Chris Hedges: The Perversion of Scholarship

[marmar]

from truthdig:


The Perversion of Scholarship

Posted on Jul 30, 2012
By Chris Hedges

Fraternities, sororities and football, along with other outsized athletic programs, have decimated most major American universities. Scholarship, inquiry, self-criticism, moral autonomy and a search for artistic and esoteric forms of expression—in short, the world of ethics, creativity and ideas—are shouted down by the drunken chants of fans in huge stadiums, the pathetic demands of rich alumni for national championships, and the elitism, racism and rigid definition of gender roles of Greek organizations. These hypermasculine systems perpetuate a culture of conformity and intolerance. They have inverted the traditional values of scholarship to turn four years of college into a mindless quest for collective euphoria and athletic dominance.

There is probably no more inhospitable place to be an intellectual, or a person of color or a member of the LGBT community, than on the campuses of the Big Ten Conference colleges, although the poison of this bizarre American obsession has infected innumerable schools. These environments are distinctly corporate. To get ahead one must get along. The student is implicitly told his or her self-worth and fulfillment are found in crowds, in mass emotions, rather than individual transcendence. Those who do not pay deference to the celebration of force, wealth and power become freaks. It is a war on knowledge in the name of knowledge.

“Knowledge,” as C. Wright Mills wrote in “The Power Elite,” “is no longer widely felt as an ideal; it is seen as an instrument. In a society of power and wealth, knowledge is valued as an instrument of power and wealth, and also, of course, as an ornament in conversation.”

There are few university presidents or faculty members willing to fight back. Most presidents are overcompensated fundraisers licking the boots of every millionaire who arrives on campus. They are like court eunuchs. They cater to the demands of the hedge fund managers and financial speculators on their trustee boards, half of whom should be in jail, and most of whom revel in this collective self-worship. And they do not cross the football coach, who not only earns more than they do but has much more power on the campus. ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/the_perversion_of_scholarship_20120730/

[xchrom]

1. Du rec. Nt

[Igel]

2. Yeah. Things were so much better in the 1920s.

Back when the universities weren't infested by sports or frats. Back when they were truly welcoming to the GLBT community.

Go to universities in fairly conservative areas, you have fairly conservative students. The rest is formalism, even if it is a formalism that we love to hate.

As one friend put it, he knew to avoid the homophobic frats and considered it a public service that the homophobes self-segregated into one frat. It kept them out of groups he was a member of, and if they were let out of their cage they were in a group that could be monitored and avoided.

[margit]

3. the problem is with the media coverage of frats and sport, not with the Universities.

Well, I agree that all that focus on sports and frats leads to bad image.
When I left UCSF (which has jokes about not having any sports team)
for Michigan, I was told I need to get the 49ers and Giants etc. straight
if I go to a big 10 Midwest school. They were wrong. I still don’t know
which teams is which sport and which is in New York

I think the article is barking at the wrong tree. The problem is with the over
focus by the media on sports and frats and scandals at Universities, rarely
reporting on academics. MOST young students are not in fraternities, and
study hard, and enjoy going to the games sober.

From anecdotal experience I can say with certainty that students at least this
our big 10, our University of Michigan, have a choice. Nobody is forced to be
part of a fraternity, and there is plenty of social life outside. No need to undergo
hazing. We are a free country – if some want to do that, its their problem
- there are other choices. Both of my daughters went to Michigan, never
did anything with fraternities and had a great time. My oldest was engaged
in LGBT and found Michigan very tolerant and diverse. She majored in physics
and math, but also took courses in Yiddish literature, spirituality, Indian Goddesses as well
as Psychology and Philosophy, and is now studying for a PhD in pure math at MIT.
My younger is an engineering major and German minor, and got scholarships
to do internships in Germany in her field, helped a lot by this great University.
This is every bit as good as what the writer talks about Dartmouth’s president.

This is not a mom bragging – I got by far the best possible education for my kids
at a bargain price (as faculty I don’t get a discount, it’s the price every Michigan
parent pays that is bargain), so I don’t think it is fair to at least this Big Ten school.