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Re: Op-Ed Contributor - End the University as We Know It - NYTimes.com
From: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Tue, 28 Apr 2009 20:00:13 -0400
Begin forwarded message: From: "Tim O'Reilly" <tim () oreilly com> Date: April 28, 2009 7:29:48 PM EDT To: dave () farber net Cc: "ip" <ip () v2 listbox com>Subject: Re: [IP] Re: Op-Ed Contributor - End the University as We Know It - NYTimes.com
While it's true that the Op Ed was overly broad, it reflects the experience of a surprising number of academics in certain disciplines.
I recently stayed at a postgraduate institute associated with a major Ivy League university, and was quite fascinated by how frustrated the director was by the narrow focus of his own institution (ancient Greek classics), which had moved away from being an institution devoted to learning, and had become exactly what the NYT op-ed describes, namely a training program for specialists who are splitting the finest hairs. He's been working for years to move the institutional culture back to one where the mission is really education, rather than ever more abstruse research into topics that mean very little to anyone, and are only designed for academic tenure.
I don't think people in "real world" disciplines realize just how much some of the more extreme humanities disciplines have fallen into the "how many angels can fit on the head of a pin" trap.
On Apr 28, 2009, at 4:08 PM, David Farber wrote:
From: "David P. Reed" <dpreed () reed com> Date: April 28, 2009 4:34:57 PM EDT To: dave () farber net Cc: ip <ip () v2 listbox com>Subject: Re: [IP] Re: Op-Ed Contributor - End the University as We Know It - NYTimes.comI agree with Ben Kuipers below. But here's a simpler observation: what hubris allows a religion professor in Columbia to indict ALL graduate programs in ALL universities without doing any research whatsoever?Any serious professor in any serious graduate school would have never allowed him to get a Bachelor's degree, much less a graduate degree with that attitude towards the craft of learning...Flunk him out.
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