Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Mosley]

Any last doubts that tenure must be abolished at Western universities?

http://www.newstalk980.com/blogs/tammy-robert/open-letter-u-r-re-project-hero-including-namescontact-details-all-16-professors#comment-45630

In case you missed one other point, these tenured radicals, who are in the top 20%(maybe even top 10%) of all income earners in Canada, have their offspring go to classes at the Univ. of Regina TUITION FREE!

[conrad2]

Canadian imperialism? HaHaHa. Even if held at gunpoint and tortured, I dont think the Afghan people will take a shine to ice hockey and maple syrup. These professors should be stripped of their tenure for uttering such a ridicculous term as "Canadian imperialism".

[mises]

[mises]

Reading through the faculty who supported that letter is great fun. Not a single one would be employable in a private setting. I liked this lady quite a bit:

http://www.arts.uregina.ca/drupal/joyce-green

[Moldy Rutabaga]

But put this in perspective, that the petition was signed by 16 professors. While that's 16 ungrateful, bubble-headed cranks too many, it means that the majority of faculty didn't support the petition and said, "Waait a minute.. maybe the fact that soldiers bleed for our country has something to do with my academic freedom to teach..."

I went to Memorial University in Newfoundland. Memorial, as in a memorial for our fallen soldiers. It likely wouldn't fly there.

[caniff]

Like most Americans I know next to jack-squat about Canada (besides Saint Catherine St. in Montreal and that Ottawa is the capital - yes! ), but be that as it may here's my question:

What areas/locations would you consider to be bastions of Canadian conservatism? I know Canada as a whole is generally considered to be fairly liberal, but I assume this is not uniformly the case.

So, what's up with that?

[catman]

[mises]

[caniff]

[TheUrbanMyth]

[Fox]

[Sergio Stefanuto]

[jvalmer]

[bacasper]

Can I sign?

Anything that opposes our out-of-control militarism is worth supporting.

[The Happy Warrior]

The underlying problem is that humanities education in the 20th Century has migrated away from the classical core curricula, through the Bildung Ideal, and into its current sociological post-modern quagmire. The influence of the scientific method has been harmful for the traditional humanities, which really only survives as a core classics program dispersed through a few dozen universities, also known in some places as Great Books programs.

Today, sociology (as opposed to the old humanities) acts as if the scientific method can and should be applied to the study of mankind. Certainly, there is room for statistics and quantitative analysis of human behavior in our universities. But the focus of a humanities education should be on cultivating a broad base of abilities which encompasses critical reading, persuasive writing, and sound judgment. Therefore, a humanities curriculum should place at least as much emphasis on classical literature, philosophy, political theory and history, and even perhaps language*, as it does on anything remotely modern or timely. Such a curriculum would include studies of Homer, Plato, of Plutarch's Lives, of the Bible, and of Renaissance and Enlightenment thinkers (take your pick, really). This humanities curriculum, in addition to cultivating the core abilities above, would also remove students from too early a contemplation of timely issues. By immersing the students in a more historical mindset, this liberates them artfully from the common political opinions (and parties) and allows them a better perspective.

Certainly, many modern sociology specializations offer a sample of such classes. But these so-called 'liberal arts' degrees should not even be called liberal as long as they emphasize specialization in one field over the other liberal arts. And the damage of such specialization can be seen in the way the market treats 'liberal arts' graduates. Jobs go to such graduates who have the requisite specialization, but in many cases there are simply not many jobs to be had for degrees in history or literature. I'm not saying that an ideal humanities education should be primarily suited towards placing its graduates in the job market. No, the primary task of a humanities education is to make better, happier, more self-aware citizens. But its no small deficiency of post-modern sociological education that it prepares its graduates for little else besides a career in their specialization in academia. There, they can add their little research building block to the advancement of human knowledge. Thus, the scientific method has made liberal arts graduates a shadow of their former selves.

An indirect effect of this is the perpetuation and inculcation of certain political dogmas originating in the 1960s. Thus, the continued fight against 'imperialism' armed with 'protest' methods. Its time we got beyond the 60s' shallow narcissism, isn't it?

*There is much to be said, however, for eschewing the study of Latin and Greek for the sake of pursuing living languages