Univer$ity of Phoenix

[jason rice]

I attend a state university in Pennsylvania, Bloomsburg, and they are 
gearing up to become the next McDonalds of education.  80 student classrooms 
in the works, rumors of televised classes in the near future and a steady 
push towards temporary faculty are all weakening what was(and is) by many 
accounts a solid educational experience.  THe privatization of education is 
scary, but so is the mutation of state institutions to accomodate political 
slandering by politicians who charge "inefficiency" and to generate state 
revenue to appear "profitable".  I will be writing an article about this 
topic in a magazine a friend is publishing on campus next semester, can 
anyone point me to some resources concerning states systems and/or similar 
trends going on elsewhere?
jason Rice
>From: Gordon Fitch <gcf at panix.com>
>Reply-To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
>To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
>Subject: Re: Univer$ity of Phoenix
>Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2000 13:36:17 -0400
>
>Doug Henwood:
> > Chronicle of Higher Education - web daily - June 26, 2000
> >
> > Enrollment in Degree Programs at U. of Phoenix Grows by 22%
> > By JEFFREY BRAINARD
> >
> > The University of Phoenix -- a national for-profit chain whose growth
> > has been closely watched in higher education -- reported on Friday
> > that enrollment in its degree programs rose by 22 percent over the
> > past year, to 75,057 students.
> >
> > The university, which has locations in 15 states, Puerto Rico, and
> > Canada, saw continued rapid growth in its online enrollment. That
> > figure grew by 44.7 percent, to 13,779 students pursuing degree
> > programs, according to the Apollo Group Inc., which operates the
> > university. The corporation reported that the gains occurred from May
> > 31, 1999, to May 31 of this year.
> >
> > The University of Phoenix also reported growing enrollment at its
> > campuses that were established before the 1995 fiscal year. That
> > figure rose by 15.9 percent, to 60,541 students enrolled in degree
> > programs as of May 31.
> >
> > The Apollo Group also operates other institutions and educational
> > programs, some of which do not offer academic degrees. Over all, the
> > company reported that total enrollment in its degree-equivalent
> > programs was 94,255 on May 31, an increase of 19.2 percent over the
> > previous year.
>
>I would think that to a large extent the exchange value of a
>degree -- and the amount of tuition that could be charged for
>it -- would depend not on the knowledge and skills supposedly
>acquired but on the credentialization of class position and
>bourgeois acculturization, including the myth of access to a
>higher, purer knowledge than that available to lower and less
>esteemed categories, such as those who merely visit libraries,
>buy books, learn on the job, or acquire obscure languages at
>their mother's knee.  That being the case, the movement of
>academic institutions toward the rough-and-ready world of
>commerce and the market seems fraught with peril, although
>the first in, one supposes, can profitably exploit the old
>repute and aura while any of it still remains.
>
>However, I think a fairly serious problem is going to arise
>when corporations begin to sequester a substantial proportion
>of all extant useful knowledge.  I am reminded of the Japanese
>sovereign of long ago who supposedly had the Portuguese teach
>him the higher mathematics of the day (long division?), but
>at the same time made them swear on pain of death to impart
>the skill to nobody else.
>

________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com