Considering both the recent, and long, history of university involvement in social disruption, including actual revolutions, and their general support of the Nazis, and their clearly displayed low academic standards, I suggest that a strong case can be made for the termination of universities, in their present form. It is right that technical training should be encouraged and directed to practical uses. But is any other university education necessary? My experience working for British Aerospace in the 1980s provides two illustrations of my point. First, there was a graduate scheme, in which selected university students worked for the company during their holidays; second, there was I, administering the pension scheme, told, to my great indignation, that I was an overhead. The student link did not ensure that the students would stay with the company: they were a gamble as a form of investment in the future. As for me, the simple fact was that, no matter how useful I was, my disappearance would have no direct effect on the profits of the company. I was not necessary.
How many university students are necessary? How many use the subjects which they study in their eventual jobs? (How many use the propaganda which they have absorbed in their jobs?) If we were to have the power and desire to make cuts in university subjects, based on the need and the returns for the expense, how many subjects would be left? And if the unnecessary subjects were removed, might we find a vast reduction in university disorder?
Anyone can learn. We have access to so many books and internet learning. Anyone can have the pleasure of searching for information and using it to learn. The constant quest for knowledge is a wonderful thing. But apart from specific technical training, it doesn't need to be done in a university, with a curriculum, and a degree for satisfying certain requirements. It requires an open, enquiring mind; which is not the case when one is told that this is the information which you are required to accept.
I think your last sentence really gets to the heart of the problem. Right now, too many universities do not expect students to have an ‘open, enquiring mind’ but a willingness to conform. If true interest and genuine intellectual effort were required, we would probably half the number of universities and students over night!
Considering both the recent, and long, history of university involvement in social disruption, including actual revolutions, and their general support of the Nazis, and their clearly displayed low academic standards, I suggest that a strong case can be made for the termination of universities, in their present form. It is right that technical training should be encouraged and directed to practical uses. But is any other university education necessary? My experience working for British Aerospace in the 1980s provides two illustrations of my point. First, there was a graduate scheme, in which selected university students worked for the company during their holidays; second, there was I, administering the pension scheme, told, to my great indignation, that I was an overhead. The student link did not ensure that the students would stay with the company: they were a gamble as a form of investment in the future. As for me, the simple fact was that, no matter how useful I was, my disappearance would have no direct effect on the profits of the company. I was not necessary.
How many university students are necessary? How many use the subjects which they study in their eventual jobs? (How many use the propaganda which they have absorbed in their jobs?) If we were to have the power and desire to make cuts in university subjects, based on the need and the returns for the expense, how many subjects would be left? And if the unnecessary subjects were removed, might we find a vast reduction in university disorder?
Anyone can learn. We have access to so many books and internet learning. Anyone can have the pleasure of searching for information and using it to learn. The constant quest for knowledge is a wonderful thing. But apart from specific technical training, it doesn't need to be done in a university, with a curriculum, and a degree for satisfying certain requirements. It requires an open, enquiring mind; which is not the case when one is told that this is the information which you are required to accept.
I think your last sentence really gets to the heart of the problem. Right now, too many universities do not expect students to have an ‘open, enquiring mind’ but a willingness to conform. If true interest and genuine intellectual effort were required, we would probably half the number of universities and students over night!