>At 8:32 AM 11/26/98, Phil Graham wrote:
>
>>snip> things are different where you are. Here, our
education
>>system is in a state of deterioration because of its
increasingly
>>corporate-values orientation and corporate-oriented curricula.
>>Other Aussies on the list might well disagree with me. If so,
I'd love to
>>hear about positive developments to the contrary anywhere else
in our fine
>>country.
>
>Can't speak for Aussies; but there is a definite swing to
corporate
>sponsorship in higher education, and even in primary &
secondary, where
>Pepsi & Coke, e.g., are vying for control of supply to the
students.
>In Ontario, business ed students now need to come up with a
corporate
>sponsor who will put up to $35000 for the M.A. degree...
Awhile ago I read an article of a student being suspended for
wearing a pepsi shirt to school. The school had a contract with
Coke and the day the corporate big wigs came to school a student
wore a pepsi shirt as an act of defiance. The principle argued
the student was displaying a disrespectful attitude to their
corporate visiters.
>
>
>there must be a way to "capitalize" on the corporate
participation?
>
>(1) it brings MORE money that gov't subsidies ever could
>
>(2) it allows more diversity of practice to become a part of
the univ
>curriculum - more examples of "real world" involvement, not
only in
>business ed; but also , say, in architecture, law, medicine,
social work,
>psychotherapy & counselling psych,
>chemistry and other hard sciences -
>
>the problem obviously is that the money will first go to
sponsor whatever
>profits the corporation. But there are newer corporations
taking on ethical
>creeds of practice which could be foregrounded.
>
>Me, I often thought it would be good to start up a Travelling
Teachers'
>Show, where top-notch educators travel to different
universities, and for a
>fee, teach their speciality to the interested students; and at
the same
>time, model effective teaching.
>
>In the meantime, I think the key strategy today is to figure
out to get a
>jump on corporate sponsorship, and seek out corporations with
ethical
>standards to
>participate in cultivating less distance between the university
and the
>world-that-lurks-beyond-our-screens.
>
>my $0.02 CDN (approx - $0.0023 USF)
>diane
>
>
> "Every tool is a weapon if you hold it right." Ani Difranco
>*********************************************
>diane celia hodges
> faculty of education, centre for the study of
curriculum and
>instruction,
> university of british columbia
> vancouver, bc canada
>
>snailmail: 3519 Hull Street
> Vancouver, BC, Canada V5N 4R8
>
>
>
>
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