sept. 16: WHO GETS IN? Admissions and the Role of Money, Race, Rankings in Selecting a Class
Who should attend college and who does attend? Should everyone have access to a liberal (rather than vocational) education, i.e. should we be teaching “Plato to plumbers” or only to a select few? To what extent does higher education have the responsibility, not to mention the possibility of correcting the inequities that now a defining characteristic of K-12 education? Who gets in and why? What role have college rankings, particularly the U.S. News ranking, played in the shaping of higher education? Should colleges attend to diversity considerations in regulating access? Should we have some institutions that are much more selective than others?
NOTE: In this week’s discussion we will largely side step many of the legal questions regarding affirmative action, particularly the Fisher case (Fisher v. Univ. of Texas) due to be re-heard by the Supreme Court in 2015-16.
Readings: General
*Delbanco, “Who Went? Who Goes? Who Pays?,” College, Ch 4 (pp. 102 - 124).
Charles Murray, "Are Too Many People Going to College?" The American (Sept. 8, 2008).
A Tiny Bit of Background: Some Aspects of a K-12 Education:
Kate Taylor, “Harlem Principal Said She Forged Test Answers, Education Dept. Says,” New York Times (July 27, 2015):
Rachel Aviv, “Little Choice But To Cheat,” New Yorker Out Loud (July 14, 2014) (16:08 min.) or read at: “Wrong Answer,” New Yorker (July 21, 2014).
*Ta-Nehisi Coates, “If I Were a Black Kid…Advice for Students in Baltimore County and Cambridge, Massachusetts,” The Atlantic (June 7, 2013).
*Richard Rorty, “Education as Socialization and as Individualization,” in Philosophy and Social Hope (New York: Penguin, 1999): pp. 114-126.
Readings: Selecting a Class at “Highly Selective” Colleges:
Luke Myers and Jonathan Robe, “III: Effects of College Rankings,” in College Rankings: History, Criticism and Reform (Washington DC: Center for College Affordability and Productivity, 2009): 28-31.
[Optional: For a discussion of methodological problems with U.S. News rankings: Malcom Gladwell, “The Order of Things: What College Rankings Really Tell Us,” New Yorker (Feb. 14, 2011).
*Derek Bok, “Entering the Right College,” in Higher Education in America (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013): 122-144.
Malcolm Gladwell, “Getting In: The Social Logic of Ivy League Admissions,” The New Yorker, October 10, 2005.
Becky Supiano and Meredith Myers, “What it Takes to Make the Class: A Look at the Time, Money, and Outreach it Took to Bring 532 Freshmen to One University,” Chronicle of Higher Education, May 26, 2015.
Eric Hoover, “College Admissions: Frozen in Time,” Chronicle of Higher Education, May 26, 2015.
Readings: Race, Class, and Admissions
Pell Institute, Indicators of Higher Education Equity in the United States (Philadelphia: Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education, University of Pennsylvania), 2015. Focus on the charts.
*Caroline M. Hoxby and Christopher Avery, “The Missing ‘One-Offs’: The Hidden Supply of High-Achieving, Low Income Students,” National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper 18586 (December 2012). [NOTE: Just read the abstract and, when you click on the pdf, a fast skim of the paper to get the main points.]
Further Readings: (Click on link)
As Clark Kerr reminds us, “The university started as a single community – a community of masters and students.” From its original, medieval (Oxonian) notion – often still embodied in today’s residential liberal arts colleges – it has expanded to what Cardinal Newman called “the high protecting power of all knowledge and science, of fact and principle, of inquiry and discovery, of experiment and speculation…” Knowledge, for Newman, was its own end. But that wasn’t the end. Abraham Flexner argued that the heart of the “Modern University” was in its professional graduate schools. And Kerr himself talked of the “Multiversity,” the communities of undergraduate and graduate students, of humanists, social scientists and scientists, of academic and nonacademic personnel. The college was also founded on principles of exclusion, and its past should be understood before we talk of its future.
Readings:
*Delbanco, College: What it Was, Is, and Could Be: Chs. 2-3 (36-101);
*Craig Steven Wilder, “Ebony and Ivy: Enslaved People on Campus,” in Ebony and Ivy: Race, Slavery, and the Troubled History of American Universities (NY: Bloomsbury Press, 2013), Chapter 4 (112-146 ).
Thomas Jefferson, Report of the Commissioners for the University of Virginia (1818)
Henry Adams, “Harvard College (1854-1858),” in The Education of Henry Adams. A Centennial Version, ed. Edward Chalfant and Conrad Edick Wright (Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 2007): 42-53.
Geoffrey Blodgett, “Myth and Reality in Oberlin History (1971),” in Oberlin History: Essays and Impressions (Oberlin: Oberlin College, 2006), pp. 5-18.
*Jonathan Cole, The Great American University: Its Rise to Preeminence, Its Indispensable National Role, Why It Must Be Protected (NY: Public Affairs, 2010), Chapter 2 (pp. 45-74).
Further Bibliography (click on link)
HIGHER EDUCATION - WHAT IT IS: Four Difficult Questions
Sept. 16: WHO GETS IN? Admissions and the Role of Money, Race, Rankings in Selecting a Class
Who should attend college and who does attend? Should everyone have access to a liberal (rather than vocational) education, i.e. should we be teaching “Plato to plumbers” or only to a select few? To what extent does higher education have the responsibility, not to mention the possibility of correcting the inequities that now a defining characteristic of K-12 education? Who gets in and why? What role have college rankings, particularly the U.S. News ranking, played in the shaping of higher education? Should colleges attend to diversity considerations in regulating access? Should we have some institutions that are much more selective than others?
NOTE: In this week’s discussion we will largely side step many of the legal questions regarding affirmative action, particularly the Fisher case (Fisher v. Univ. of Texas) due to be re-heard by the Supreme Court in 2015-16.
Readings: General
*Delbanco, “Who Went? Who Goes? Who Pays?,” College, Ch 4 (pp. 102 - 124).
Charles Murray, "Are Too Many People Going to College?" The American (Sept. 8, 2008).
A Tiny Bit of Background: Some Aspects of a K-12 Education:
Kate Taylor, “Harlem Principal Said She Forged Test Answers, Education Dept. Says,” New York Times (July 27, 2015):
Rachel Aviv, “Little Choice But To Cheat,” New Yorker Out Loud (July 14, 2014) (16:08 min.) or read at: “Wrong Answer,” New Yorker (July 21, 2014).
*Ta-Nehisi Coates, “If I Were a Black Kid…Advice for Students in Baltimore County and Cambridge, Massachusetts,” The Atlantic (June 7, 2013).
*Richard Rorty, “Education as Socialization and as Individualization,” in Philosophy and Social Hope (New York: Penguin, 1999): pp. 114-126.
Readings: Selecting a Class at “Highly Selective” Colleges:
Luke Myers and Jonathan Robe, “III: Effects of College Rankings,” in College Rankings: History, Criticism and Reform (Washington DC: Center for College Affordability and Productivity, 2009): 28-31.
[Optional: For a discussion of methodological problems with U.S. News rankings: Malcom Gladwell, “The Order of Things: What College Rankings Really Tell Us,” New Yorker (Feb. 14, 2011).
*Derek Bok, “Entering the Right College,” in Higher Education in America (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013): 122-144.
Malcolm Gladwell, “Getting In: The Social Logic of Ivy League Admissions,” The New Yorker, October 10, 2005.
Becky Supiano and Meredith Myers, “What it Takes to Make the Class: A Look at the Time, Money, and Outreach it Took to Bring 532 Freshmen to One University,” Chronicle of Higher Education, May 26, 2015.
Eric Hoover, “College Admissions: Frozen in Time,” Chronicle of Higher Education, May 26, 2015.
Readings: Race, Class, and Admissions
Pell Institute, Indicators of Higher Education Equity in the United States (Philadelphia: Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education, University of Pennsylvania), 2015. Focus on the charts.
*Caroline M. Hoxby and Christopher Avery, “The Missing ‘One-Offs’: The Hidden Supply of High-Achieving, Low Income Students,” National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper 18586 (December 2012). [NOTE: Just read the abstract and, when you click on the pdf, a fast skim of the paper to get the main points.]
Further Readings: (Click on link)
Sept. 23 (Note: Class will begin at 8:00 PM): WHAT GETS TAUGHT? Shaping the Curriculum in the Liberal Arts Setting
We will focus on two different questions this week, and reading will be divided up accordingly. The first question will examine the history and current shape of the liberal arts curriculum: Should the curriculum focus on developing citizens with powerful deliberative capacities and the inclination to use them for the public good? Should it challenge the opinions and religious and cultural assumptions students bring with them? Should it shape students’ views about what is valuable in life and valuable to learn, or should it respond to their preferences and allow them to shape their own values? Should education be the transmission of knowledge or the fostering of inquiry and reasoning skills that are conducive to the development of autonomy (i.e., education as conservative vs. progressive)?
The second question is much in the news although it has a long past: Should education be “liberal” or vocational? The debate between Booker T. Washington, who argued that Blacks should be given primarily vocational instruction, and W.E. B. DuBois, who believed that the purpose of an education was not to “make a man a carpenter but to make a carpenter a man,” is well known… but it certainly didn’t end at the turn of the 20th century. Governors Scott Walker of Wisconsin and Rick Scott of Florida recently made news by arguing, respectively, that the purpose of the public university system was to meet “state workforce needs,” and that the state shouldn’t be funding degrees in anthropology since, “If I’m going to take money from a citizen to put into education then I’m going to take that money to create jobs.” Senator Marco Rubio, in arguing that more students should go into vocational education, stressed that "the country cannot keep graduating people with degrees that don't lead to jobs...So, you can decide if it's worth borrowing $50,000 to major in Greek philosophy," Rubio said. "Because after all, the market for Greek philosophers has been very tight for 2,000 years."
But, as a recent survey of college and university presidents conducted by the Chronicle of Higher Education underscored, many more are thinking about the “job-training” aspects of a liberal education than in previous years. Can we argue that the values of a liberal education for everyone remain as valid now as they were to Plato?
We will focus on two different questions this week, and reading will be divided up accordingly. The first question will examine the history and current shape of the liberal arts curriculum: Should the curriculum focus on developing citizens with powerful deliberative capacities and the inclination to use them for the public good? Should it challenge the opinions and religious and cultural assumptions students bring with them? Should it shape students’ views about what is valuable in life and valuable to learn, or should it respond to their preferences and allow them to shape their own values? Should education be the transmission of knowledge or the fostering of inquiry and reasoning skills that are conducive to the development of autonomy (i.e., education as conservative vs. progressive)?
The second question is much in the news although it has a long past: Should education be “liberal” or vocational? The debate between Booker T. Washington, who argued that Blacks should be given primarily vocational instruction, and W.E. B. DuBois, who believed that the purpose of an education was not to “make a man a carpenter but to make a carpenter a man,” is well known… but it certainly didn’t end at the turn of the 20th century. Governors Scott Walker of Wisconsin and Rick Scott of Florida recently made news by arguing, respectively, that the purpose of the public university system was to meet “state workforce needs,” and that the state shouldn’t be funding degrees in anthropology since, “If I’m going to take money from a citizen to put into education then I’m going to take that money to create jobs.” Senator Marco Rubio, in arguing that more students should go into vocational education, stressed that "the country cannot keep graduating people with degrees that don't lead to jobs...So, you can decide if it's worth borrowing $50,000 to major in Greek philosophy," Rubio said. "Because after all, the market for Greek philosophers has been very tight for 2,000 years."
But, as a recent survey of college and university presidents conducted by the Chronicle of Higher Education underscored, many more are thinking about the “job-training” aspects of a liberal education than in previous years. Can we argue that the values of a liberal education for everyone remain as valid now as they were to Plato?
Readings:
GROUP 1: Shaping a Curriculum
Some Background:
*Louis Menand, “The Problem of General Education,” in The Marketplace of Ideas (NY: W.W. Norton, 2010), pp. 23-57.
Martha Nussbaum, Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2010): Chs. 1-4 (1-77). [Skim - read quickly for her overview of the "need" for the humanities in the furtherance of democracy. We will return to this theme later in the semester.]
Contemporary Practice:
Derek Bok, “What to Learn,” in Higher Education in America (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013): 166-182.
*Richared Arum and Josipa Roska, “Pathways through Colleges Adrift,” Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011): Chapter 3 (pp. 59-89). [NOTE: For a critique of the methodology of Academically Adrift, see Alexander W. Astin, “In ‘Academically Adrift,’ Data Don’t Back Up Sweeping Claim,” Chronicle of Higher Education (Feb. 14, 2011):
GROUP 2: Liberal or Vocational Education
*Patricia J. Gumport, “Universities and Knowledge: Restructuring the City of Intellect,” in Steven Brint, ed., The Future of the City of Intellect: The Changing American University (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2002), pp. 47-81.
Barry Schwartz, “What ‘Learning How to Think’ Really Means,” Chronicle Review (Chronicle of Higher Education) (June 18, 2015):
*Victor E. Ferrall, “Liberal Arts Colleges and Why We Should Care About Them,” in Liberal Arts at the Brink (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2011): 7-22.
Victor E. Ferrall, “Valediction for the Liberal Arts,” Inside Higher Education (January 27, 2015).
*Jeffrey Freyman, “Humanizing the Subject: Toward a Curriculum for Liberal Education in the Twenty-First Century,” in Susan McWilliams and John E. Seery, The Best Kind of College. An Insiders’ Guide to America’s Small Liberal Arts Colleges (Albany: SUNY Press, 2015): 143-155.
Dan Berrett, “The Day the Purpose of College Changed,” Chronicle of Higher Education (Jan 26, 2015). [and, in response: Matt Reed, “A Truthy Explanation,” Inside Higher Ed (Jan 26, 2015):
*Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus, “The Triumph of Training,” in Higher Education: How Colleges Are Wasting Our Money and Failing Our Kids – And What We Can Do About It (NY: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2011): Chapter 6 (pp. 95-109).
Chronicle of Higher Education, “What Presidents Think About Future,” July 2015: p. 14, Figure 8; p. 16, Figure 10; p. 17, Figure 11; p. 18, Figure 12; p. 19, Figure 13.
Graham N.S. Miller, et al, “Abandoning the Liberal Arts? Liberal Arts Learning Outcomes of Professional Majors,” Unpublished Paper prepared for Presentation at Annual Conference of the Association for the Study of Higher Education, Washington, DC, November 21, 2014.
Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa, Aspiring Adults Adrift: Tentative Transitions of College Graduates. A brief summary of their findings can be found at: Dan Berrett, “Do Americans Expect Too Much From a College Degree?” in Chronicle of Higher Education (Sept. 2, 2014).
Joseph E. Aoun, “Experiential Liberal Arts,” Inside Higher Ed (April 15, 2015).
Sept. 30: WHY DOES IT COST SO MUCH? Is Higher Education Financially Sustainable?
A large part of the public discussion of higher education has been focused on the issue of finances and the increase of tuition. For public institutions, this has been driven by the persistent decline in state financing. For many private institutions, critics have placed the blame on a variety of factors from “climbing walls” and athletics to the demand of attracting “good” students in an increasingly competitive environment. What is certain is that as a college degree (and an advanced degree) have become an absolute necessity for future economic success, students and their parents are forced to take on increasing debt loads. Rather than focusing on “bending the cost curve,” we will examine the set of factors that are driving costs in higher education…and their consequences.
Readings:
*Robert B. Archibald and David H. Feldman, Why Does College Cost So Much? (NY: Oxford University Press, 2011): Chapters 2 and 6. [NOTE: You might find it easier to read the pdf on Blackboard for this week.]
*William Zumeta, David W. Breneman, Patrick M. Callan, and Joni E. Finney, Financing Higher Education in the Era of Globalization (Cambridge: Harvard University Press), Chapters 1 (American Higher Education: 21st Century Context: 1-32) and 3 (Finance and Policy: A Historical Perspective: 59-98).
Pew Charitable Trust, “Federal and State Funding of Higher Education: A Changing Landscape,” June 11, 2015.
*Suzzane Mettler, Degrees of Inequality: How the Politics of Higher Education Sabotaged the American Dream (NY: Basic Books, 2014), Chapter 2 (pp. 51-85).
James J. Duderstadt, “The Crisis in Financing Public Higher Education-and a Possible Solution: A 21st C Learn Grant Act,” The Millenium Project (Fall 2005).
Adam Davidson, "Is College Tuition Really Too High?" New York Times Magazine (September 13, 2015).
Catharine Bond Hill, Jill Tiefenthaler, and Suzanne P. Welsh, “Economics and Affordability,” in Rebecca Chopp, Susan Frost, and Daniel H. Weiss, Remaking College: Innovation and the Liberal Arts (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014), Chapter 3 (44-58). [Blackboard]
Chart: "Changes in First-Time Enrollment of Degree-Seeking International and In-State Students at 69 State Flagship Institutions, Fall 2006 to Fall 2012," Chronicle of Higher Education Almanac (2015).
Letter from Class of 1965 alumni (Sept. 10, 2015): in Blackboard.
NOTE: The following article was published on September 23. If you have time to read it, you'll find it quite pertinent to this week's discussion, although it is optional: Robert Reich, "Economics is Too Important to be Left to the Economists," Chronicle Review (September 23, 2015).
Further Readings: (Click on link)
Oct. 7: WHO'S IN CHARGE? Neoliberalism, Corporatization and Higher Education
Remember the "Tressie-test"? I raise it because the familiar elephant in the room is the nature of the neoliberalism which has restructured the U.S. economy over the past 40 years. Higher education is hardly immune from the impact of privatization and corporatization. The questions that get raised, in terms of K-12 and post-secondary education are in many ways about whether education will continue to be seen as a public good...or if those days are over. This week we'll examine both the impact of neoliberalism and what increasing inequality means for higher education. We'll take up other aspects of this question, particularly student debt, next week and issues of governance on October 28.
Readings:
Group 1: The Neoliberal Turn
*Ellen Schrecker, The Lost Soul of Higher Education: Corporatization, the Assault on Academic Freedom, and the End of the American University (NY: New Press, 2010): Chs. 6, 7, Epilogue (pp. 154-233).
Richie Zweigenhaft, "Is This Curriculum for Sale?" Academe (July-August 2010).
Group 2: Is Higher Education a Public Good?
*Suzanne Mettler, Degrees of Inequality: How the Politics of Higher Education Sabotaged the American Dream (NY: Basic Books, 2014), Chapters 3-6 (pp. 87-187).
*Randy Martin, “The Ends of Education,” in Under New Management: Universities, Administrative Labor, and the Professional Turn (Philadelphia: Temple University Press), Ch. 1 (1-26) and “The Work of Administration,” Ch. 5 (107-132).
One example: Colleen Murphy, "The Higher-Ed Landscape in Iowa: State Cuts and Tuition Jumps," Chronicle of Higher Education (August 17, 2015).
Further Readings: (Click on link)
GROUP 1: Shaping a Curriculum
Some Background:
*Louis Menand, “The Problem of General Education,” in The Marketplace of Ideas (NY: W.W. Norton, 2010), pp. 23-57.
Martha Nussbaum, Not for Profit: Why Democracy Needs the Humanities (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2010): Chs. 1-4 (1-77). [Skim - read quickly for her overview of the "need" for the humanities in the furtherance of democracy. We will return to this theme later in the semester.]
Contemporary Practice:
Derek Bok, “What to Learn,” in Higher Education in America (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013): 166-182.
*Richared Arum and Josipa Roska, “Pathways through Colleges Adrift,” Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011): Chapter 3 (pp. 59-89). [NOTE: For a critique of the methodology of Academically Adrift, see Alexander W. Astin, “In ‘Academically Adrift,’ Data Don’t Back Up Sweeping Claim,” Chronicle of Higher Education (Feb. 14, 2011):
GROUP 2: Liberal or Vocational Education
*Patricia J. Gumport, “Universities and Knowledge: Restructuring the City of Intellect,” in Steven Brint, ed., The Future of the City of Intellect: The Changing American University (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2002), pp. 47-81.
Barry Schwartz, “What ‘Learning How to Think’ Really Means,” Chronicle Review (Chronicle of Higher Education) (June 18, 2015):
*Victor E. Ferrall, “Liberal Arts Colleges and Why We Should Care About Them,” in Liberal Arts at the Brink (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2011): 7-22.
Victor E. Ferrall, “Valediction for the Liberal Arts,” Inside Higher Education (January 27, 2015).
*Jeffrey Freyman, “Humanizing the Subject: Toward a Curriculum for Liberal Education in the Twenty-First Century,” in Susan McWilliams and John E. Seery, The Best Kind of College. An Insiders’ Guide to America’s Small Liberal Arts Colleges (Albany: SUNY Press, 2015): 143-155.
Dan Berrett, “The Day the Purpose of College Changed,” Chronicle of Higher Education (Jan 26, 2015). [and, in response: Matt Reed, “A Truthy Explanation,” Inside Higher Ed (Jan 26, 2015):
*Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus, “The Triumph of Training,” in Higher Education: How Colleges Are Wasting Our Money and Failing Our Kids – And What We Can Do About It (NY: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2011): Chapter 6 (pp. 95-109).
Chronicle of Higher Education, “What Presidents Think About Future,” July 2015: p. 14, Figure 8; p. 16, Figure 10; p. 17, Figure 11; p. 18, Figure 12; p. 19, Figure 13.
Graham N.S. Miller, et al, “Abandoning the Liberal Arts? Liberal Arts Learning Outcomes of Professional Majors,” Unpublished Paper prepared for Presentation at Annual Conference of the Association for the Study of Higher Education, Washington, DC, November 21, 2014.
Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa, Aspiring Adults Adrift: Tentative Transitions of College Graduates. A brief summary of their findings can be found at: Dan Berrett, “Do Americans Expect Too Much From a College Degree?” in Chronicle of Higher Education (Sept. 2, 2014).
Joseph E. Aoun, “Experiential Liberal Arts,” Inside Higher Ed (April 15, 2015).
Sept. 30: WHY DOES IT COST SO MUCH? Is Higher Education Financially Sustainable?
A large part of the public discussion of higher education has been focused on the issue of finances and the increase of tuition. For public institutions, this has been driven by the persistent decline in state financing. For many private institutions, critics have placed the blame on a variety of factors from “climbing walls” and athletics to the demand of attracting “good” students in an increasingly competitive environment. What is certain is that as a college degree (and an advanced degree) have become an absolute necessity for future economic success, students and their parents are forced to take on increasing debt loads. Rather than focusing on “bending the cost curve,” we will examine the set of factors that are driving costs in higher education…and their consequences.
Readings:
*Robert B. Archibald and David H. Feldman, Why Does College Cost So Much? (NY: Oxford University Press, 2011): Chapters 2 and 6. [NOTE: You might find it easier to read the pdf on Blackboard for this week.]
*William Zumeta, David W. Breneman, Patrick M. Callan, and Joni E. Finney, Financing Higher Education in the Era of Globalization (Cambridge: Harvard University Press), Chapters 1 (American Higher Education: 21st Century Context: 1-32) and 3 (Finance and Policy: A Historical Perspective: 59-98).
Pew Charitable Trust, “Federal and State Funding of Higher Education: A Changing Landscape,” June 11, 2015.
*Suzzane Mettler, Degrees of Inequality: How the Politics of Higher Education Sabotaged the American Dream (NY: Basic Books, 2014), Chapter 2 (pp. 51-85).
James J. Duderstadt, “The Crisis in Financing Public Higher Education-and a Possible Solution: A 21st C Learn Grant Act,” The Millenium Project (Fall 2005).
Adam Davidson, "Is College Tuition Really Too High?" New York Times Magazine (September 13, 2015).
Catharine Bond Hill, Jill Tiefenthaler, and Suzanne P. Welsh, “Economics and Affordability,” in Rebecca Chopp, Susan Frost, and Daniel H. Weiss, Remaking College: Innovation and the Liberal Arts (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014), Chapter 3 (44-58). [Blackboard]
Chart: "Changes in First-Time Enrollment of Degree-Seeking International and In-State Students at 69 State Flagship Institutions, Fall 2006 to Fall 2012," Chronicle of Higher Education Almanac (2015).
Letter from Class of 1965 alumni (Sept. 10, 2015): in Blackboard.
NOTE: The following article was published on September 23. If you have time to read it, you'll find it quite pertinent to this week's discussion, although it is optional: Robert Reich, "Economics is Too Important to be Left to the Economists," Chronicle Review (September 23, 2015).
Further Readings: (Click on link)
Oct. 7: WHO'S IN CHARGE? Neoliberalism, Corporatization and Higher Education
Remember the "Tressie-test"? I raise it because the familiar elephant in the room is the nature of the neoliberalism which has restructured the U.S. economy over the past 40 years. Higher education is hardly immune from the impact of privatization and corporatization. The questions that get raised, in terms of K-12 and post-secondary education are in many ways about whether education will continue to be seen as a public good...or if those days are over. This week we'll examine both the impact of neoliberalism and what increasing inequality means for higher education. We'll take up other aspects of this question, particularly student debt, next week and issues of governance on October 28.
Readings:
Group 1: The Neoliberal Turn
*Ellen Schrecker, The Lost Soul of Higher Education: Corporatization, the Assault on Academic Freedom, and the End of the American University (NY: New Press, 2010): Chs. 6, 7, Epilogue (pp. 154-233).
Richie Zweigenhaft, "Is This Curriculum for Sale?" Academe (July-August 2010).
Group 2: Is Higher Education a Public Good?
*Suzanne Mettler, Degrees of Inequality: How the Politics of Higher Education Sabotaged the American Dream (NY: Basic Books, 2014), Chapters 3-6 (pp. 87-187).
*Randy Martin, “The Ends of Education,” in Under New Management: Universities, Administrative Labor, and the Professional Turn (Philadelphia: Temple University Press), Ch. 1 (1-26) and “The Work of Administration,” Ch. 5 (107-132).
One example: Colleen Murphy, "The Higher-Ed Landscape in Iowa: State Cuts and Tuition Jumps," Chronicle of Higher Education (August 17, 2015).
Further Readings: (Click on link)
HIGHER EDUCATION – WHERE IS IT GOING? FOUR CHALLENGES
Oct. 14: WILL HIGHER EDUCATION BE AN ENGINE OF INEQUALITY? The Student Debt Problem
Many of the issues we have already covered pertain to the question of whether higher education can return to a historic mission of providing a singular mechanism for social mobility. What we want to consider here is whether, as many scholars have charged, higher education has become a means of solidifying inequality. Fundamental to this question is the issue of student debt.
Readings:
*Suzanne Mettler, Degrees of Inequality: How the Politics of Higher Education Sabotages the American Dream (NY: Basic Books, 2014): Introduction, Introduction and Chapter 1 (pp. 1-49)
*Josh Freedman, “Why American Colleges Are Becoming a Force for Inequality,” The Atlantic (May 16, 2013):
Pew Research Report, “The Rising Cost of Not Going to College,” Feb. 11, 2014.
*Tayyab Mahmud, “Debt and Discipline: Neoliberal Political Economy and the Working Classes,” Kentucky Law Journal 101: 1 (2013): 1-54.
Richard Fry and Andrea Caumont, “5 Key Findings About Student Debt,” Pew Research Center, May 14, 2014.
Nicholas Lehmann, “The Real Student Debt Problem,” The New Yorker (July 6, 2015).
Optional: Some Candidates’ Plans:
Clinton (Inside Higher Ed, Aug. 10, 2015)
Sanders (Inside Higher Ed, May 20, 2015)
O’Malley (Washington Post, April 23, 2015)
Rubio (Inside Higher Ed, April 20, 2015)
Bush (Inside Higher Ed, Sept 10, 2015)
Further Readings and Resources: (Click on link)
Oct. 21: Fall Break
Oct. 28: WHO WILL RULE THE UNIVERSITY? “Disruption” and Challenges to Traditional Governance Structures in Higher Education
Issues of governance and the university not only deal with more “traditional” questions of academic freedom and the role of the faculty in determining curricular decisions (often tied into the question of tenure and its future), but shifting issues of the impact of outside forces on universities (particularly for public institutions), the changing nature of the presidency, and the charge that faculty governance holds back needed changes.
Readings:
*Derek Bok, “The Governance of Nonprofit Universities,” in Higher Education in America (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013): 44-71.
*Ellen Schrecker, “So Fragile and So Indispensable”: What Is Academic Freedom and Why Should We Care About It?,” in The Lost Soul of Higher Education: Corporatization, the Assault on Academic Freedom, and the End of the American University (NY: New Press, 2010): Chs. 1 (pp. 9-34).
*William G. Bowen and Eugene M. Tobin, Locus of Authority: The Evolution of Faculty Roles in the Governance of Higher Education (New York: Ithaka, and Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2015): Chapter 4 (Faculty Roles Today and Tomorrow: Topical Issues, pp. 131-176) and 5 (Overarching Challenges, pp. 177-212).
Susan Frost and Shelly Weiss Storbeck, “Using Governance to Strengthen the Liberal Arts,” and Joanne V. Creighton, “Orchestrating Shared Governance,” in Rebecca Chopp, Susan Frost, and Daniel H. Weiss, Remaking College: Innovation and the Liberal Arts (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014), Chapter 4-5 (59-73). [Blackboard]
*Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus, “Fireproof: The Tangled Issue of Tenure,” in Higher Education: How Colleges Are Wasting Our Money and Failing Our Kids – And What We Can Do About It (NY: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2011): Chapter 8 (pp. 132-154).
OPTIONAL [Added October 26]: Since the syllabus was put together, two high profile presidential searches have raised considerable questions about the role of partisan politics in the selection of presidents at two state institutions: the University of Iowa and the University of North Carolina. Here are a few articles you might want to examine]
Sarah Brown, "Questions Linger Over How UNC Choose [Former Secretary of Education Margaret] Spellings," Chronicle of Higher Education (October 23, 2015).
Kellie Woodhouse, "The Political Pick," Inside Higher Ed (October 26, 2015).
"Multiple Protests of New U of Iowa President," Inside Higher Ed (October 22, 2015).
Kellie Woodhouse, "Unpopular Pick," Inside Higher Ed (September 4, 2015).
Jack Stripling, "In Search for College Chiefs, Faculty Input Can Feel Like a Mere Formality," Chronicle of Higher Education (October 20, 2015).
For more on Margaret Spellings' views on higher education (the "Spellings Report") see Johann Neem, "Margaret Spellings's Vision for Higher Education," Inside Higher Ed (October 27, 2015).
Further Readings: (Click on link)
Nov. 4: Final Paper Topic due (one paragraph on your final paper)
Nov. 4: ARE FREE SPEECH AND SAFETY IN CONFLICT ON CAMPUSES? The Challenges of Regulating Speech and Speakers in a Context of Academic Freedom
The question of “free” vs. “regulated” speech has become increasingly important over the past few years. It has moved from a discussion of establishing speech “rules” for campuses that were designed to protect student learners from hate speech to conversations about who should be invited or permitted to speak on campus to contemporary questions of the threats to learning that disturbing or discomforting ideas can pose. There is little question that the campus speech “question” has been shaped by (among others) the greater awareness of such issues as sexual violence and harassment as well as the omnipresence of internet culture. A second “front” in this war is over the question of academic freedom vs. “civility” and whether administrations are establishing new standards of “behavior” to shape the faculty.
Readings:
I: Are Students “Hiding from Scary Ideas”?
Judith Shulevitz, “In College and Hiding from Scary Ideas,” New York Times (March 21, 2015).
Shruthi Badri, “Weary, Not Afraid: A Response to Judith Shulevitz,” The Amherst Student (March 22, 2015)
*Kelefh Sanneh, “The Hell You Say,” The New Yorker (August 15, 2015) OR *Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, “The Coddling of the American Mind,” The Atlantic (Sept. 2015).
II. Microaggression and Hate Speech on Campus:
*Derald Wing Sue, Annie I. Lin, Gina C. Torino, Christina M. Capodilupo, and David P. Rivera, “Racial Microaggressions and Difficult Dialogues on Race in the Classroom,” Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology: 15:2 (2009): 183–190.
Eric Posner, “Universities Are Right – and Within Their Rights – to Crack Down on Speech and Behavior,” Slate.com (Feb. 12, 2015).
Bradley Campbell and Jason Manning, “Microaggression and Changing Moral Cultures,” Chronicle of Higher Education (July 24, 2015).
*Charles R. Lawrence III, “If He Hollers Let Him Go: Regulating Racist Speech on Campus,” in Charles R. Lawrence III, Mari J. Matsuda, Richard Delgado, Kimberle Williams Crenshaw, eds., Words that Wound: Critical Race Theory, Assaultive Speech, and the First Amendment (Boulder: Westview Press, 1993): 53-88.
III. Regulatory Regimes, Civility, Speech, and Academic Freedom:
*Laura Kipnis, “My Title IX Inquisition,” The Chronicle Review (June 12, 2015)
Robin Marie, “Thinking Critically About Academic Freedom: The Case of Salaita,” U.S. Intellectual History Blog (June 4, 2015).
Joan Scott, “The New Thought Police: Why are campus administrators invoking civility to silence critical speech?” The Nation (May 4, 2015): 13-17.
OPTIONAL: [Added 10-30-2015]. The topic continues to generate abundant news articles. I'm posting a selection of them here for additional, optional, readings if you choose.
Last spring, Stephen Salaita gave a talk on campus. Salaita was "hired" and then "fired" by the University of Illinois for posting a Tweet that offended some. His talk was recorded and can be found here. Natalia, who provided the link, writes: "There's a really relevant point to our readings [this] week raised during the Q&A about complicated the rhetoric of safety when talking about anti-zionism and how that could reinforce trauma of survivors of sexualized violence. That point is raised at 1:19:57." Also, you can read Steven Salaita's own perspective, "Why I Was Fired," The Chronicle Review (Oct. 16, 2015).
Laurie Essig, "Russia, Land of Free Speech," The Chronicle Review (October 16, 2015).
Scott A. Bass and Mary L. Clark, "The Gravest Threat to Colleges Comes from Within," Chronicle of Higher Education (October 16, 2015).
Peter Schmidt, "A University Faculty's Stand on Trigger Warnings Stirs Fears Among Students," Chronicle of Higher Education (October 16, 2015).
Robin Wilson, "Students' Requests for Trigger Warnings Grow More Varied," Chronicle of Higher Education (September 14, 2015).
Josh Logue, "Who Should Prevent Social Media Harrassment?" Inside Higher Ed (Oct. 22, 2015).
"When a Generation Becomes Less Tolerant of Free Speech," New York Times (November 2, 2015): Room for Debate column.
Controversy over an article printed in the Wesleyan student newspaper: Bryan Stascavage, "Why Black Lives Matter Isn't What You Think," The Wesleyan Argus (Sept. 14, 2015), the original article, and commentary on the controversy it stirred at Wesleyan by Mary Ellen McIntyre, "Amid Debate of Free Speech and Save Speech, Wesleyan Students Seek to Hear More Voices," Chronicle of Higher Education (Sept. 28, 2015); Catherine Rampell, "Free Speech Is Flunking Out on College Campuses," Washington Post (Oct. 22, 2015).
Further Readings: (click on link)
Nov. 11: PREPARATION OR PRACTICE? Does Higher Education Prepare Students for Democratic Citizenship or Will It Be a Site Where Democracy is Practiced?
It has long been argued that an educated citizenry is essential for democracy, but such an understanding embodies the notion that the purpose of an education is for more than job preparation. John Dewey argued in Democracy and Education (1916) that, in its broadest sense, education is the means of the “social continuity of life.” Since then, many progressive educators have pointed out the essential role and responsibility that educators (and the education they provide) have in not just democracy but justice. The central role of teachers in the preparation for and practice of democracy is perhaps underscored by the fact that, although teachers have few resources to change the direction of social life, any evidence of social crisis is quickly deposited at the feet of teachers and the curriculum. Is education a public good? Should schools, as Dewey argued, be more than preparation for life but life itself? Should we practice what we preach?
Readings:
*John Dewey, Democracy and Education (Simon & Brown, 2011), Ch. 6 (Education as Conservative and Progressive) and 7 (The Democratic Conception in Education), p. 41-56. [Blackboard]
* Nancy Thomas and Peter Levine, “Deliberative Democracy: and Higher Education. Higher Education’s Democratic Mission,” in John Saltmarsh and Matthew Hartley, eds., "To Serve a Larger Purpose": Engagement for Democracy and the Transformation of Higher Education (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2011), pp. 154-176. [Blackboard]
*Jennifer S. Simpson, Longing for Justice: Higher Education and Democracy’s Agenda (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2014): Chapters 1, 2, 7 (3-66; 201-230) [Blackboard]
*Lionel K. McPherson, “Righting Historical Injustice in Higher Education,” in Harry Brighouse and Michael McPherson, eds., The Aims of Higher Education: Problems of Morality and Justice (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2015): 113-134. [Blackboard]
*Erin I. Kelly, “Modeling Justice in Higher Education,” in Harry Brighouse and Michael McPherson, eds., The Aims of Higher Education: Problems of Morality and Justice (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2015): 135-155. [Blackboard]
Rick Perlstein, “On the Death of Democratic Higher Education,” The Nation (Aug. 21, 2013).
Optional:
Jelani Cobb,"Race and the Free Speech Diversion," The New Yorker Today (November 11, 2015).
The question of “free” vs. “regulated” speech has become increasingly important over the past few years. It has moved from a discussion of establishing speech “rules” for campuses that were designed to protect student learners from hate speech to conversations about who should be invited or permitted to speak on campus to contemporary questions of the threats to learning that disturbing or discomforting ideas can pose. There is little question that the campus speech “question” has been shaped by (among others) the greater awareness of such issues as sexual violence and harassment as well as the omnipresence of internet culture. A second “front” in this war is over the question of academic freedom vs. “civility” and whether administrations are establishing new standards of “behavior” to shape the faculty.
Readings:
I: Are Students “Hiding from Scary Ideas”?
Judith Shulevitz, “In College and Hiding from Scary Ideas,” New York Times (March 21, 2015).
Shruthi Badri, “Weary, Not Afraid: A Response to Judith Shulevitz,” The Amherst Student (March 22, 2015)
*Kelefh Sanneh, “The Hell You Say,” The New Yorker (August 15, 2015) OR *Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt, “The Coddling of the American Mind,” The Atlantic (Sept. 2015).
II. Microaggression and Hate Speech on Campus:
*Derald Wing Sue, Annie I. Lin, Gina C. Torino, Christina M. Capodilupo, and David P. Rivera, “Racial Microaggressions and Difficult Dialogues on Race in the Classroom,” Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology: 15:2 (2009): 183–190.
Eric Posner, “Universities Are Right – and Within Their Rights – to Crack Down on Speech and Behavior,” Slate.com (Feb. 12, 2015).
Bradley Campbell and Jason Manning, “Microaggression and Changing Moral Cultures,” Chronicle of Higher Education (July 24, 2015).
*Charles R. Lawrence III, “If He Hollers Let Him Go: Regulating Racist Speech on Campus,” in Charles R. Lawrence III, Mari J. Matsuda, Richard Delgado, Kimberle Williams Crenshaw, eds., Words that Wound: Critical Race Theory, Assaultive Speech, and the First Amendment (Boulder: Westview Press, 1993): 53-88.
III. Regulatory Regimes, Civility, Speech, and Academic Freedom:
*Laura Kipnis, “My Title IX Inquisition,” The Chronicle Review (June 12, 2015)
Robin Marie, “Thinking Critically About Academic Freedom: The Case of Salaita,” U.S. Intellectual History Blog (June 4, 2015).
Joan Scott, “The New Thought Police: Why are campus administrators invoking civility to silence critical speech?” The Nation (May 4, 2015): 13-17.
OPTIONAL: [Added 10-30-2015]. The topic continues to generate abundant news articles. I'm posting a selection of them here for additional, optional, readings if you choose.
Last spring, Stephen Salaita gave a talk on campus. Salaita was "hired" and then "fired" by the University of Illinois for posting a Tweet that offended some. His talk was recorded and can be found here. Natalia, who provided the link, writes: "There's a really relevant point to our readings [this] week raised during the Q&A about complicated the rhetoric of safety when talking about anti-zionism and how that could reinforce trauma of survivors of sexualized violence. That point is raised at 1:19:57." Also, you can read Steven Salaita's own perspective, "Why I Was Fired," The Chronicle Review (Oct. 16, 2015).
Laurie Essig, "Russia, Land of Free Speech," The Chronicle Review (October 16, 2015).
Scott A. Bass and Mary L. Clark, "The Gravest Threat to Colleges Comes from Within," Chronicle of Higher Education (October 16, 2015).
Peter Schmidt, "A University Faculty's Stand on Trigger Warnings Stirs Fears Among Students," Chronicle of Higher Education (October 16, 2015).
Robin Wilson, "Students' Requests for Trigger Warnings Grow More Varied," Chronicle of Higher Education (September 14, 2015).
Josh Logue, "Who Should Prevent Social Media Harrassment?" Inside Higher Ed (Oct. 22, 2015).
"When a Generation Becomes Less Tolerant of Free Speech," New York Times (November 2, 2015): Room for Debate column.
Controversy over an article printed in the Wesleyan student newspaper: Bryan Stascavage, "Why Black Lives Matter Isn't What You Think," The Wesleyan Argus (Sept. 14, 2015), the original article, and commentary on the controversy it stirred at Wesleyan by Mary Ellen McIntyre, "Amid Debate of Free Speech and Save Speech, Wesleyan Students Seek to Hear More Voices," Chronicle of Higher Education (Sept. 28, 2015); Catherine Rampell, "Free Speech Is Flunking Out on College Campuses," Washington Post (Oct. 22, 2015).
Further Readings: (click on link)
Nov. 11: PREPARATION OR PRACTICE? Does Higher Education Prepare Students for Democratic Citizenship or Will It Be a Site Where Democracy is Practiced?
It has long been argued that an educated citizenry is essential for democracy, but such an understanding embodies the notion that the purpose of an education is for more than job preparation. John Dewey argued in Democracy and Education (1916) that, in its broadest sense, education is the means of the “social continuity of life.” Since then, many progressive educators have pointed out the essential role and responsibility that educators (and the education they provide) have in not just democracy but justice. The central role of teachers in the preparation for and practice of democracy is perhaps underscored by the fact that, although teachers have few resources to change the direction of social life, any evidence of social crisis is quickly deposited at the feet of teachers and the curriculum. Is education a public good? Should schools, as Dewey argued, be more than preparation for life but life itself? Should we practice what we preach?
Readings:
*John Dewey, Democracy and Education (Simon & Brown, 2011), Ch. 6 (Education as Conservative and Progressive) and 7 (The Democratic Conception in Education), p. 41-56. [Blackboard]
* Nancy Thomas and Peter Levine, “Deliberative Democracy: and Higher Education. Higher Education’s Democratic Mission,” in John Saltmarsh and Matthew Hartley, eds., "To Serve a Larger Purpose": Engagement for Democracy and the Transformation of Higher Education (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2011), pp. 154-176. [Blackboard]
*Jennifer S. Simpson, Longing for Justice: Higher Education and Democracy’s Agenda (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2014): Chapters 1, 2, 7 (3-66; 201-230) [Blackboard]
*Lionel K. McPherson, “Righting Historical Injustice in Higher Education,” in Harry Brighouse and Michael McPherson, eds., The Aims of Higher Education: Problems of Morality and Justice (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2015): 113-134. [Blackboard]
*Erin I. Kelly, “Modeling Justice in Higher Education,” in Harry Brighouse and Michael McPherson, eds., The Aims of Higher Education: Problems of Morality and Justice (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2015): 135-155. [Blackboard]
Rick Perlstein, “On the Death of Democratic Higher Education,” The Nation (Aug. 21, 2013).
Optional:
Jelani Cobb,"Race and the Free Speech Diversion," The New Yorker Today (November 11, 2015).
HIGHER EDUCATION’S DIGITAL FUTURE: Challenges and Possibilities
Nov. 18: DISRUPTION: One Look at a Digital Future for Higher Education
Technology, some have argued, will inevitably “disrupt” higher education to the same extent that it has disrupted industries such as auto making and journalism. This is seen as positive in the sense that it will allow more people access to higher education at a lower (or no) cost. This is the assumption behind MOOCs – Massive Open Online Courses. To the extent that MOOCs are carefully prepared and designed, they can be quite good, although initial results in terms of completion and quality across MOOCs is not promising. Nevertheless, technology has been cast as the one force that can resolve the challenges of access, costs, and faculty inflexibility, among others. Here we will examine the ways that technology has and can change the verities of higher education: both for the good and for the not-so-good.
Readings:
*Jeffrey J. Selingo, College (Un)Bound: The Future of Higher Education and What it Means for Students (Boston: New Harvest, 2013). NOTE: Part I (Chs. 1-3) covers materials we have examined in depth before; you can skip or skim while focusing on Chs. 4-Conclusion. [Note added Nov. 15, 3:45 PM]
Graeme Wood, “The Future of College,” The Atlantic Magazine (September 2014).
Paul Fain, "Establishment Goes Alternative," Inside Higher Ed (August 14, 2015).
Ryan Craig and Allison Williams, "Data, Technology, and the Great Unbundling of Higher Education," EDUCAUSE Review (August 17, 2015).
Further Readings: (click on link)
Nov. 25: No Class (Thanksgiving)
Dec. 2: Topic/Bibliography for Final Paper/Project Due [Note: updated 11/23]
Topic: A reformulation of your paper topic, based on your thinking, my comments, and the work that you’ve begun. This can be in 1-2 paragraphs. You should be able to state your central question: what is it that you hope to answer in this paper.
Bibliography: A list of the sources that you have begun to consult or plan to consult for this project. It doesn’t need to be annotated, just provide basic bibliographic information (author, title, publisher, date of publication). If your sources are not yet clear, I’d like you to detail what you’ll be doing to find sources (e.g., an appointment with a reference librarian, data based you’ll be searching, etc.)
Dec. 2: INSTRUCTIVISM, CONSTRUCTIVISM, CONNECTIVISM: Technology and Pedagogy
At the end of the day, there are classes that suck in a traditional face-to-face delivery mode and classes that suck when delivered by MOOC. It’s not about the technology, it’s about the learning. At the same time, technology has allowed for much more robust learning environments than previously possible. This week we’ll examine some examples of ways that technology, by allowing us to ignore space and time constraints and by connecting learners far beyond the class, can improve learning.
Readings:
Terry Heick, “The Difference Between Instructivism, Constructivism, and Connectivism,” Te@chThought (May 6, 2013):
*Cathy N. Davidson and David Theo Goldberg, The Future of Learning Institutions in a Digital Age (Cambridge: MIT Press, 2009): pp. 8-35.
Adam F. Falk, “Technology in Education: Revolution or Evolution,” Kevin M. Guthrie, “You Can Run, but You Can’t Hide,” Daniel R. Porterfield, “Technology, Learning, and Campus Culture,” Eugene M. Tobin, “The Future of Liberal Arts Colleges Begins with Collaboration,” Carol T. Christ, “The College Without Walls,” Jane Dammen McAuliffe, “The Networked College – Local, Global, Virtual,” in Rebecca Chopp, Susan Frost, and Daniel H. Weiss, Remaking College: Innovation and the Liberal Arts (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014), Chs 8-13 (96-154). [Blackboard]
Jim Grooms (Instructional Technologist at Mary Washington University): Projects.
Bryan Alexander, “Higher Education in 2024: Glimpsing the Future,” EDUCAUSE Review (Sept. 15, 2014).
*Lisa Spiro and Bryan Alexander, “Open Education in the Liberal Arts: A NITLE Working Paper” (April 2012).
Further Readings: (click on link)
Dec. 9: BRINGING IT ALL HOME: SUMMARY & CONCLUSION (NOTE: Changed on 12/01 - the original readings for this week are below these more selected readings.) The class will be devoted to a wrap-up session based on some of the readings and general discussion. NO READING RESPONSES DUE THIS WEEK!
Nicholas Dirks, “Rebirth of the Research University,” Chronicle Review (Chronicle of Higher Education) (April 27, 2015).
Terry Eagleton, "The Slow Death of the University," Chronicle of Higher Education (April 6, 2015).
Chronicle of Higher Education, “College Reinvented: The Finalists” (Nov. 19, 2012).
Delbanco, College, Chapter 6: 150-177.
Brian Rosenberg, "The Liberal Arts College Unbound," and John M. McCardell, Jr., "'Glowing against the Gray, Sober against the Fire': Residential Academic Communities in the Twenty-First Century," in Rebecca Chopp, Susan Frost, and Daniel H. Weiss, Remaking College: Innovation and the Liberal Arts (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015): pp. 157-179. [Blackboard]
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ORIGINAL CLASS - READ IF YOU ARE INTERESTED
Dec. 9: HAS THE NEW AMERICAN UNIVERSITY ALREADY BEEN INVENTED? Lots of examples out there - where do you think it should go?
Based on new technological models, a number of institutions of higher education have promised to deliver the “new American university.” Liberal arts colleges are also deeply involved in “re-inventing” themselves. How does it look to you?
Note: Readings are divided up among groups.
Readings:
Group 1: The Reinvented University
*Michael M. Crow and William B. Dabars, “Designing a New American University at the Frontier,” in Designing the New American University (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015): 240-310.
Gabriel Kahn, “The Amazon of Higher Education: How Tiny, Struggling Southern New Hampshire University Has Become a Behemoth,” Slate.com (Jan 2, 2014).
Amanda Ripley, “The Upwardly Mobile Barista: Starbucks and Arizona State University are collaborating to help café workers get college degrees. Is this a model for helping more Americans reach the middle class?” The Atlantic (May 2015).
Nicholas Dirks, “Rebirth of the Research University,” Chronicle Review (Chronicle of Higher Education) (April 27, 2015).
Group 2: Reinvented Universities and Community Colleges
Chronicle of Higher Education, “College Reinvented: The Finalists” (Nov. 19, 2012).
*MIT-Institute-wide Task Force on the Future of MIT Education, “Final Report” (July 28, 2014): Pages to be assigned.
"Implementing Guided Pathways at Miami Dade College: A Case Study,” Community College Research Center, Teachers College, Columbia University (2015).
Group 3: The Reinvented Liberal Arts College
*Delbanco, College, Chapter 6: 150-177.
*American Association of Colleges & Universities (AAC&U): "What Is a 21st Century Liberal Education?"
Brian Rosenberg, "The Liberal Arts College Unbound," John M. McCardell, Jr., "'Glowing against the Gray, Sober against the Fire': Residential Academic Communities in the Twenty-First Century," and William G. Bowen, "More to Hope Than to Fear: The Future of the Liberal Arts College," in Rebecca Chopp, Susan Frost, and Daniel H. Weiss, Remaking College: Innovation and the Liberal Arts (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015): pp. 157-179, 189-201. [Blackboard]
Liyan Chen, “How Liberal Arts Colleges Reinvent Themselves as Startup Factories,” Forbes (Aug. 17, 2015).
Further Readings (click on link)
Final Paper/Project: Due at 11:00 AM on Sunday, December 20. No late papers/projects without an official incomplete.
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Main image: Oberlin College Archives: Oberlin's BA graduates of 1855
Nicholas Dirks, “Rebirth of the Research University,” Chronicle Review (Chronicle of Higher Education) (April 27, 2015).
Terry Eagleton, "The Slow Death of the University," Chronicle of Higher Education (April 6, 2015).
Chronicle of Higher Education, “College Reinvented: The Finalists” (Nov. 19, 2012).
Delbanco, College, Chapter 6: 150-177.
Brian Rosenberg, "The Liberal Arts College Unbound," and John M. McCardell, Jr., "'Glowing against the Gray, Sober against the Fire': Residential Academic Communities in the Twenty-First Century," in Rebecca Chopp, Susan Frost, and Daniel H. Weiss, Remaking College: Innovation and the Liberal Arts (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015): pp. 157-179. [Blackboard]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ORIGINAL CLASS - READ IF YOU ARE INTERESTED
Dec. 9: HAS THE NEW AMERICAN UNIVERSITY ALREADY BEEN INVENTED? Lots of examples out there - where do you think it should go?
Based on new technological models, a number of institutions of higher education have promised to deliver the “new American university.” Liberal arts colleges are also deeply involved in “re-inventing” themselves. How does it look to you?
Note: Readings are divided up among groups.
Readings:
Group 1: The Reinvented University
*Michael M. Crow and William B. Dabars, “Designing a New American University at the Frontier,” in Designing the New American University (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015): 240-310.
Gabriel Kahn, “The Amazon of Higher Education: How Tiny, Struggling Southern New Hampshire University Has Become a Behemoth,” Slate.com (Jan 2, 2014).
Amanda Ripley, “The Upwardly Mobile Barista: Starbucks and Arizona State University are collaborating to help café workers get college degrees. Is this a model for helping more Americans reach the middle class?” The Atlantic (May 2015).
Nicholas Dirks, “Rebirth of the Research University,” Chronicle Review (Chronicle of Higher Education) (April 27, 2015).
Group 2: Reinvented Universities and Community Colleges
Chronicle of Higher Education, “College Reinvented: The Finalists” (Nov. 19, 2012).
*MIT-Institute-wide Task Force on the Future of MIT Education, “Final Report” (July 28, 2014): Pages to be assigned.
"Implementing Guided Pathways at Miami Dade College: A Case Study,” Community College Research Center, Teachers College, Columbia University (2015).
Group 3: The Reinvented Liberal Arts College
*Delbanco, College, Chapter 6: 150-177.
*American Association of Colleges & Universities (AAC&U): "What Is a 21st Century Liberal Education?"
Brian Rosenberg, "The Liberal Arts College Unbound," John M. McCardell, Jr., "'Glowing against the Gray, Sober against the Fire': Residential Academic Communities in the Twenty-First Century," and William G. Bowen, "More to Hope Than to Fear: The Future of the Liberal Arts College," in Rebecca Chopp, Susan Frost, and Daniel H. Weiss, Remaking College: Innovation and the Liberal Arts (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2015): pp. 157-179, 189-201. [Blackboard]
Liyan Chen, “How Liberal Arts Colleges Reinvent Themselves as Startup Factories,” Forbes (Aug. 17, 2015).
Further Readings (click on link)
Final Paper/Project: Due at 11:00 AM on Sunday, December 20. No late papers/projects without an official incomplete.
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Main image: Oberlin College Archives: Oberlin's BA graduates of 1855