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ERIC Number: EJ1097205
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2016
Pages: 7
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1534-6102
EISSN: N/A
Ernest Lynton and the Tyranny of Research
Saltmarsh, John
Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, v20 n1 p45-51 2016
In this commentary, author John Saltmarsh reflects on "Journal of Public Service and Outreach" article "Ensuring the quality of outreach: The critical role of evaluating individual and collective initiatives and performance," written by Ernest A. Lynton and reprinted in this 20th anniversary issue of "Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement." The article was a continuation of Lynton's keen analysis of the developments in higher education in the latter decades of the 20th century that were undermining its public credibility and national importance. Perhaps it is a kind of supreme irony that Ernest Lynton, a physicist, identified the tyranny of research as the central culprit in the crisis of purpose of the American university. He was not lamenting the fundamental value of research, but instead the dominance that pure science as basic research has come to exert on narrow conceptions of what kind of academic work is valued--and, by insidious influence, on the homogenized organizational culture supporting basic research that has come to define quality in higher education. In this commentary, John Saltmarsh shares his thoughts on the article written 20 years ago, which was a continuation of Lynton's keen analysis of the developments in higher education in the latter decades of the 20th century. [For "Ensuring the Quality of Outreach: The Critical Role of Evaluating Individual and Collective Initiatives and Performance" (2016), see EJ1097203.]
Office of the Vice President for Public Service and Outreach, University of Georgia and the Institute of Higher Education. Treanor House, 1234 South Lumpkin Street, Athens, GA 30602. Tel: 706-542-6167; Fax: 706-542-6124; e-mail: jheoe@uga.edu; Web site: http://www.jheoe.uga.edu
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