The Bloom is off the Rose

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I think one of my favorite more or less recent ideas is Allan Greenspan’s ‘s “irrational exuberance.”  It sums up both the era of Regan inspirited market craziness and the blooming of the internet. Hyperbole has been the order of the day. More and more, though, the bloom is off that rose. One sign might be the defeat of the “personhood” amendment in Mississippi and the striking down of the anti-union laws in Ohio.

Maybe I am being over optimistic but I suspect that the worst of the decades long  right-wing storm has passed. Another sign, I think, that the age of irrational exuberance is over is the increasing awareness of class privilege in education, especially as it relates to online education.  It’s still happening on the margins, but it is happening. One good example is the comments on “Why I No Longer Teach Online.”

The author, Nancy Bunge, makes a simple point: she’s stopping teaching online because students don’t like it. There’s no mention of class at all. The comments, however,  suggest a more complex if still inchoate picture of how the internet has been integrated into the higher education system, given the traditional systems’ profound neglect of its historical role as a means of social mobility. The  private system filled that gap.

Working students are not “warehoused” in online education; students are more than passive vessels and most don’t have the privilege of opting out of online classes. Still, online education has not yet realized the scope of the cultural capital (at least ideally) provided by a traditional education, and so has not created a robust system of class mobility. That’s our task if we are going to do more than serve a niche market.

Posted in: Union, Writing

Common Sense, 2, Private Property 1

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Freely available open course material could save college students in Washington state $1.2 million this year: The Washington State Board of Community and Technical Colleges introduced one of the country’s largest open textbook programs Oct. 31, bringing low-cost class material to 81 college courses with the highest enrollments in the state (“Students, professors laud $30 textbooks“).

One of the most interesting things about our interesting times is that certain fully naturalized ideas, for example, about private property, are changing.  Even ten years ago the textbook system, which cost students millions each year and fuel some of the worse excess of the academic star system, seemed as inevitable as the ocean.  It’s happening far too slowly, but the recession seems to be facilitating change.

What’s so amazing is that this is such a long, slow process, even though it can transform textbook costs from a burden of thousands of dollars each year to a manageable  tens of dollars. The electronic, open-source textbooks are more easily updated and often more engaging to students. You’d think that cheap and more effective would be irresistible, but common sense struggles against the inertia of habitual profit and greed.

Posted in: Professional, Writing

Flexibility on the Move

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The politics of the recession is like a long, slow pendulum swing, wiping out all sorts of hard-won gains until it reaches a peak and then (hopefully) reverses direction. There’s no guarantee that the return swing is going to restore everything, though. If the last three decades are any indication, we’ll never get back to the original starting point. The losses seem to go on and on.

“Faculty Fears in Washington” offers a catalog of some of the worst of the ongoing destruction attributed to the recession and suggests that the pendulum has yet to reach its full height. In university level education, the main targets of opportunity now seem to be tenure, on the one hand, and full-time faculty on the other. Each, it seems, is much too expensive for current conditions.

These assaults were underwritten by a recent, earlier stage of direct attacks on public unions; one thing leads to the other. Of course, tenure and full-time faculty were seen as equally expensive in the midst of the late 90’s Clinton era boon. Nothing seems to slow the administrative pursuit of flexible labor and greed. It’s grown so bad that even the Establishment is sometimes embarrassed.

Posted in: Professional, Union, Writing

Occupy the Left

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I’ve watched the Occupy Wall Street folks, as well as their education analog, Occupy Colleges, and I have to say that I am a little surprised at the seeming reticence of much of the “usual suspects” left. I think a lot of us feel either confused– we’re taking a wait and see attitude– or simply unwilling to tinker– even only rhetorically–with what might be a genuine and growing popular uprising.

Doug Henwood has a nicely cogent analysis that suggests that an authentic movement should be, in effect, rudderless, at least for a while.Robert Reich has pointed out that it’s going to be difficult for the Obama led Democratic party follow the lead of the protesters, simply because Wall Street has done so much to support the current administration. I think the left, maybe especially the educational left, needs to start talking.

We’ve been thinking about these things for years, and I think we have lots ideas that might be put high on the educational agenda if the movement begins to enter what Henwood calls “another stage of more organization and specificity.”  I know I have more than a few. In the long run, we need to figure out how regulations–tied to federal aid– can address the rise of administrative costs and the loss of full-time tenured positions.

In the short-term, we need a student deb forgiveness plan that has real substance.  I think this could have several possible components. It has to include a switch  to a grant based system that would prevent debt in the first place. Another part might be a drop in interest rates on all current loans to 1% as suggested by the “Reduce the Rate” people. Last we need a 100% forgiveness program for anyone in public service.

Posted in: Economics, Professional, Writing