The New 'Invisible Colleges'.
Coming across this story where Georgia's State Senate has litigated to bar any student that cannot prove themselves to be a US citizen I had some sympathy for children of emigre families in the US. But what caught my interest was the mention of the Freedom University. The Freedom University is an underground educational establishment that exist to teach and coach undocumented immigrant children through a university education. University professors are volunteering to teach at and run this 'invisible college'.
Democracy Now:
Freedom University: Undocumented College Students in Georgia Forced to Attend Underground School
Sounds sort of twee, does it not?
However consider the kind of students that may study at the Freedom University. The students may very well have to hold down a job merely for expenses of studying if not rent and food. In order to avail themselves of the Professors' voluntary services they would be well mannered towards their tutors and the University administration. In order to study and learn under the constant shadow of the U.S. Immigration agency they would be driven. Since a diploma from the Freedom University would hardly be usable on a CV any subject said students would study they would have to become experts in that field in order to pass any exam on that subject... when they could afford it.
Now consider an employer. Imagine yourself as that employer. You can employ a spoilt and indulged graduate that may have squeezed through University by the skin of his or her teeth or you may wish to employ someone who already knows what hard work is and has something to prove?
I do not believe that the existence of the Freedom University is likely to change the educational establishment or hiring practices overnight. But if Georgia State government and educational authorities insisting on criminalising children who are intent on studying they may start a trend and bring about unintended changes. I envisage a possibility of an education system which one would only expect from cyberpunk fiction. The William Gibson 'invisible college'.
Some of the longest established and esteemed Universities in the UK started out as colleges run by outlaw scholars trying to escape the power and influence of the Church in the early middle ages and were the foundation of the 'Invisible College' myth. Oxford University is one such establishment. Who would question a degree from Oxford now? Although social and political change occurs much more quickly now so any of us may live to see the recognition of the new 'invisible colleges'.
Cross posted to cyberpunk
Cross posted to so_very_doomed