One of my greatest desires has to be the desire to be left alone (not to be alone, which is quite another thing).
At the university one increasingly hears a lot of jargon, bullshit, fakery, pseudo-serious posturing, a lot of old malarky, and codswallop dressed up as sophistication, and so on. We will "produce" (that should be a giveaway for starters): "leaders", "world leaders",..we will be "a centre of excellence" (well, yes, who is going to say we'll be a centre of mediocrity or just-getting-through?). Critical thought, critical reasoning..our students will be "global citizens" in a multi-cultural, fast-changing, technology-saturated, false world of soundbytes and meaningless aggression. Ethics 101, business ethics 102, will guide students on how to come across as, well, "ethical".
We believe in racial/sexual/gender/ethnic/ physical/religious and all other kinds of equality (except we don't). We must "look forward". The knowledge economy, for Christ's sake. In the space of 140 characters describe your contribution to the university. Absolute subservience, I would say, Sir!
Let us set up a committee to decide on the value of committees. Aha, communism lives on in the uni.
We must "empower" the students today, the leaders of tomorrow (and bollocks to all of you in the past). There is zero tolerance for zero intolerance. We must "equip" our students with the "skills" that will enable them to navigate an ever-changing future, but also prepare them for the worst (that they will not have a future thanks to us).
We must produce generalists for the market..that is what the market wants...people who are so general that they don't know or can't be bothered to answer any questions. We must move to massive online education. Why not multiple choice questions (they work so well for SAT)?
Descartes was:
a) a town in rural France
b) left back for France
c) an 18th century prostitute
d) I do not know.
Partial credit will be awarded for all rough work. Only answer in the space provided. This is a closed book exam, though you may phone a friend. Do not write in pencil. Do not write in pencil...Do not write...
2 comments:
this made me sad (but of course i laughed a lot too :-)
the worse is when one is forced to use the same bullshit language, for ex when one writes a scholarship application or proposes a research programme - everything has to be formulated in the same jargon, so pathetic :-(
where is that garden you wanted to grow for yourself? and the strawberries :-)
yes, very sad. I wish I'd win the lottery-then i would start a small farm/garden or a cafe/bookshop.
Until then ..it's more of this, I'm afraid. lots of what we call 'gamers' over here.
have a good weekend!
K.
Post a Comment