Re: [xmca] University & Conformity

Mike mentioned constraint, and emphasized entrenching hegemonic regimes,
degenerating diversity and quality, as well as the need for new forms of
academic cooperation. Francine Smolucha mentioned the decline, even total
demise, of the Classical University.
 
No institution in the West, save the Roman Catholic church, has persisted
longer than the university - distinguished from monasteries by their relative
openness of access to people of all social classes and different walks of life.

Alan Cobban, a historian of medieval Oxbridge, has written: "The universities
had their genesis in conflict, and struggle punctuated every stage in their
evolution . . . as they fought first to win and then to defend an acceptable
degree of autonomy vis-à-vis a range of ecclesiastical and secular authorities."

Are universities turning into dinosaurs? The three most important functions of
the university - creation, preservation, transmission of knowledge - are being
usurped by the telecommunication networks. The function of universities as
creators of knowledge is being overtaken by ever-narrowing experts in better
funded and far more specialized government and private research institutions.

Libraries - the heart of a university and de facto the ZPD for many students -
are finding it increasingly difficult to keep up with the volume and cost of
acquisition and information storage as production of knowledge grows
exponentially.
 
eric
(homo ludens)

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Received on Thu May 29 04:12 PDT 2008