Xavier University's Way to Keep Higher Ed from Becoming the Next Victim of Corporate Ed Reform
As Kwame Anthony Appiah reminds us, universities advance great science, literary culture, and the educated citizenry necessary for a democracy, and they do so by bringing a diverse set of conflicting ideas and ideals into a learning culture. The same could be said about the New York Times Magazine's special issue, "Collegeland."
The magazine begins with Appiah's "What Is the Point of College," which explains two competing visions for higher education today - "Utility U." and "Utopia U." The bifurcation is between Utility U., and its goal of getting a good return on your college investment, and Utopia U., which is "about building your soul as much as your skills." The divide goes a long way towards explaining other legacies of the growing corporate dominance of America.
The special issue ends with Nicole Hannah-Jones's "Conscience of the Nation." She concludes with a statistic that should shock all of us into action. In 1978, just 542 black men went to medical school. Even though the nation's black population had increased markedly, last year just 515 black men entered medical school!
In between, Appiah, Hannah-Jones, and the other contributors explain how global and national economic and political forces have changed universities and how transformations in higher education will affect the broader society. To understand their nuanced analyses, however, we must return to Appiah's introduction and the foundation it lays for "Collegeland."
Appiah explains that universities have always been a place to explore both "the qualities of your skills and of your soul." These "are two separate questions that aren't quite separable." But, "college was a pretty good place to work out some answers to both."
In Utility U., Appiah writes "students are consumers; they have needs and desires to Xavier University's Way to Keep Higher Ed from Becoming the Next Victim of Corporate Ed Reform | John Thompson: