My reply to the above is that the purpose of the universities is to
educate, not to organize. When I was studying engineering at Berkeley
during the =93free speech movement=94 I was very much annoyed by the atte=
mpts
to interfere with the educational process. Most of the students of the
University were there to get an education, and only a small minority join=
ed
in the disturbances.=20
>=20
> (2)
> From: "Ron Jacobs" <rjacobs@thyme.uvm.edu>
>=20
> Jonah Raskin <jonah.raskin@sonoma.edu> wrote in reply to a post by=20
> Paula..
> >=20
> > ...But universities
> > are better now then they were in 1966, 1967, 1968, 1972. There was
> > no women's studies, no black studies then, and colleges were even
> > more hierarchial racist and sexist, so something changed for the
> > better. NO? Jonah Raskin=20
> >=20
> I would respond that yeas, they are better than they were in the=20
> 60s/70s in some ways but they are worse in more insidious ways. For=20
> examle, the current consciousness among students is that school=20
> should be primarily (if not only) for job training. Those who use=20
> the space as a forum for critical questioning of the society the=20
> universities serve are looked on as either throwbacks or just plain=20
> pains in the ass. I work as a non teaching staff at the University=20
> of Vermont and we are currently conducting a unionization drive (for=20
> the past 16 months)--the arrogance of some of the faculty toward this=20
> drive is to be expected. What is surprising, however, is the=20
> hesitancy of otherwise progressive faculty to sign anything=20
> approaching a public letter of support. Additionally, the student=20
> support has come from primarily leftwing students who are able to see=20
> the necessity of across-the-board campus support for the drive. Most=20
> students just don't care and others are planning to be management=20
> when they graduate so are opposed to unions as a matter of principle.=20
> I attended six different colleges before I finally received a BA,=20
> beginning with Fordham University in 1973, and finally graduating=20
> from Evergreen State College in Washington (an alternative college)=20
> in 1990. In between I bummed around, worked shit jobs, and dropped=20
> out. Consequently, I have been able to experience firsthand as a=20
> student the difference in attitudes among the different generations=20
> of students and faculty. My own beleif is that the current=20
> university does more that serve corporate America-it is corporate=20
> America and what with the cost of higher education so=20
> exorbitant, fewer working class students are able to attend, thus=20
> enhancing the "training for management" climate which dominates=20
> today's education.. We need a new Daniel Cohn-Bendit to shake things=20
> up....
>=20
Your story of how you got an education is very interesting to me, as I
al= so traveled a torturous road though the educationnal wilderness.
After graduationg from high school in 1947, I attended night classes
at the University of Alabama extension in Mobile, while working as a
radio repairman. I dropped out after the first year, and after going
to sea an= d working at several other jobs I was able to enter City
College of San Francisco in 1956. I continued working as an
electrician on ships while = I took one semester per year, at best,
and received my AA degree in 1964.=20 This allowed me to transfer into
Berkeley as a Junior, and by working the following summer as an
electrician on a ship, and by working part time as=
a
technical writer, I was able to complete the work toward the BSEE in 1966.
The difference is that at no time during these years did I blame
=93the system=94 for any of my troubles. I might suggest that you
read The True Believer=94, by my friend Eric Hoffer, for a better
understanding of your frustrations. He never had the advantages of
education that we have had, but had at least 8 books published, and
was a recognized authority in sociology.
Jim Cummins
jimc1@earthlink.net