Sunday, March 13, 2016

Irony in the Alt-ac Movement

I am a post-ac, but not by choice. I have a PhD in philosophy and for a decade worked as an adjunct. Affairs of the heart seduced me from my university hometown where I was fortunate enough to enjoy seniority on a couple of part time hiring lists, affording me a modest living. But my romantic love meant the forfeiture of my academic love. And even if I was to return home I would no longer enjoy seniority, without which I could not make even a modest living. I was very good at my job and would love to be doing it still.

This, or some more or less tragic version of it, is a common story in the academe.

As such, I understand those who seek a PhD with the intention to pursue a career other than as a traditional academic.  If only a small fraction of those with the degree land full time faculty positions, while the remainder are left scrounging for part time work, then a reasonable response is to generate alternative career paths for the degree.  Less dramatically, some PhD candidates simply discover that the traditional work of an academic or the environment in which it is done does not suit their tastes.

In either case it makes sense that institutions develop programs that facilitate the pursuit of alternative, non-traditional career paths. In this way the degree is not retired and graduates enjoy productive, fulfilling work lives - and love lives.

There is, however, a problem with the alt-ac response. Ironically, the response utterly depends upon the traditional academic career it is meant to avoid and so ultimately reintroduces the very employment perils of the PhD it is meant to avoid.

Friday, March 4, 2016

Fantasy From Fact: All Higher Education Can Be Tuition-Free

I have read the submissions published by Evolllution on the two-year tuition-free initiatives that are the rage these days in higher education:

J Noah Brown, President and CEO, Association of Community College Trustees and a member of Obama's College Promise Advisory Board, considers them a mend for the American economy and a long overdue fulfillment of a promise made by the Truman Commission. Barmak Nassirian, Director of Federal Relations and Policy Analysis, American Association of State Colleges and Universities, considers them "frivolous escapist fantasies." Claude Pressnell, President, Tennessee Independent Colleges and Universities, worries about "under-matching" and the undervaluing of education in favour of training. Others such as Shannon McCarty, Dean of Instruction and Academic Affairs, Rio Salado Community College, and Lenore Rodicio, Provost, Miami-Dade College, see opportunity to introduce more technology and more government funding to accommodate the intended increase in student demand.

But whether fantasy or fact no one is aiming for tuition-free higher education at all levels. No one is aiming to realize the right to free higher education, as ratified by America in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.  And though Nassirian calls for it, not even he is offering "discussion on a radical overhaul of the American higher education financing."

Well, no one it seems except me. And the discussion I offer is not predicated on the further introduction of technology, government funding or philanthropy.  In fact, it is predicated on their reduction.

Tuition-free, high-quality, universally accessible, face-to-face higher education can be achieved if we change the relationship between institutions and individuals. As a model, Professional Society of Academics (PSA) does just that.

FEATURED POST

Historical Roots of the PSA Model – Part 1

When people first learn of PSA, they tend to view it as something without precedent. It is not. Like most “new” ideas, it is merely a mix of...

POPULAR POSTS