Disposable Universities

"Teaching staff, like hamburger-flippers, will be disposable, because the real power is in the degree-granting monopoly, not the hoarding (or delivery) of knowledge."

This is Stephen Downes on a story in the Chronicle of Higher Education ridiculing the idea of corporations replacing traditional universities. This is how Gina Barreca, the author, signs off in her piece:

Which leads us back to the original idea of universities: some projects -- like a genuine education -- are not best if you DIY. Sometimes you need a professional. Sometimes you need a professor.  

Top o' the mind to you, darlin's!

And, no doubt, she's right-ish. I'm not sure about a 'genuine' education, but a good education might need a professor.

Might.

But to assume that universities are about a 'genuine' education is plain weird. Universities are about degrees and research. None of the corporations moving into the higher education field will be competing with 'real' universities on teaching, but on offering cheaper, more efficient methods of accreditation.

In terms that Gina Barreca, a professor of English and feminist theory, will understand, there are no barbarians at the gate, no corporations storming the campus and nobody's trying to usurp the primacy of a 'genuine education'.

Universities are just one of many options, so they're subject to generic analysis:

. . . 'genre foregrounds the influence of surrounding texts and ways of reading . . . More specifically, it confirms reading as [function] rather than [thing]'. Genre analysis situates texts within . . . social contexts, underlining the social nature of the production and reading of texts.

In relation to news media, Norman Fairclough notes that genre analysis 'is good at showing the routine and formulaic nature of much media output, and alerting us, for instance, to the way in which the immense diversity of events in the world is reduced to the often rigid formats of news'.

Or learning is reduced to the rigid format of 'education'. Universities are used to being the library. But soon they'll be a genre of education, hopefully deserving of their own sub-section, but one of many options nonetheless.

I value professors of English and feminist theory, but millions don't. That's why I'm kind of okay with the fact that they're cross-subsidised in opaque keiretsu-fashion - it saves me the bother of having to actively patronise them and give them my attention.

But if they can't be bothered to pay attention and apply their erudition and analytical skills to their own situation, then they deserve everything they get.