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ERIC Number: EJ1095206
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2014
Pages: N/A
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0024-1822
EISSN: N/A
Taking It to the Streets: Preparing for an Academy in Exile
Neem, Johann N.
Liberal Education, v100 n4 Fall 2014
For the past century, the academy has found a home in the university--they have been co-constitutive. Rising prices, declining state support, neoliberal assumptions about the value of education and how to fund it, and the growing number of students seeking higher education for vocational purposes have placed pressure on the university as an academic institution. While the total number of Americans holding liberal arts degrees has been constant or even increasing, the percentage of American undergraduates who major in the liberal arts has been in steady decline. The sustained demand for the liberal arts makes clear that there is no "crisis" for the liberal arts; the crisis is their marginalization within the university. With new technologies thrown into the mix, it is conceivable that in a couple decades, the university will no longer be an academic institution at all. In such an environment, it is vital that academics start thinking about ways in which to promote academic research and teaching in the liberal arts outside the university. For-profit corporations are not an option since they would make knowledge a commodity and because they turn students into consumers, violating the core ethical commitments of academics. Instead, something else must be found. With this threat in mind, author Johann Neem offers sketches of four options for an academy outside the university.
Association of American Colleges and Universities. 1818 R Street NW, Washington, DC 20009. Tel: 800-297-3775; Tel: 202-387-3760; Fax: 202-265-9532; e-mail: pub_desk@aacu.org; Web site: http://www.aacu.org/publications/index.cfm
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative; Opinion Papers
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A