Columbia Professor Mark Taylor’s Revolutionary Solutions For Higher Education
In his New York Times article entitled "End the University as We Know It", Mark Taylor says that If American colleges and universities are to thrive in the 21st century, they must be rigorously regulated and completely restructured.
Taylor says;
"Most graduate programs in American universities produce a product for which there is no market (candidates for teaching positions that do not exist) and develop skills for which there is diminishing demand."
I think he has some great, forward-thinking ideas. Take for example, eliminating tenure. Would it be such a bad thing to keep professors on their toes and have a constant influx of young faculty with new ideas and skills? I find it ironic that tenure was created to protect academic freedom. Yet, in many way it has resulted in a sort of academic captivity -low faculty turnover rates with professors that often get stuck in their ways.
Taylor, who is the chairman of the religion department at Columbia University, also makes a very good point about re-evaluating permanent programs at colleges and universities. He suggests considering a water program. Duh! Come to think of it, I've never seen or heard about a water program in college. Why don't we hear about more people majoring in water conservation and protection? I know a guy who majored in Glass Blowing. I know more than one person who studied Art History. But water protection? That's a useful field of study in itself.
All this coming from a Liberal Arts professor! By the time I got halfway through his article I decided that I really like this brave soul. Mark Taylor tells his students;
"Do not do what I do; rather, take whatever I have to offer and do with it what I could never imagine doing and then come back and tell me about it."
To me, that's kind of the idea of an evolving higher education. Maybe it's time to revolutionize the college system. I'm not saying that we should turn our backs on the arts or stop studying leisurely subjects. I"m not saying that we shouldn't study subjects that benefit us individually. But perhaps, as a whole, we should continue to include more updated, problem-solving programs and procedures so we do not fall into to an academic rut.
For the full online article click here:
End the University as We Know It
April 26, 2009
By Mark C. Taylor
The New York Times
April 27, 2009
Posted in: Uncategorized
One Response
I agree with your sentiment when you say that:
“I”m not saying that we shouldn’t study subjects that benefit us individually. But perhaps, as a whole, we should continue to include more updated, problem-solving programs and procedures so we do not fall into to an academic rut.”
The university is a human-created system, and it should be designed to bring us the most benefit possible. Creating networked departments oriented toward problem solving could be a really good way to bring more benefit.
But I think Taylor, while he has good intentions and a solid diagnosis, sullies his prescriptions with the ideology of the free market. The university isn’t simply a factory that needs to be more efficient. I think abolishing departments, tenure and other such things would have a bad effect on open inquiry.
I wrote a longer reaction here:
http://www.whyweworry.com/blog/2009/06/25/restructuring-humanities/
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