Comments for csid

Comment on 56 Indicators of Impact by We need negative metrics, too / Nature | jbrittholbrook

We need negative metrics, too / Nature | jbrittholbrook — Wed, 22 May 2013 17:25:57 +0000

[...] revised version of our original submission. Since Nature keeps everything behind a pay wall, here is that [...]

Comment on Interior Proposes New Rules for Fracking on U.S. Land – NYTimes.com by Fracking policy | jbrittholbrook

Fracking policy | jbrittholbrook — Fri, 17 May 2013 23:18:50 +0000

[...] Fracking policy [...]

Comment on A Primer on Field Philosophy by A call for the philosopher librarian | jbrittholbrook

A call for the philosopher librarian | jbrittholbrook — Fri, 17 May 2013 23:08:01 +0000

[...] At the Center for the Study of Interdisciplinarity (CSID), we’ve discussed the possibility of the philosopher bureaucrat before, along with what constitutes ‘real’ philosophy. What about the philosopher [...]

Comment on Why study philosophy? by Why study philosophy? | jbrittholbrook

Why study philosophy? | jbrittholbrook — Wed, 15 May 2013 12:06:11 +0000

[...] Why study philosophy? Share this:MoreLike this:Like Loading… Link / Why study philosophy? Posted on May 15, 2013 by jbrittholbrook [...]

Comment on What Representative Lamar Smith Is Really Trying to Do at NSF – ScienceInsider by What does it take to be ‘liked’ by scientists? | jbrittholbrook

What does it take to be ‘liked’ by scientists? | jbrittholbrook — Mon, 13 May 2013 10:34:12 +0000

[...] Merit Review Criterion. Last week, I blogged this ScienceInsider interview (here and on the CSID blog) with an unnamed congressional aide connected with Rep. Lamar Smith and his efforts to add [...]

Comment on Communities of Integration Workshop – Field Philosophy by Communities of Integration Workshop – Field Philosophy | csid | jbrittholbrook

Tue, 07 May 2013 01:47:33 +0000

[...] Communities of Integration Workshop – Field Philosophy | csid. [...]

Comment on Before MOOCs, ‘Colleges of the Air’ – The Conversation – The Chronicle of Higher Education by Keith Brown

Keith Brown — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 21:59:36 +0000

Karl Jaspers and a number of other professors gave radio lectures and then television lectures. I recall Richard Owsley telling me that while he studied at the University of Chicago, he used to see Hannah Arendt as a regular on a television discussion show. And I remember first learning about physics and algebra while watching the television programming on KERA 13 in Dallas. The local community college aired their distance learning courses on there. I would just watch them as a freshman in high school and study along even though I was not in the courses.

Comment on The University Is in Real Trouble, Folks by Britt Holbrook

Britt Holbrook — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 03:04:31 +0000

Dan,

I agree and don’t favor any approach to education that can be captured by the notion of ‘depositing’ knowledge.

Britt

Comment on The University Is in Real Trouble, Folks by Lance W.

Lance W. — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 15:38:35 +0000

“Hopelessness is a form of silence, of denying the world and fleeing from it….As long as I fight, I am moved by hope; and if I fight with hope, then I can wait.” -p. freire

Comment on The University Is in Real Trouble, Folks by Dan Hicks

Dan Hicks — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 15:32:38 +0000

“The alternative between such an economy of didactics and the black box of education is a straw man. We need to open the black box of education, revealing that the sort of cultivation of students that ought to happen at a university is not so mysterious, after all.”

Absolutely. But it’s no good to replace “education is depositing facts” with “education is depositing technical skills,” like critical thinking. Those are just as much commodities, after all. Handwaving about “great conversations” and “Western civilization” won’t do the job, either, since those phrases don’t really mean anything to anyone who’s not already an academic.

I think the key here is to relate the aims of education to other, familiar activities that resist commodification. Many people are repelled by the idea of treating public policy, families, or friends as a matter of market transactions. We should be talking about the connection between education and citizenship, parenting, and friendship.

Comment on Thesis Hatement – Slate Magazine by Keith Brown

Keith Brown — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 14:07:54 +0000

As always Steve, well put. I don’t have a PhD. However, I am a good teacher, can do decent research (when I am motivated), and I am an eccentric. I just need to become independently wealthy.

Comment on Thesis Hatement – Slate Magazine by Steve Fuller

Steve Fuller — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 13:00:52 +0000

Would I recommend a PhD. for someone thinking of doing one today? Well, put it this way, I don’t know if I would do one, given how much academia has changed over the past 30 years. The only redeeming social value of academia in its classical (i.e. pre-neo-liberal) mode is that potentially it allowed certain (‘tenured’) people the time and space to develop lines of inquiry that may overturn established opinion and thereby – if taught to sufficient numbers – move society forward. However, these lines of inquiry may turn out to be false leads, or you may simply lose your way in the process — and yet you still kept your job. In a sense, you were paid for committing yourself to trying.

We need to admit openly that this has always been an elite ideal and it does not scale up well. The problem, however, is that universities did scale up, promising to be all things to all people (most recently ‘wealth creators’). Along with that scale-up came a watering down of the meaning of tenure – so that it simply became a sinecure for very clever people fascinated by esoteric stuff that nobody else is dumb enough to pay for. Needless to say, this is not adequate grounds for continuing the institution of tenure, which is really what makes being an academic a ‘career’ and hence worthy of pursuing a Ph.D. You don’t need a Ph.D. to be either a good teacher or even a decent researcher. And you certainly don’t need a Ph.D. to become an eccentric – though you may need to be independently wealthy. Ask Charles Darwin.