- I agree that major restructuring needs to occur to encourage more cross-disciplinary projects, but when he starts talking about abolishing departments and creating, in their place, "problem-focused programs", I begin to wonder how the humanities fit into something like this, and how the perceived purpose of a humanities education would be changed by it. It's certainly a major goal of a university to find ways to put new knowledge to use in solving world problems, and in our increasingly global community a thorough understanding of the cultures of different groups of people *is* necessary and an all-around great thing--but certainly the humanities have a larger, if less directly real-world applicable, purpose. In this new model the writer is proposing, this deeper and, I think, more important purpose would be lost.
- In the same way, his proposal to do away with tenure in favor of some "7-year contract" would completely compromise a humanities professor's ability to do the kind of work *they* feel to be important and necessary. With a 7-year renewal plan, academic freedom would be completely lost (which he mentions in passing in the article, but fails to really address--he brings up all the problems with the tenure system, but merely skirts by the biggest reason for its existence). Basically, "problem-focused programs", which will constantly face the fear of being cut or drastically reworked, plus 7-year contracts, which will force a professor to constantly face the fear of being cut, together to me seem an administrator's dream, spelling the end of academic freedom.
- I do think the writer does a great job at expounding the many problems with the system as it is--the main one being that the university has simply failed to keep up with the rapidly changing world around it... but I don't think his proposals hold any water. Maybe they could make a multi-departmental program for figuring out one that will :-)
I totally agree with everything you said here, and you put it way better than I ever could.
It is, of course, hugely important to create opportunities for interdisciplinary work--to make sure that people in different departments and different schools, people who use different methodologies and study different time periods, have a chance to talk to each other. But I'd like to think that we don't have to abolish departments altogether in order to make that happen. Interdisciplinarity is just as often about comparing differing approaches to a topic as it is about developing new approaches, and if we think long-term, it seems to me like people have to learn what it means to look at an issue through a disciplinary lens befure they can fully grapple with both the opportunities and the limitations of that approach.
Also, I spent some time just now discussing the article with my coworkers, who are funnier than I am. One of them suggested that once scientists in the Water program figure out how to create clean drinking water for everyone, the religion scholars can turn it into wine! In which case I'd be all in favor of that research.
- I agree that major restructuring needs to occur to encourage more cross-disciplinary projects, but when he starts talking about abolishing departments and creating, in their place, "problem-focused programs", I begin to wonder how the humanities fit into something like this, and how the perceived purpose of a humanities education would be changed by it. It's certainly a major goal of a university to find ways to put new knowledge to use in solving world problems, and in our increasingly global community a thorough understanding of the cultures of different groups of people *is* necessary and an all-around great thing--but certainly the humanities have a larger, if less directly real-world applicable, purpose. In this new model the writer is proposing, this deeper and, I think, more important purpose would be lost.
- In the same way, his proposal to do away with tenure in favor of some "7-year contract" would completely compromise a humanities professor's ability to do the kind of work *they* feel to be important and necessary. With a 7-year renewal plan, academic freedom would be completely lost (which he mentions in passing in the article, but fails to really address--he brings up all the problems with the tenure system, but merely skirts by the biggest reason for its existence). Basically, "problem-focused programs", which will constantly face the fear of being cut or drastically reworked, plus 7-year contracts, which will force a professor to constantly face the fear of being cut, together to me seem an administrator's dream, spelling the end of academic freedom.
- I do think the writer does a great job at expounding the many problems with the system as it is--the main one being that the university has simply failed to keep up with the rapidly changing world around it... but I don't think his proposals hold any water. Maybe they could make a multi-departmental program for figuring out one that will :-)
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It is, of course, hugely important to create opportunities for interdisciplinary work--to make sure that people in different departments and different schools, people who use different methodologies and study different time periods, have a chance to talk to each other. But I'd like to think that we don't have to abolish departments altogether in order to make that happen. Interdisciplinarity is just as often about comparing differing approaches to a topic as it is about developing new approaches, and if we think long-term, it seems to me like people have to learn what it means to look at an issue through a disciplinary lens befure they can fully grapple with both the opportunities and the limitations of that approach.
Also, I spent some time just now discussing the article with my coworkers, who are funnier than I am. One of them suggested that once scientists in the Water program figure out how to create clean drinking water for everyone, the religion scholars can turn it into wine! In which case I'd be all in favor of that research.
And since I've been making fun of the water thing, here's a link to a really cool interdisciplinary water-related project: http://www.artsonearth.org/projects/water09.html
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