[lbo-talk] teaching the pampered rich at Harvard

shag shag at cleandraws.com
Tue Jul 22 20:12:47 PDT 2008


one thought: if you have some time, i'd highly recommend brint and karabel's _the diverted dream_. it's an excellent look at the vocationalization of schooling. b and k show how the dreams of manual laborers at the time were dreams of schooling in the liberal arts -- education for the sake of education. those dreams were systematically diverted by an elite that was terrified of what might happen if such dreams ever came to fruition.

sorry to sound flip, "read a book", but given the stuff you type at the list and others ideas you've expressed, i really think you'll appreciate the insights in this book.

more in archives http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/2005/2005-November/023834.html

http://mailman.lbo-talk.org/2000/2000-July/013675.html

At 09:10 PM 7/22/2008, Joseph Catron wrote:
>We seem to be having multiple conversations in this thread
>simultaneously. I'll not dwell on the point, other than to say that I
>read nothing in your reply below conflicting with my post, to which it
>was apparently intended as a critical response.
>
>I will, however, note how some of the loaded language used here shapes
>the conversation. Is the idea of professors as "hired help,"
>obligated to help students prepare for their chosen careers, really so
>outrageous? However we cut the numbers, I hope we can agree that
>many, many students attend college with vocational goals foremost in
>their minds.
>
>And why is conflating tenured academics with residential housekeepers,
>or whatever else "hired help" means, so evocative? They're people who
>do jobs, some parts of which they like more than others, for money,
>right?
>
>On Tue, Jul 22, 2008 at 7:58 PM, John Thornton <jthorn65 at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>
> > For starters State University students and Community College students have
> > never made we wish for an explosive laden vest.
> >
> > My only elite college experience is at Harvard but I have heard from
> > reliable persons that my impressions were typical of other similar
> > institutions.
> >
> > The sense of entitlement at such schools is almost unbelievable unless
> > you've spent much time with these fucks.
> > Their attitude is, as someone pointed out, that the Professors and
> > instructors are mere servants.
> > People whose job it is is to validate the students preconceived ideas about
> > themselves as elites.
> > I've never experienced that from any of the students at any of the State
> > Universities I've had the pleasure of associating with.
> > You have to be taught such ideas from early childhood and State University
> > students seldom, if ever, receiving such developmental training.
>
>--
>"Hige sceal þe heardra, heorte þe cenre, mod sceal þe mare, þe ure
>mægen lytlað."
>
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http://cleandraws.com Wear Clean Draws ('coz there's 5 million ways to kill a CEO)



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