Economic Argument for the Professional Model

There are several lines of argument that favour the professional model for higher education over the current triad model of institutional service providers (universities/colleges), government funding and union labour representation - with intersection on topics such as economics, labour, stewardship, access, and ethics.

The following argument is economic and has important implications for higher education labour conditions, access and ethics.

Academic Cooperative: A Second Alternative

There are in fact two viable and desirable alternatives to the current triad paradigm of institutional service units (universities/colleges), government finance (state/federal) and union labour representation.  Higher education and research do not need to be provided and are not sustainable under the triad, and are better served under the professional and cooperative service paradigms.

Higher Education Can Be More than Mere Election Among Evils

Moral Responsibility

Behaviour considered normative in nature is bound by the familiar Kantian paraphrase, "ought implies can." Proper analysis of the phrase depends on the meaning given to "can" and related notions of possibility, but on one interpretation: if an agent’s behaviour is unavoidable, if there is no possible alternative, then there is no moral traffic.

This is a logical point that partially scribes the domain of ethical theory.

Professional Translation of the Core Service Relationship in Higher Education

A Paradigm Shift

This is the sketch of a single dimension of an alternative means of providing higher education and research, distinct from the reigning rubric of institutions (universities or colleges), governments and unions.

This triad of functionaries has enjoyed monopoly tenure since inception. Absent an alternative paradigm its modern universities and colleges have become curious cultural fixtures routinely mistaken for the civic enterprise they are meant to serve.

The proposed alternative is the professions. This competitive service paradigm exposes and either compensates or corrects for existing systemic deficiencies. In doing so it does not advocate modification but a shift.

A Day in the Professional Society of Academics

This is a sketch of an alternative means of providing higher education, offered in the style now common to faculty activism. It paints the picture of “a day in the life” of an academic who no longer earns a living under the existing triad model of institutional service providers (universities and colleges), substantial public funding and union labour representation.

This professional academic is not an adjunct nor tenured nor tracked. As a licensed member in good standing she provides her expert, hard-earned services under the protection and direction of a profession formed as a legislated social contract and charged with the stewardship of higher education – as an attorney or physician is related to their valued services and society.

The higher education system she labours in and collectively participates in the stewardship of is the consequence of a paradigm shift and so triad assumptions do not apply…

Monday morning, the professional model has long ago supplanted the current institutional model and now routinely fulfills the societal need for higher education and research. Dr Smith is the sole proprietor of a professional academic practice in Philosophy and has a number of years experience.

A Letter to American Academics

Dear Fellow Academics,

I am a Canadian, presently residing in our capital.  For over a decade I have been a “part-timer,” an “adjunct professor.”  I am writing to the majority of American faculty, lecturers, and instructors who find themselves in similar employment circumstances.  This is not to say that the minority might not also find my correspondence of interest.