The is the course blog for a First-Year Seminar focusing on the university as an institution. We will examine definitions of the “university”: what is it? How does it operate? Whom does it serve? How is it organized? We will also discuss and enter debates about various issues: academic labor; financial aid and student debt; the relationship between higher education and professional preparation as well as intellectual pursuit; and the move toward the corporatization of academia.
Participants in the seminar will post regular entries offering thoughts on course readings and discussions as well as relevant texts and issues. Those not taking the course are welcome to participate in the conversation as well, using the "Comments" to share opinions and arguments.
One of the big issues in Newman--after the inevitable class and gender bias of his remarks--is his distinction between "liberal education" and a more practical "vocational" instruction. More recent commentators like Derek Bok in THE UNDERACHIEVING UNIVERSITY realize that a 21st century liberal education has to be more interdisciplinary, more international and, yes, more practical than Newman allows. At the same time, a liberal education has to be broad, cultivating skills, habits of mind, and critical intelligence that transcend the borders of any single discipline or profession.
ReplyDeleteOops! In my post yesterday I misremembered the title of Bok's very useful book OUR UNDERACHIEVING COLLEGES--sorry about this.
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