Re: [xmca] Fwd: Value(s) and Higher Education

[mike cole <lchcmike@gmail.com>]

And then they can all be unemployed until they finish their free
internships, volunteering, living at their parents' place, IF they can get
into the system financially before their parents are dead and gone.

Pretty much the same at UCalifornia, but not as baldly and self-satisfiedly
stated, Bruce.

This current of events has been interesting me for some years in connection
with the morphing of developmental stage theories that used to catalog the
ages from 12-19, roughly, as a stage called adolescence. What we have seen
is a classical reorganization of life stages all over the world. Only the
particular forms vary as a function of nationality,class, ethnicity, etc. We
are seeing the cultural organization of "life stages" as a
biosocial-cultural-historical process of human evolution right before our
eyes.

I do not find it a pretty sight (or is that site?). Its like observing a
cobra up close. My sense is that this ongoing sharp change in the world
economic order is going to give rise to still further "substages" (from
"tweens" to "emerging adults") for us to consider in the future. Or maybe we
will get back to "stone age"
configurations of the life-span. I hear tell that life was simpler back
then.

(My apologies for slipping into irony. Bad habit outside of oral discourse
and good novels. I am sharing a little of Collete's angst)

mike


On Sun, Jan 2, 2011 at 4:23 PM, Bruce Robinson <bruce@brucerob.eu> wrote:

> One of the most disgusting aspects of current developments in the UK is the
> support - or in the case of the self-appointed Russell Group of top research
> universities, enthusiasm - of most university vice-chancellors and
> managements for the increases (trebling) of tuition fees that will force
> many working class students out of universities. At the same time, the
> dependence of universities on the supposed market choices of students will
> lead to some being de facto privatised, others closing and some subjects
> that may not be popular but contribute to knowledge disappearing altogether.
> (Fish is right about the arts & humanities - they and the social sciences
> are now to be 100% dependent on income from student fees.)
>
> The only silver lining has been the response of students: Several large
> demonstrations ending in disturbances (Duchess of Cornwall poked with a
> stick!), a string of occupations of buildings in universities up and down
> the country and the involvement of school and further education students -
> and lots of support frfom staff. Having been on a number of these marches
> and to our local occupation, what is striking is that it is not just the
> usual suspects but a lot of very angry young people getting involved in
> protest for the first time. That bodes well for the coming year as I doubt
> they will just go away now the fees bill has gone through.
>
> Bruce Robinson
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Andy Blunden" <ablunden@mira.net>
> To: "eXtended Mind, Culture, Activity" <xmca@weber.ucsd.edu>
> Sent: Sunday, January 02, 2011 5:46 AM
> Subject: Re: [xmca] Fwd: Value(s) and Higher Education
>
>
>  The depth of the depravity described in this review is shocking. Britain
>> was once the paragon of free  universal public service, and has now been
>> dragged down to a level even worse than Oz or the USA. How far can this
>> process go? In his PhD thesis in 1968, James Coleman suggested that although
>> every citizen was entitled to a vote, people ought to be allowed to sell
>> their vote on the market, much like the "education voucher" of which Milton
>> Friedman was an early advocate.
>>
>> The irony is that the elimination of the ethos of free, universal
>> education as a public good, is offered in diect response to the utter
>> failure of the market to regulate financial investment. Why on Earth do
>> these people think the market will do a better job of regulating learning?
>>
>> Andy
>>
>> mike cole wrote:
>>
>>> For more of the story check out the most recent NY Review of books
>>> or get an English colleague to forward a summary document. Before long
>>> its
>>> going to be in a convenience store near you, or perhaps a Walmart.
>>> mike
>>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>>> From: Frank Kessel <kesfam@pdq.net>
>>> Date: Sat, Jan 1, 2011 at 8:18 PM
>>> Subject: Value(s) and Higher Education
>>>  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
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>> --
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> *Andy Blunden*
>> Joint Editor MCA: http://lchc.ucsd.edu/MCA/Journal/
>> Home Page: http://home.mira.net/~andy/ <http://home.mira.net/%7Eandy/>
>> Videos: http://vimeo.com/user3478333/videos
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>>
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