Illusion of Wisdom 101: Introduction to Chapter 3

Syllabus

• This class meets on Sundays and Wednesdays.
  
• Your teacher is "Professor" Hedges (with commentary by Professor J and Madame M). 
• Required text: Empire of Illusion, but we highly recommend lots of independent reading. You should start with The Disadvantages of Being Educated. A variety of newspaper and magazine articles, other books and multimedia presentations on education are strongly encouraged. Links to some of these that we feel are indispensable will be provided from time to time.
  

This chapter provides an opportunity to explore means by which we define education, who is "educated" and to what end. The focus will be on the powerful influence of  "corporate and military power" on education at the university level as well as whether or not we are seeing the "systematic destruction of American education."  "Professor" Hedges opens the chapter by laying blame for everything from our "mismanaged economy" to "our imperial debacles in the Middle East" at: "the door of institutions that produce and sustain our educated elite. Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Stanford, Oxford, Cambridge, the University of Toronto, and the Paris Institute of Political Studies, along with most elite schools, do only a mediocre job of teaching students to questions and think. They focus instead, through a filter of standardized tests, enrichment activities, AP classes, high-priced tutors, swanky private schools, entrance exams, and blind deference to authority, on creating hoards of  competent systems managers." (p.89)

"We have bought hook, line, and sinker into the idea that education is about training and 'success,' defined monetarily, rather than learning to think critically and to challenge."  Chris Hebdon a Berkley undergrad student (p. 95)

You will be expected to discuss these and other assertions at length. Please come to class prepared to defend your stance.

• Participation in the discussion is encouraged. 
• There is no extra credit.
• Do not have your mother contact us about your grade.

• Attendance: Why would you not want to show up?

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 Professor J,


 Okay, I'm having a bit of fun but after our last chapter I think we need it! While I didn't agree with everything he said in this chapter, his overall message that education has become less about real learning and more about gaining a Sufficiently Trained Cog Certificate is spot on. (This has been in the works for some time--we advise the reader to peruse The Disadvantages of Being Educated.) Though Hedges is mainly listing his grievances with universities, I would have to say that we see this thinking start earlier than ever, now. Ken Robinson addresses this in one of his famous talks when sharing that the motto at a well intentioned school was "College begins in kindergarten."  For some parents it begins even before that when before the child is even born mom and dad start worrying about getting him on all the "right lists." As in for preschool.

The things that Hedges brings to light may help us understand things that are baffling like:

• One-third of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives.
• 42 percent of college graduates never read another book after college.
• 80 percent of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year.
• 70 percent of U.S. adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.
• 57 percent of new books are not read to completion.

After reading chapter 3 I wondered if it isn't because reading makes us think and ask questions, and well...sometimes that can be painful, especially if we ask questions that cause us to question our lives and why things are the way they are.


People who ask questions cause trouble. People who rock boats and think for themselves make those steering the boats, who are happy with the present course, uncomfortable. How they must want to yell "Sit down and ROW!" to the Occupy Wall Street Protesters. The things they do to insure that a compliant and obedient "crew" is always available to keep the engines running are outlined by Hedges:


"The elite universities disdain honest intellectual inquiry, which is by its nature distrustful of authority, fiercely independent, and often subversive. They organize learning around minutely specialized disciplines, narrow answers, and rigid structures designed to produce such answers." (p.89)



If our problem in the last chapter was finding anything appropriate to quote, the challenge this go-round may be in not just quoting the entire chapter! And...you think we have trouble staying on topic? I hadn't noticed. ;)