The Massachusetts Medievalist has no updates on the elimination of her job due to low enrollment, noted in this space in early October. It seems that getting rid of the majority of a university’s expertise in the liberal arts and sciences is actually somewhat time-consuming and complicated, especially when that expertise is unionized.
As I'm retired from Lesley, I'm not affected personally by the bizarre machinations of the administration to ignore the failures of their policies and put the financial crisis on the backs of the working people (faculty and staff).
We are all aware of the shift from a well educated population to preparing young people to be competent workers in corporate America. However, pulling the curtain back, that this has been the goal of. higher education institutions for many years. It has been exposed recently in the promotional materials at Lesley and a number of other institutions that job training is the primary purpose of a college education.
This country no longer wants a population engaged in the thoughtful and important work of improving society but rather to work for the wealth and status of the few corporations that actually control government. And Lesley has not only accepted this role but proudly promotes this goal. The emphasis on STEM education (training) is a clear indicator of that goal.
As a former faculty member in the visual arts and knowing that a number of my former colleagues are facing termination, I'm completely aghast at this shift. Even in the arts college the focus is on those areas that can best serve corporate America where as the fine arts is being slowly but purposefully disassembled as is true for poetry, music, and all the other like disciplines. A very sad indicator of the future of our society.
As I'm retired from Lesley, I'm not affected personally by the bizarre machinations of the administration to ignore the failures of their policies and put the financial crisis on the backs of the working people (faculty and staff).
We are all aware of the shift from a well educated population to preparing young people to be competent workers in corporate America. However, pulling the curtain back, that this has been the goal of. higher education institutions for many years. It has been exposed recently in the promotional materials at Lesley and a number of other institutions that job training is the primary purpose of a college education.
This country no longer wants a population engaged in the thoughtful and important work of improving society but rather to work for the wealth and status of the few corporations that actually control government. And Lesley has not only accepted this role but proudly promotes this goal. The emphasis on STEM education (training) is a clear indicator of that goal.
As a former faculty member in the visual arts and knowing that a number of my former colleagues are facing termination, I'm completely aghast at this shift. Even in the arts college the focus is on those areas that can best serve corporate America where as the fine arts is being slowly but purposefully disassembled as is true for poetry, music, and all the other like disciplines. A very sad indicator of the future of our society.