Comments | wgi_lounge_2009: (без темы)

greekdaph in wgi_lounge_2009

(Untitled)

Apr 27, 2009 10:42

The latest article about how our model of graduate education is broken ( Read more... )

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kello24841 April 27 2009, 18:16:56 UTC

Also, Marc Bousquet's response: http://chronicle.com/review/brainstorm/index.php?id=1330

I don't know if this is sub-only or not, but if it is, he says it's cross-posted on howtheuniversityworks.com, but when I just went there to check, it wasn't up yet.

greekdaph April 27 2009, 18:45:52 UTC

That response isn't sub-only, and it's brilliant--funny and true. Yay!

amugofcoffee April 27 2009, 19:41:43 UTC

Yeah, that article says what I was thinking about the NY Times piece. There was a whole lot of crazy in there.

Even though there are issues with graduate education in America, this dude should remember that we still have the best universities in the world by far. I think we can fix specific problems without DEMOLISHING THE ENTIRE SYSTEM AS IT STANDS BWAARRR

sugardust001 April 27 2009, 21:26:19 UTC

That's exactly what I thought when I read this last night! Why do we have to fix the things that aren't broken? I wouldn't be interested in studying any of the new interdisciplinary programs he suggests...not even "Water."

acciptersolis April 29 2009, 01:11:46 UTC

Part of the problem of American universities is the economic model they run, which forces production of research etc. to get tenure and maintain contracts. European systems are more state-governed and focus on time in service more than research for tenure and promotions. The forced production of research in American universities is, I think, both the major benefit (as some very good material comes out of it) and the major downside (since it makes for a precarious job position and a great deal of stress, and it leads to the division between research/non-research [read: tenure/non-tenure] positions. So, academics either scrabble to get tenure and the research positions or mostly teach in small liberal arts colleges, community colleges, or adjunct. And the universities can get away with supporting this model because they can appeal to the focus on research and progress as the underlying principle. It's basically a cutthroat capitalist system of university organization. And it works ( ... )

sibilance7 April 27 2009, 21:54:40 UTC

This response is amazing, and so true.

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