The source of this problem in America is academia - specifically the liberal arts and social 'sciences'. University professors vie for status among their peers - and the cheap and easy way to become top-dog is by becoming ever more extremist. With enough wordplay and rhetoric (the currency in these academic fields) you can convince impre…
The source of this problem in America is academia - specifically the liberal arts and social 'sciences'. University professors vie for status among their peers - and the cheap and easy way to become top-dog is by becoming ever more extremist. With enough wordplay and rhetoric (the currency in these academic fields) you can convince impressionable students that segregation is equity, grievance is justice, and truth is a social construct (unless the gatekeepers disagree with that 'truth' in which case its supporters must be deplatformed). These fields have no use for evidence, empiricism and fact-checking ideas - often they decry evidence as oppression - hence they run the risk of descending into demagoguery.
There is good news on the horizon - the academic bubble is going to burst and Academic excess will bring it about! First, these impressionable students are taking on an unsustainable debt burden for degrees in grievance & victimhood (which aren't marketable enough to pay off the debts - so these degrees are increasingly only accessible to the sons & daughters of privilege). Second, due to grade inflation (one way to bribe students into majoring in these fields is by giving away grades) employers no longer trust GPA's and Diplomas and assess skills and abilities of interviewees - and grievance studies majors develop few skills that employers actually want (these unfortunate students learn to write in 'academese' which is unsuitable for businesses). Third, companies are seeking more 'new-collar' employees - a new category of workers with valuable skills but no college degree - a lot of technicians and coders fall into this category. These, combined, signal a decline in University enrollment - we can already see it happening. Enrollments are dropping but the decrease is not uniform across all majors - STEM majors still see robust enrollments - Universities will cut back on departments which are not in demand. Liberal Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences will wither and die due to their own selfish excesses - those Profs have been exploiting their students' trust to boost their own careers and they will learn that truly you cannot fool all the people all the time.
Also, I predict that within one decade we will see students file class-action lawsuits against Universities for 'selling worthless degrees.' Students who are deep in debt and unable to pay off the loans will realize that they were mislead by the educators that they trusted or even idolized. The excuse of 'broadening of minds' will ring hollow to those who are working 3 jobs to pay off debts and have no time to feed their mind. They will come to realize that Universities turned them into debt slaves - how ironic: their greatest grievance will be with those who taught them the culture of grievance.
Academia is digging its own grave - let's hope something new and beautiful grows from its compost!
You may be right. English departments used to teach how to read & write and how to appreciate literature which strengthened our society. Now they are evangelists of The Truth (tm) - which apparently consists of biting the taxpayers' hands that feed Profs & Universities...
I guess that is yet another reason Universities are headed toward catastrophe - people who work hard for their money tend to resent soft-handed fobs taking their tax dollars to tell their children how awful they are.
At my alma mater, where I did English once upon a time, they now have a course called 'Cancel Shakespeare'. Sounds like it might be ironic, but not really. They spend their time 'dismantling' the plays to find out how sexist and racist he was. The Truth, indeed.
Academia is a form of prolonged adolescence: They both have a knee-jerk opposition to traditional authorities, a lack of self-awareness, and the tendency to look down upon those who provide support.
In fact, Academia's delight in pointing out flaws in America's founders to patriotic Americans is similar to that of teens telling little kids there is no Santa Claus.
We should take the keys away from Universities until they learn how to behave!
University of British Columbia. Here's the link to the description. It's framed as a debate, but in news reports about the course, the instructor says he is using the 'lens' of critical race theory, which to my mind means there is no 'debate'. Here's the link.
Thanks! I read the link. Do you have a link to where he mentions CRT? I think I may want to take this on. I taught theater, and most useful was The Merchant of Venice.
Money quote: ‘we want more women and more writers of colour in our curriculum, so something has to go and and Shakespeare should equally be on the chopping block. You can't make room for new voices without getting rid of some of the old.’ Here’s the link where CRT is referenced.
Thanks so much! This is truly appalling. By take it on, I mean that I may write about it on my Facebook page or the local paper or on the Substack site I’m about to create. I used to be a critic as well as a teacher.
You’re welcome. I certainly wish you all the best in tackling it. The humanities in general, English in particular, are imploding before our eyes with travesties like this. The department is a pale shadow of what it was when I graduated in 1983. Gunning for Shakespeare? There is no ‘what’s next? with that.
He's a (straight) white male which by default puts a target on his back. Ironically, in the name of anti-racism/sexism. It's the English dept, they should read 1984.
Thanks, I actually wondered a couple of years ago if or when this would happen! Yes, the lens of CRT almost guarantees that there is no debate. Nice way to deal with the rigors of Shakespeare!
The source of this problem in America is academia - specifically the liberal arts and social 'sciences'. University professors vie for status among their peers - and the cheap and easy way to become top-dog is by becoming ever more extremist. With enough wordplay and rhetoric (the currency in these academic fields) you can convince impressionable students that segregation is equity, grievance is justice, and truth is a social construct (unless the gatekeepers disagree with that 'truth' in which case its supporters must be deplatformed). These fields have no use for evidence, empiricism and fact-checking ideas - often they decry evidence as oppression - hence they run the risk of descending into demagoguery.
There is good news on the horizon - the academic bubble is going to burst and Academic excess will bring it about! First, these impressionable students are taking on an unsustainable debt burden for degrees in grievance & victimhood (which aren't marketable enough to pay off the debts - so these degrees are increasingly only accessible to the sons & daughters of privilege). Second, due to grade inflation (one way to bribe students into majoring in these fields is by giving away grades) employers no longer trust GPA's and Diplomas and assess skills and abilities of interviewees - and grievance studies majors develop few skills that employers actually want (these unfortunate students learn to write in 'academese' which is unsuitable for businesses). Third, companies are seeking more 'new-collar' employees - a new category of workers with valuable skills but no college degree - a lot of technicians and coders fall into this category. These, combined, signal a decline in University enrollment - we can already see it happening. Enrollments are dropping but the decrease is not uniform across all majors - STEM majors still see robust enrollments - Universities will cut back on departments which are not in demand. Liberal Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences will wither and die due to their own selfish excesses - those Profs have been exploiting their students' trust to boost their own careers and they will learn that truly you cannot fool all the people all the time.
Also, I predict that within one decade we will see students file class-action lawsuits against Universities for 'selling worthless degrees.' Students who are deep in debt and unable to pay off the loans will realize that they were mislead by the educators that they trusted or even idolized. The excuse of 'broadening of minds' will ring hollow to those who are working 3 jobs to pay off debts and have no time to feed their mind. They will come to realize that Universities turned them into debt slaves - how ironic: their greatest grievance will be with those who taught them the culture of grievance.
Academia is digging its own grave - let's hope something new and beautiful grows from its compost!
As far as I can tell, the study of history and English appear to be the departments that will fall first.
You may be right. English departments used to teach how to read & write and how to appreciate literature which strengthened our society. Now they are evangelists of The Truth (tm) - which apparently consists of biting the taxpayers' hands that feed Profs & Universities...
I guess that is yet another reason Universities are headed toward catastrophe - people who work hard for their money tend to resent soft-handed fobs taking their tax dollars to tell their children how awful they are.
At my alma mater, where I did English once upon a time, they now have a course called 'Cancel Shakespeare'. Sounds like it might be ironic, but not really. They spend their time 'dismantling' the plays to find out how sexist and racist he was. The Truth, indeed.
Wow.
Academia is a form of prolonged adolescence: They both have a knee-jerk opposition to traditional authorities, a lack of self-awareness, and the tendency to look down upon those who provide support.
In fact, Academia's delight in pointing out flaws in America's founders to patriotic Americans is similar to that of teens telling little kids there is no Santa Claus.
We should take the keys away from Universities until they learn how to behave!
And where are they undertaking this cancellation of Shakespeare? I must see the course description!!!
University of British Columbia. Here's the link to the description. It's framed as a debate, but in news reports about the course, the instructor says he is using the 'lens' of critical race theory, which to my mind means there is no 'debate'. Here's the link.
https://english.ubc.ca/section/engl-241-2021w-001/
Thanks! I read the link. Do you have a link to where he mentions CRT? I think I may want to take this on. I taught theater, and most useful was The Merchant of Venice.
Money quote: ‘we want more women and more writers of colour in our curriculum, so something has to go and and Shakespeare should equally be on the chopping block. You can't make room for new voices without getting rid of some of the old.’ Here’s the link where CRT is referenced.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/shakespeare-theatre-colonial-history-1.6372904#
I’m curious, what do you mean by take it on?
Thanks so much! This is truly appalling. By take it on, I mean that I may write about it on my Facebook page or the local paper or on the Substack site I’m about to create. I used to be a critic as well as a teacher.
You’re welcome. I certainly wish you all the best in tackling it. The humanities in general, English in particular, are imploding before our eyes with travesties like this. The department is a pale shadow of what it was when I graduated in 1983. Gunning for Shakespeare? There is no ‘what’s next? with that.
He's a (straight) white male which by default puts a target on his back. Ironically, in the name of anti-racism/sexism. It's the English dept, they should read 1984.
Thanks, I actually wondered a couple of years ago if or when this would happen! Yes, the lens of CRT almost guarantees that there is no debate. Nice way to deal with the rigors of Shakespeare!