By Professor Doom
We really are
coming to a crossroads in higher ed. A few decades ago, the possibility that a
whole department, based on an entire academic subject, would be tossed as “not
useful knowledge” would be considered inconceivable.
But today, in the
United States, this sort of thing is common. Shakespeare
is being tossed in exchange for a lesbian author. Computer
science departments are being shut down, leading to a shortage of computer
scientists where the world really needs people who understand computers. Even
mathematics is turning into a boiler room operation on many campuses, focusing
on passing students over academics.
With all the
academics being removed from campus, what to replace it with? Many campuses are
throwing in ever more Education courses, knowing
they are frauds any student can ace without effort. We know
they are frauds because they’re not quite politically protected: we can inspect
what goes on in their classes, and since their graduates often go off to teach,
we can judge the quality of the coursework by the quality of the graduates, for
the most part.
Another new branch
of “academic” courses has been affecting our campuses, Gender Studies, and
unlike Education, these courses are
becoming mandatory. Now, the graduates of these fields aren’t nearly so
vulnerable as in Education, and so it’s not so easy to criticize their
uselessness by examining how they succeed in the (non-existent) job market.
Across the country, these courses, despite their clear lack of educational
value, are springing up, detracting from the education our students receive.
Well, across THIS
country, yes, but it’s clear not every country is subjecting itself to this
madness:
I grant Hungary
isn’t the higher educational capital of the world, but at least, finally, some
place is fighting back.
To be fair, just two universities in the country even offer the
program at the graduate level, and only 13 students total enrolled in them this
year.
While, yes it’s
fair to say the above, it’s also fair to say the Gender Studies blighting our
campuses were small programs too, years ago…kudos to Hungary for nipping this
abomination in the bud. Did they have more specific reasons beyond the perfectly
justifiable “this is not an academic subject”?
“There is no economic rationale for studies such as these,” he
said, as the degree does not “furnish students with skills that can be readily
and directly converted on the labour market." He added that the programs
aren’t sustainable and "take away valuable resources from other programs,
deteriorating the economic stability of universities.”
That’s a pretty
thorough takedown. While “economically useless” is all a state school can
really understand, the fact that these courses are taking away from the time
students can spend learning real academics is all the justification necessary
for elimination of these wasteful and irrelevant courses.
It’s a shame
America is far too arrogant to take advice and learn from other countries, but
if that posture should ever change, I hope it takes a peek at Hungary which
clearly has something to say we should heed.
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