Lost Ideas

I had a hard time thinking about the next topic to write.  No, not because I had nothing to say – believe me that is NOT a problem (ask anyone who knows me!).  Actually, I had a hard time picking a topic.  The topic I landed on is one that I hold very close professionally.  It is something that I focus on every day at work.  Ask yourself this, what is the purpose of higher education?

Obviously, this is not something I am going to attempt to explore in a single post.  I say explore because different views exist on this question.  Instead, what I want to do is share why this question is, or at least should be, so pervasive today.  I will follow up with additional posts where I explore this idea in more depth.

If you are like me and follow higher education in the news (yes – this is a thing) you understand why I say this.  If not, keep reading.  Actually, everyone please keep reading!

So, where to start? Before I begin, please, please, please know that to me this topic is completely apolitical.  I believe it has become wrongly politicized. I have been in higher education for about 12 years now, and an administrator for a good portion of that time.  When I began my career in higher education, I was certain that my role as a faculty member, and later an administrator, was and still is to protect and promote the rigor, integrity, and freedom of voice and thought that academia represents.  This does not mean allowing a single perspective or political view (remember, to me this idea is apolitical) to be presented to the detriment of others.  Rather, it means allowing all perspectives to be shared in the public space that is academia.

Yes, that’s right, in order to promote freedom of voice and thought, I believe that the role of higher education is to protect and defend the rights of all people to freely share their ideas, not silence those that we disagree with.  What are our options then?  We, as academicians, are to use our expertise to provide evidence that supports and refutes the ideas presented to help educate the broader citizenry.  Notice, I didn’t say that our role was to provide value judgments to the broader citizenry.  Rather, we as experts in our own fields should guide the citizenry through the cognitive dissonance that conflicting ideas present and help them to arrive at THEIR own value judgements.

Unfortunately, that is not what has been occurring in the past few years.  Instead, we see protests on both the left and the right to silence opposing viewpoints rather than promoting meaningful dialogue to arrive at mutual understanding (this does not necessarily mean agreement!).    Schools are removing conservative philosophers from the reading lists, removing the idea of liberal from the liberal arts, and on and on.  How is this freedom of thought?  How does this promote dialogue?  When does it stop becoming education and turn into brainwashing?

My impression from the current news is that my ideas on this topic put me in the minority in academia, and if so, that’s OK.  Let’s dialogue.  I hope you will join me over my next few posts as I present the philosophies and research that support my thinking and align my ideas with the tenets of supporting a free democracy.  Over the next few posts, we will explore concepts in history, liberalism, human capital theory, and human capabilities that, I believe, will support my call for a return to broader dialogue in higher education.