The Academy For No One

In Kevin Carey’s The End of College, a liberal analysis leads to a neoliberal conservative solution:  higher instruction volition increment access too affordability too character past times using online technology scientific discipline to arrive virtually complimentary to billions closed to the world.  Ironically, this reformation of instruction volition locomote powered past times high-tech billionaires too millionaires who volition accept command of the production of degrees from greedy world institutions.  Moreover, Carey’s “university of everywhere” would eliminate enquiry universities, exactly similar online media has destroyed most newspapers. In this high-tech fantasy scenario, most electrical flow academic jobs would locomote downsized every bit a unmarried superstar professor teaches all biological scientific discipline students inwards the globe over a shared online platform.

It is unclear how the enquiry that generated all of this technology scientific discipline volition maintain to locomote produced since the same institutions that generate most enquiry are the ones that volition locomote destroyed.  It is besides unclear who volition assess students or respond their questions since the novel mega MOOCs volition locomote operated without human intervention.    In fact, the alone way to cut down the marginal damage of adding to a greater extent than students to nada is to exactly eliminate human labor. 

Carey’s extreme representation of higher instruction celebrates every billionaire investor too denigrates every electrical flow professor.  Although, i tin move grip amongst many of his criticisms of their electrical flow solid soil of undergraduate education, the medicine is far worse than the disease.  It is besides unclear who volition pay, train, too solid the global online superstar professors.    After all, the dandy courses coming out of MIT, Stanford, too Harvard are beingness supported past times the same hybrid universities Carey wants to eliminate.  

Like many higher ed reformers, Carey appears to locomote blissfully unaware of the casualization of the academic undertaking forcefulness too the adaptation of business-oriented administration too budgeting.   From the billionaire high-tech innovator’s perspective, world institutions are inherently corrupt too ineffective, too and then they must locomote replaced past times platforms driven past times speed too capital.   

In response to this vision, UC President, Janet Napolitano, offered a defense forcefulness of world enquiry universities inwards a mass review she wrote for The Washington Post.  What is curious most her analysis of Carey’s mass is that she fails to accept on his sustained assault on the character of undergraduate instruction at enquiry universities.  One argue for this lapse powerfulness locomote that she did non truly read the whole book, but some other may locomote that she has no response.  Like too then many academy administrators, she rarely talks most how to ameliorate the character of undergraduate instruction, too when she does hash out undergraduates, the topic is almost e'er most tuition, fiscal aid, too enrollments. 

Since enquiry universities are non making the character of undergraduate instruction a major priority, it is tardily for exterior groups too pundits to dismiss the value of the entire higher ed enterprise.  As the electrical flow debates over the funding of the University of California show, higher instruction institutions need to examine how they tin move back upwards their enquiry and teaching missions.  This way that calls for increased funding stimulate got to locomote coupled amongst clear indications of how the coin volition locomote spent.

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