[MD] The Academy is Evil! Here's what I'd do instead...

[118]

Hi Arlo,

Well, I am not much a fan of talk radio, don't have the time really.

The example I will present is Darwinism.  Please tell me how this has
changed over the last 100 years.  I can deal with the sciences.
Please be factual and not just dismissive as dmb.  I find that
unbecoming and indicative of a lack of ability.  If you want more,
I'll provide them to you.  Some may be highly technical.  But lets
start with Darwinism and this concept of survival of the fittest.

After that we can discuss Hegelianism or one of the many philosophies
which is stagnant.  Show me a philosphy from the 1800's which has
progressed significantly in the last 100 years.  This way we will be
on your turf.  Maybe I'll learn something.

For the record, I have not berated anyone or thing, you are reading
into my posts things that I do not say.  I have stated objectively
that academia is as much a hindrance to progress as it is an ally.  We
do not all take these extreme positions that others seem to find
enticing.  If you want to paint me as an enemy that is fine.  But that
is your doing, not mine.

 Open institutions, no tenure, limited professorship tour of duties
which is rotating for new ideas.  No professorship after the age of
50.  Open availability of all ideas, rather than just the ones
promoted.  The abolishment of Truth as something real.  The
introduction of Quality into academia instead.  Abolishment of the old
boys network in terms of what can be published and what cannot.
Government funding of all literature and the removal of for profit
publishers.  Equal distribution of grants despite that research may be
contrary to the current Government position; grants that are provided
through the general publics acceptance, rather than some old network
somewhere.  The restriction of the use of science by politics.
Removal of silly disciplines such as economics and sociology from the
public sector.  You don't need college education to understand these.

Believe me I spent many years in academia until 1992.  Are you an
insider or just a critic?  What do you know about Academia, are you a
professor?  There are many things wrong with it, and many things
right.  Just like everything.  It is no longer the leading edge of
knowledge, that happens in industry.  College is just a training
ground.

Cheers,
ark


On Thu, Dec 2, 2010 at 4:22 PM, ARLO J BENSINGER JR <ajb102 at psu.edu> wrote:
> [Mark to DMB]
> Please don't insult us with your naivete.  It makes this forum look ridiculous.
>
> [Arlo]
> As I said, I could easily fill many posts with examples of how disciplines have
> evolved over time within the Academy. I am hard-pressed to find a single one
> that has remained unchanged by new ideas for the last one-hundred years. Can
> you?
>
> And to the contrary, I think slogans and talk-radio propaganda about the evil
> Academy (a police state!) make the forum look more ridiculous. But I get that
> you all think the Academy is "evil", you don't have to repeat that.
>
> But other than "be more flexible", you really haven't offered anything
> constructive. You berated the institutions, you've berated professors... so,
> Mark, offer something better.
>
> Again, how would YOU change things? Or even, what would you propose we had
> INSTEAD?
>
>
>
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