[Xmca-l] Re: The Features of a Social Situation of Development of Children under Modern Russian Conditions

[Helena Worthen]

Ulvi, thank you!  you can’t guess how timely and useful this article is to me at this moment!  Now I owe a whole chain of thanks here, including one to the reader of our draft book on union organizing in the California State University system over 40 years — our reader put a pencil question mark next to the phrase “distortions of human development under capitalism…” which I thought was a no-brainer until I saw her mark. Another thanks to you and Andy and yet another to this whole list — how else would I have found this paper you sent?

Two points that I can use this paper to clarify: 

One is that a key interviewee had taught in the CSUs in the 1970s-80s, left and came back in the late 90s.  while he was gone the system changed from being free/no tuition to charging tuition, the student body changed from high school graduates to working people in their late 20s and 30s, more women, more minorities — and accumulating debt. Also the teaching workforce was becoming increasingly non-tenure track — contingent. when he comes back to teaching he’s disturbed by the change in the attitude of students toward learning - impatient, grade-conscious, competitive, unwilling to do things that don’t “count.” 

The other is the change in the psychology of the non-tenure line (contingent) faculty as they become the majority of the teaching workforce and get organized. The “ideal adult” of the old days was the tenured faculty member, usually a white male, viewing the world of academia through “the tenured gaze” — from the seat of privilege.  The shift in the teaching workforce demographic from tenure-line to majority contingent (a product of the corporatization of the university) eclipsed that ideal and opened up space for a much more activist ideal, a kind of professor for whom a commitment to union activity was part of their professional equipment. Building on this it was possible for the union to mount a credible strike threat across all 23 campuses and bargain what are arguably the best contract for contingent faculty in the US. 

The second thing was actually a good thing — it brought out the fight. Of course that takes a lot of preparation.

Thanks again —


Helena Worthen
helenaworthen.wordpress.com <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://helenaworthen.wordpress.com/__;!!Mih3wA!SheEUfKcZwzbm7U7K1cGQpmm5Z3UoTD9JUz6sDenCI3eutZL8mfBlloBGuiv3bdiQuisPg$ >




> On Apr 27, 2020, at 4:12 PM, Ulvi İçil <ulvi.icil@gmail.com> wrote:
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> https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.ich-sciences.de/media/journal/Ausgabe_4/4_3.pdf__;!!Mih3wA!SheEUfKcZwzbm7U7K1cGQpmm5Z3UoTD9JUz6sDenCI3eutZL8mfBlloBGuiv3bfkT3P9Hg$  <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.ich-sciences.de/media/journal/Ausgabe_4/4_3.pdf__;!!Mih3wA!WMAsf1mNcAzIXZLRV55F868z6LJT2uC9meiwsiTIpKZwreo7ozRDx-Kbh0-1TSuoejNazQ$> 
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