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•URGENT:
Support Job Security for College
Teachers
Washington
University of Utopia
Washington
University in St Louis is in turmoil, over
harassment scandals, unjust termination of
faculty and staff, and student complaints
about our complex, politicized,
computerized curriculum. One faculty
member has called for mass resignations,
from Chancellor Wrighton on down. Let's
seize this opportunity for renewal and
fundamental reform. Let's all come down
from our castles and apologize to each
other for all our transgressions, as the
Jains do each year. Let's then submit our
resignations, and reorganize, as
Washington University of
Utopia.
Let's
grant all faculty and administrators in
the College equal rank. Everybody would
have three titles: Lecturer, Assistant
Dean, and Advisor. I look forward to
clasping hands with Assistant Dean
Wrighton, Lecturer in the College, as an
equal! Let's abolish tuition in the
College. Let the alumni pay, and let
students make voluntary donations, with a
money back guarantee. Let's abolish grades
in all the ideological disciplines,
replacing them with detailed letters of
evaluation (public or private, according
to the students' choice). Let's abolish
Departments in the College, to eliminate
petty turf wars. We could replace them
with four Divisions: Humanities, Social
Sciences, Biological Sciences, Physical
Sciences, and a fifth Division for
Individualized and Cooperative Studies.
Everybody would be expected to take some
courses in each Division, as a matter of
courtesy at least, but most courses would
be cross-listed with at least one other
Division. Let's expand the existing Focus
programs into divisional Common Core
courses, required for all students before
anyone is allowed to specialize. Let's
rededicate our College to the liberal
arts, putting education above professional
training.
Let's
keep the Graduate Schools hierarchically
organized, and divided into many
autonomous Departments, in order best to
teach disciplinary culture, politics, and
professor craft. These Departments would
be free to fight turf wars, and
anathematize each other, for the greater
glory of Washington University of Utopia,
and for the entertainment and edification
of the whole community. Let's formalize
our de facto academic feudal
system, with dukes, duchesses, counts, and
an Emperor or Empress on top. Tuition
would be charged to discourage students
with no true vocation for scholarship.
However, generous fellowships would be
available, especially for students of
special talent and limited means, and
every PhD would come with a money back
guarantee. Graduate students would be free
to arrange their own classes, in
consultation with the faculty, who would
always be accessible to their students.
Graduate faculty would publish
anonymously, contributing to the
Washington University of Utopia
Wiki.
This
may sound utopian, but most of these
proposals work well at other schools. Many
Bible Colleges, for example Central
Christian College in Missouri, have
abolished tuition for students living on
campus. When this was announced,
enrollment and alumni donations surged.
Many European universities, and Penn's
Sanskrit program, use a tutorial model,
allowing students to arrange their own
courses in close consultation with their
professors. Robert Maynard Hutchins
organized the College of the University of
Chicago in four collegiate divisions, plus
a fifth New Collegiate Division for
experimental programs (the graduate
schools also follow this model). His
books, including The University of
Utopia, describe his educational
philosophy, "the life of the mind."
Utopia
means "no place," but we can make
"Washington University of Utopia" a real
place, a topos, just by working
with the system we have. Why double major?
This is usually just asking for
frustration. Why not take what interests
you, using the 'pass/fail" option freely?
Why not create your own Special Major,
formally or informally? I was an informal
"Civilizational Studies" major in college,
and I asked noboby's permission. Be
creative! This is a great school, with
potential to be much better if we all take
the initiative. Don't ask permission, you
don't need it. It's your
education.
(Please
see "make
the librarians our servants, fire hitler
in the library")
1/11/07
Postsrcript for Advisees
Since
sending this to my Four Year Advisees, I
have had many fascinating discussions.
Some of you are interested in double
majoring. I say, go ahead! Don't ask
permission, it's your education! Actually,
I think a double major may often be
appropriate, especially for
pre-professional students who also want a
liberal education. Washington University
allows students to double major across
Schools, and many students come here for
that reason. They are quite right to do
so.
Most
of your parents are paying a lot of money
for you to study here, so you have to pay
attention to what they say. If your
parents will pay only for something
practical, that is understandable, but you
should still choose your elective courses
freely. It is YOUR education, not your
parents', and I mean this with the utmost
respect. A double major may be a good
compromise.
I
was very fortunate to have parents who did
not interfere with my education, I think
mainly because they did not understand
what I was doing, and did not really want
to know. That had its down side, but over
all, I am glad I had the freedom to
explore my interests. By the way, at my
alma mater, the University of
Chicago, nobody was allowed to choose a
major until after the first year of
"Common Core" courses. In the original
Hutchins College, the first two years were
common. Under that model, nobody would
specialize until the third year at the
earliest.
(Please
see Teach
me, please!,
Student Life, 11/10/06)
(Please see A
'major' mid-college
crisis,
Student Life, 12/6/06)
(Please see Special
majors offer new twist on
curriculum,
Student Life, 11/6/06)
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