'An aphorism, properly stamped and molded, has not been "deciphered" when it has simply been read; rather one has then to begin its interpretation, for which is required an art of interpretation.' -- Nietzsche, 'On the Genealogy of Morals'
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'An aphorism, properly stamped and molded, has not been "deciphered" when it has simply been read; rather one has then to begin its interpretation, for which is required an art of interpretation.' -- Nietzsche, 'On the Genealogy of Morals'
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day to day university life
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October 22, 2005
This post by Lars over at Spurious is so good. It starts thus:
The corpse of the university floats face down in the water. We are all poking it with sticks. Is it really dead, the university? Is that really its bloated, blue-faced corpse? Yes, it is dead, and there it is floating, face down. In the end, there is no point pretending, not anymore. The university is dead and there is its corpse.
Is the liberal research university dead? Yes! we know that It has given birth to the corporate university, a money making machine. Lars describes it this way:
The dinosaurs had gone, and now the new breed had come, those who would never had had a chance in the old system. Then the death of the university was welcome, for this death was only that of the old elite. This death was welcome, and even the capitalisation of the university was welcome for a time, because it meant courses had to be offered to students outside the old paternalism and the old canon.
Yes, for an afternoon or two, a breath of wind passed through the university. The university had died; capital had killed it, but this was welcome, for the king was dead and there was no king to replace it.
Well it promise something new didn't it? A moment when things looked to be different.I know that I was fooled. But then:
The old universities organised themselves to make sure they would get all the money from government research funding. They quickly put together departments responsible for drawing up funding bids, and attracted money to themselves. The old elite, shaken, began to reform, albeit without the old set of values, the tedious old conservatism....the two great forces of the university were capital and resentment.
Those who were successful getting grants represented capital. Those who weren't successful represented resentment. So what is life like now in what-calls-itself-a-university but is actually a money making machines? Lars answers thus:
What did you do today at work? What happened today? The philosopher bids for research money and the historian bids for research money. The political scientist bids for research money and the historian of art bids for research money. What happened at work? A little teaching, but that was nothing. Some teaching, pleasant enough, but that was nothing. Some teaching, some administration related to teaching, but what was that, really?
Nothing matters now but but income generation, but who can be bothered.
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Corresponding with my friend in the TAFE sector of education has been an eye opener.She says: "the rise in fees for university and TAFE students has placed an enormous burden on students. The government's own statistics indicate that one of the prominent poverty ridden groups are students. The increase in tuition fees this year for university students means that they start their working life with an enormous debt. Onerous as this is - at least (for the time being) they can access HECS, if they meet the narrow means test. Not so for TAFE students. Up until the end of 2004, tuition fees for apprentices were capped at $290.00. This was scrapped this year, and the tuition fee cap is now $819.00 per annum (plus material and services fees). This is beyond the resources of most students and given that they are very low paid workers and have to travel some distance at their own expense to access their training, for many it is just too hard. For country TAFE apprentices, this is especially difficult. They have to pay their own accommodation for their periods of secondment for training. Most employers do not contribute a cent to the fees and other expenses, as they consider that they have lost labour time when the student is attending TAFE. There is no requirement for the employer to contribute any of the incentive payments that they receive for empoying an apprentice, to the cost of training or accommodation. It is entirely met by the student who has no access to HECS. Some TAFE colleges let them pay the fees by instalments to help alleviate these difficulties. Consequently, the number of apprentices enrolled at TAFE this year have dropped substantially from last year. This makes it hard to swallow the John Howard spiel about shortages of skilled labour in this country. Full time TAFE students find it impossible to survive on the Youth Allowance, so many of them undertake part time jobs at night, which does not allow sufficient time for them to study. Under achievement and drop out are the result of this. University students are in the same position. Education should be free as the air. Having said that, I'm sure someone is working out a way to corporatise the breathing of air".