Higher Education in Crisis

HIGHER EDUCATION IN CRISIS: CRITIQUING ALTERNATIVES TO THE PUBLIC UNIVERSITY

Call for Papers

This is a stream of the London Conference in Critical Thought 2013

For full details on the conference, see: http://londonconferenceincriticalthought.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/lcct-2013-call-for-papers.pdf

Stream organiser: Joyce Canaan

Numerous critical authors have recently observed that higher education is: in ‘crisis’ (Thorpe 2008); under ‘assault’ (Bailey and Freedman 2011); at its ‘end’ (Vernon 2010) or ‘in ruins’ (Readings 1996). These observations capture critical academics’ efforts to evaluate how processes of privatisation, marketisation and financialisation have impacted northern and southern university systems during the past 40 years and have led to a nearly ‘complete subordination of intellectual life to instrumental values and, most brutally, to the measure of money’ (Thorpe 2008).

Recent resistance to government policies on university has taken two forms: student-led demonstrations, occupations and actions and the emergence of ‘free’ or ‘alternative’ universities. This stream seeks to explore the latter, less explored alternatives, guided by Brown’s (2005:5) observation that the concept of critique comes from the Greek word ‘krisis’, used to explain the processes of ‘judging and rectifying an alleged disorder in or of the democracy’. The contemporary meaning of critique as ‘temporal rupture and repair’ (2005:7) contains elements of this earlier meaning; it entails and presumes a certain urgency to reconsider and rebuild, or to create an alternative to, that which has been torn asunder. Critique might also benefit from insights from historical materialism. Brown (2005:13), building on Benjamin, notes that the historical materialist reroutes ‘by rethinking the work of history in the present, stilling time to open time’. Stilling the seeming inevitability of the trajectory from past to present opens up the present and past to: ‘act[s] of reclamation’, re-viewing and thereby potentially reworking for a more emancipatory future.

Papers for this stream are thus asked to explore how emergent alternative universities today can be seen to operate as acts of reclamation—and might do so more effectively in future. Questions for consideration include:

·        What perceived limits of the public university impel a group to build an alternative?

·        Which theoretical and activist traditions inform their project?

·        What vision(s) of critical theory and/or historical materialism guide them?

·        What understandings of critical education shape their efforts to overcome/avoid perceived limits to the public university?

·        What theories of radical pedagogy inform their practices?

·        To what degree do insights from social movement theories and practices inform their theories / practices? And, in addition, contribute to the social movement literature?

·        What kinds of spaces do they seek to meet, teach and act in? Why?

·        How do they negotiate problems? What theories and practices inform these negotiations?

·        What are their strategies for reaching others as teaching and/or researching partners and how effective are they?

·        How central is praxis to their project?

Please send abstracts for 20-minute papers to londoncriticalconference@gmail.com with the subject as: ‘Higher Education Submission’.

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A paper on the crisis in higher education, by Glenn Rikowski:

Rikowski, G. (2012) Life in the Higher Sausage Factory, Guest Lecture to the Teacher Education Research Group, The Cass School of Education and Communities, University of East London, 22nd March, online at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=articles&sub=Life%20in%20the%20Higher%20Sausage%20Factory

For more on this paper, see: http://rikowski.wordpress.com/2012/08/28/life-in-the-higher-sausage-factory-the-paper/

Social Change and Education in Greece: A Study in Class Struggle Dynamics

SOCIAL CHANGE AND EDUCATION IN GREECE: A STUDY IN CLASS STRUGGLE DYNAMICS – A NEW BOOK BY SPYROS THEMELIS

A New Book by Spyros Themelis, Middlesex University

Social Change and Education in Greece: A Study in Class Struggle Dynamics (2013, Palgrave

Macmillan, New York)

This book takes a challenging and refreshingly novel approach to the way education and social mobility are researched and theorised. The key message it delivers goes against the dominant post-war orthodoxy, which has postulated that education is both a mechanism for upward social mobility and an engine for economic growth in liberal capitalist countries. The conclusion the author reaches flies in the face of mainstream political consensus that perceives social mobility as panacea for the provision of occupational opportunities and an instrument for the levelling of the playing field. Much of what lays beneath social mobility, Spyros Themelis argues (apart from a great deal of sophisticated number-crunching) is a celebration and acceptance of an unequal system of allocation of opportunities.

This is one among very few studies that explore social mobility and attendant processes with the use of both qualitative and quantitative methods. The author views social mobility not merely as the outcome of the movements of individuals from one income or occupational group into another, detached from their societal, community and family context, as in conventional mobility studies. Instead, he examines social mobility as a complex process, where socio-economic (e.g. migration), cultural (e.g. marital practices and community values) and political (e.g. political patronage) forces, experiences, arrangements and strategies interact and interconnect in impeding or enhancing individuals' and families' social mobility movements.

The book makes some contribution to the ongoing debate about the economic crisis that has hit Greece since 2009. It suggests that the failure of education to promote equality of opportunities is symptomatic of the failure of the wider system to prioritise fair and equitable arrangements. If Greece's current situation is to teach us a lesson, this is to urgently rethink about the whole system, not only in Greece but in the rest of the Western world too. The myth of education-based meritocracy and unfettered social mobility has anaesthetised Western societies to the multitude of social inequalities with which they are permeated. These might be hard times, but all the more appropriate to urge us to think about positive social change.

Dr Spyros Themelis is a Senior Lecturer in Education, Department of Education, Middlesex University, UK.

The book can be ordered from this link: http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?pid=537469 

It is published in the Palgrave Macmillan Marxism and Education Series: http://www.palgrave.com/products/SearchResults.aspx?s=ME&fid=3658

Congratulations Spyros! I look forward to reading it, and also the book launch - Glenn Rikowski

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Cold Hands & Quarter Moon, ‘Stagnant’ at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLjxeHvvhJQ (live, at the Belle View pub, Bangor, north Wales); and at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkP_Mi5ideo (new remix, and new video, 2012)  

'Cheerful Sin' – a song by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIbX5aKUjO8

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

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The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

Glenn Rikowski on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/glenn.rikowski

Online Publications at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

Education for Sale?

EDUCATION FOR SALE?

A debate on the privatisation of education

University of East London

Cass School of Education & Communities

Stratford Campus

Wednesday February 13^th

The Panellists:

Dr. Glenn Rikowski (University of Northampton)

Professor John Schostak (Manchester Metropolitan University)

Professor James Tooley (University of Newcastle)

Dr. Patricia Walker (University of East London, and Labour councillor for Acton)

Chair: Claire Fox – Director, Institute of Ideas: http://www.instituteofideas.com/

Tea & Coffee: 3.30-4.00

The Debate: 4.00-5.00

Wine reception: 5.00-6.00

Further information, contact Charlotte Chadderton: c.chadderton@uel.ac.uk

All welcome

Please circulate

UPDATE 23rd FEBRUARY 2013:

Report on the Debate in the Times Higher Education: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=422702&c=1

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Cold Hands & Quarter Moon, ‘Stagnant’ at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLjxeHvvhJQ (live, at the Belle View pub, Bangor, north Wales); and at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkP_Mi5ideo (new remix, and new video, 2012)  

'Cheerful Sin' – a song by Victor Rikowski: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIbX5aKUjO8

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

All that is Solid for Glenn Rikowski: http://rikowski.wordpress.com

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

Online Publications at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

Teaching Marx: The Socialist Challenge

TEACHING MARX: THE SOCIALIST CHALLENGE

Announcing a forthcoming book: Teaching Marx: The Socialist Challenge

Edited by Curry Stephenson Malott, Mike Cole and John Elmore

To be published by Information Age Publishing

Critical Construction: Studies in Education and Society, see: http://www.infoagepub.com/series/critical-constructions 

Series Editor: Curry Stephenson Malott, West Chester University

“There is growing disillusionment with a social system where increasing productivity leads only to increased gaps between rich and poor, where reductions in social programs (retirement, health care, education) are the chief response an uninspired political sector can muster, and where non-sustainable exploitation of the Earth continues undiminished -- in short, as the looming, world-wide economic crisis draws nearer, the essays in Teaching Marx: The Socialist Challenge are critical reading. It is time for our teachers to prepare students not to take their place in an increasingly corrupt economy, but to bring about the fundamental changes we need to build an equitable, prosperous, sustainable future” -- Dr. Dennis Vickers, Humanities Department, College of Menominee Nation, Keshena, Wisconsin.

“Teaching Marx: The Socialist Challenge is an extraordinarily important text at this juncture of world history. Functioning as more than just another pedagogical weapon to be used against the ideological structures of death and social hallucinogenics manufactured by the transnational capitalist class, it is a book that can provide fecund opportunities for teachers to re-learn how to put social and economic justice front and center in the agenda for educational reform by putting Marx front and center, where he belongs” -- Peter McLaren, Professor, UCLA and author of Che Guevara, Paulo Freire and the Pedagogy of Revolution

“Teaching Marx: The Socialist Challenge provides a useful starting point for understanding the origins of today's global crisis of capitalism. Our work in public schools to encourage respectful dialogues between Indian and non-Indian students about local conflicts over land ownership, through the TERRA Institute, should encourage cooperative action to find common interests. This book reminds us to move those specific discussions to explorations of the causes of conflicts over land, including the imperatives of global capitalism” -- David Stanfield, TERRA Institute, www.terrainstitute.org

“As this book so clearly and illustratively points out, the work of Marx has always served as a critical tool for identifying and scraping away the residue of commodity relations as a means to an end of revolutionary purpose, and teaching Marx is therefore keynote to education becoming able to serve as a tool of liberation and revolution. The reasons for why this is so are very clear in the book. As its authors successively and in detail clearly point out, we are ‘educated’ to believe that we live in a meritocracy where god-given abilities and hard work afford position and reward, and the work of social institutions like the school play a key part in this. These institutions, as ideological apparatuses of the State, barrage us with propaganda and bombard us with ideas inside practices that are designed to convince us all that at the head of the equation of the constitution of the social and economic order is the work, skills, ideas, knowledge and commitment of individual people themselves and that the effort and competences of these individuals determine social position and the possibilities for economic reward and even social justice for all.

Put directly and simply, the book shows us how the public has been hoodwinked by the school and other social institutions to believe in the ethics of capitalism and its central ideological tenet that the present social order is natural and in the end inevitable and beneficial for us all. However, as well as critiquing the work of the school as an instrument of reproduction, the book also shows how and why the education system could and should challenge the anti-democratic perspectives that disguise and defend the current social relations of production and the ideological and material needs of the capitalist class. It offers that is an educational challenge to the inevitability and “correctness” of capitalism by showing how its laws can be made visible to ordinary people so the oppressive power of the capitalist class can be more correctly identified, challenged and defeated.  In this way the book both poses the question and provides answers concerning what role education can play in a possible future revolutionary moment: both as a “true” education as an act of liberation and as a dialectic lens for critiquing the world in which we live. Used appropriately the book can become a clear and fundamental ingredient for helping to create the possibilities for a more egalitarian and socially just world” -- Dennis Beach, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.

“This collection by Malott, Cole and Elmore’s is a very timely contribution to the current revival of Marxism in education. The authors engage seriously with the ideas of Marx – from his theory of capitalist crises to the increasing impoverishment of the working class – and debunk many of the commonly held myths about Marxism. The compilation of writings provide a devastating rejoinder to those who believe that we can only make changes within the present system and show how this crisis has made discussion of socialist alternatives, in education and society, an urgent necessity. They argue that, in Marx’s words, the educators need to get educated and find ways – through their students, through what they teach, and through their political activism – to feed into wider movements of social change” -- Marnie Holborow, author on Marxism and Language, Dublin City University, Ireland.

“A spectre haunts the contemporary capitalist classroom: the ghost of Karl Marx. This volume explores the implications of opening the classroom door to Marx’s ideas, theories and outlook on capitalist and post-capitalist life. It does this in an engaging and thought-provoking manner, providing conceptual foundations and inspiration for teachers seeking to generate a critical edge and relevance to classroom activities in the current crisis of capital. Malott, Cole and Elmore have produced a book desperately needed by teachers, students, teacher-trainers and administrators in educational institutions dissatisfied with the apologetics and evasions of mainstream capitalist pedagogy” -- Glenn Rikowski Senior Lecturer in Education Studies, University of Northampton, UK.  

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‘Human Herbs’ – a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

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All that is Solid for Glenn Rikowski: http://rikowski.wordpress.com

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

Online Publications at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

Ruth Rikowski on 'Consciousness and Revolt' - by R.C. Smith

RUTH RIKOWSKI ON ‘CONSCIOUSNESS AND REVOLT’ – BY R.C. SMITH

On her Serendipitous Moments blog, Ruth Rikowski reviews and analyses Consciousness and Revolt by R.C. Smith.

Ruth notes that:

“Robert Smith’s basic position is that we need to abandon searches for the absolute and for objectivity, and not follow any particular ideology or idol. People's desire for the absolute arises from their need for security, argues Smith, but he says that this is a false sense of security. Also, that it is a form of self-deception, evasion and distortion. Instead, we need to focus on experiential life – and that this is what is meaningful and the way in which we should make sense of the world” (Rikowski, 2012, p.2).

Ruth Rikowski on ‘Consciousness and Revolt’: http://ruthrikowskiim.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/consciousness-and-revolt-and.html

DETAILS ON THE BOOK

Author: R. C. Smith
ISBN: 9780957096103
Publication Date: 01-12-2011
Pages: 424
Format: Soft Cover
Click for a 10 Page Preview

Price: £14.99

Heathwood Press is proud to announce the release of its inaugural publication, Consciousness and Revolt: An Exploration toward Reconciliation.

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The People Speak - by Anthony Arnove, Colin Firth and David Horspool

THE PEOPLE SPEAK: VOICES THAT CHANGED BRITAIN – BY ANTHONY ARNOVE, COLIN FIRTH AND DAVID HORSPOOL

A Message from Anthony Arnove

My new book with Colin Firth, THE PEOPLE SPEAK: VOICES THAT CHANGED BRITAIN, is just out from Canongate Books.

The book, inspired by the work of people's historian Howard Zinn, is a documentary collection of dramatic voices of protest and dissent from the twelfth century to the present.

You can read about the book here: http://www.canongate.tv/the-people-speak.html

There are some very moving readings and musical performances -- including by Vanessa Redgrave, a last-minute surprise guest -- from our launch event here: http://www.canongate.tv/the-people-speak-event-footage

Great photos from the event can be viewed here: http://www.eco-age.com/item/3807-The_People_Speak_
http://pinterest.com/ecoage/the-people-speak-2012/

An excerpt of Colin Firth's introduction and some selections from the book can be found here:
http://www.scotsman.com/the-scotsman/scotland/colin-firth-presents-the-people-speak-voices-that-changed-britain-1-2539941

And you can check out our BBC Culture Show profile here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxHB8eRmXpA

I hope the book might be of interest.

Yours
Anthony

The People Speak tells the story of Britain through the voices of the visionaries, dissenters, rebels and everyday folk who took on the Establishment and stood up for what they believed in. Here are their stories, letters, speeches and songs, from John Ball to Daniel Defoe; from Thomas Paine to Oscar Wilde; from the peasants' revolts to the suffragists to the anti-war demonstrators of today. Spanning almost one thousand years and over 150 individual voices, these are some of the most powerful words in our history.

Colin Firth (CBE) is a Bafta- and Academy Award-winning actor. His films include The English Patient, Fever Pitch, Bridget Jones's Diary, Girl with a Pearl Earring, A Single Man and The King's Speech. Alongside Anthony Arnove, he was instrumental in bringing a televised stage performance of The People Speak to the UK in 2010.

Anthony Arnove is the author of Iraq: The Logic of Withdrawal, editor of Iraq Under Siege, Howard Zinn Speaks and The Essential Chomsky, and co-author, with Howard Zinn, of Voices of a People's History of the United States and Terrorism and War. He is the co-director of The People Speak with Chris Moore and Howard Zinn.

David Horspool is a historian and editor at the Times Literary Supplement. He is the author of two previous books: Why Alfred Burned the Cakes and The English Rebel: One Thousand Years of Trouble-making from the Normans to the Nineties. He writes for The Times, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph and the New York Times.

‘The People Speak’ at Canongate Books: http://www.canongate.tv/authors/colinfirthandanthonyarnove

Amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0857864459

Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/People-Speak-Voices-Changed-Britain/dp/0857864459/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1350642372&sr=1-1

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‘Human Herbs’ – a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

All that is Solid for Glenn Rikowski: http://rikowski.wordpress.com 

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

Online Publications at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski

Glenn Rikowski’s paper, Critical Pedagogy and the Constitution of Capitalist Society has been published at Heathwood Press as a Monthly Guest Article for September 2012, online at:

http://www.heathwoodpress.com/monthly-guest-article-august-critical-pedagogy-and-the-constitution-of-capitalist-society-by-glenn-rikowski/

Heathwood Press: http://www.heathwoodpress.com 

Heathwood Institute & Press

HEATHWOOD INSTITUTE & PRESS – AN INDEPENDENT INSTITUTE FOR CRITICAL THOUGHT

Heathwood Institute and Press

Heathwood Institute and Press is a non-profit, critical theoretical organization. Motivated and inspired by the Frankfurt School, our aim is to offer foundational social critique as well as promote concrete, critical alternatives to the type of social policy symptomatic of ‘damaged society’. As a critical theoretical organization, we strive to not only challenge the existing field of research and policy in contemporary society. We also strive to fundamentally challenge from a foundational and multidisciplinary perspective the existing social model, and with a mind toward the concept of systemic change.

Originally founded in December 2011 by a group of well-respected researchers, academics and activists, we are now actively bringing together and supporting individuals who are leaders in their area and whose scholarship possesses the potential to break new grounds in critical theoretical study and improve our understanding of how to sensitively measure and foster ‘human progress’ in contemporary society.

While our aim at Heathwood is to not only understand but also to measure social progress from a multidisciplinary, integrated and methodologically unique perspective; our motivation is to also develop simultaneously a post-Frankfurtian critical theory and to collectively promote the idea of foundational critique. In the interests of social progress we are geared toward excellence in scholarship and distinguished merit in terms of providing ground breaking research in the Humanities, Social Sciences, Psychology and Education, and with the ultimate goal of communicating the findings of our research in an engaging, practical manner that is both applicable to policy makers and accessible to the general public.

Our Mission

The mission of Heathwood Institute and Press is to address the root causes of social, economic and environmental inequality. In the process we are committed to the promotion of an informed and engaged citizenry; to promote a foundational awareness and understanding of social, cultural, economic and political processes; as well as to fight economic and social injustice, and to protect the diversity of nature and society and the natural systems upon which all life depends.

By investigating more generally the idea of ‘damaged society’ our goal is to produce highly respectable, critical works, whose seminal theses offer the more broad foundations for concrete, critical alternatives which affirm the notion of systemic change and the need for fundamental public policy shifts. In principle, we seek to further this mission by advancing a new wave of critical theory in to the 21st Century.

Our mission is three-fold:

1) To understand the fundamental human issues that prevent individual and collective harmony and well-being, and that impede social progress as well as the healthy development of Western civilization;

2) To identify catalysts for change on a fundamental level across the different spheres of society;

3) To engage with researchers, policy makers and most importantly the general public in effort to promote critical dialogue as well as active leadership and participation in the manifestation of social change

The Heathwood Institute & Press website is at: http://www.heathwoodpress.com/

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‘Human Herbs’ – a new remix and new video by Cold Hands & Quarter Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Au-vyMtfDAs

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

All that is Solid for Glenn Rikowski: http://rikowski.wordpress.com 

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

Volumizer: http://glennrikowski.blogspot.com

Online Publications at: http://www.flowideas.co.uk/?page=pub&sub=Online%20Publications%20Glenn%20Rikowski