a crisis of competence: SAVING THE HUMANITIES

[Matthew Cissell]

She has my sympathy in regard to the problem i.e pedagogy and the contemporary U.S. university. However, she loses me with:
 "Many professors in the Humanities and Social Sciences devote themselves less to teaching their particular disciplines than to decrying the presumed crimes of the United States, sympathizing with Islamic terrorists and other violent dissidents, calling for the overthrow of the capitalist world order, and condoning plans for the destruction of Israel.
As Horowitz explains, the radicalization of the Humanities and the decline of academic standards are closely related, with political commitment often necessitating the abandonment of scholarly integrity"
She goes on to propose a political cleansing of the Humanities in order to save it. Right. To be fair, I experienced a bit of this during my undergrad studies and I'm sure others felt it more keenly since their owns views lay further to the right than my own. Still, I did not feel that "many teachers" had abandoned their main priority. Perhaps the situation has worsened since then and more teachers are openly politicising the atmosphere of the classroom while failing to teach. 
Her analysis leaves much to be desired and her solution would be laughable were she not so ernest about the approach. The whole thing sounds like an echo from the rabid right.

ciao
Pirate Jenny



----- Original Message -----
From: David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com>
To: P-list <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Cc: 
Sent: Friday, July 6, 2012 5:46 PM
Subject: a crisis of competence: SAVING THE HUMANITIES

http://www.artsandopinion.com/2012_v11_n3/fiamengo.htm

"The majority of students in English courses today can expect a B
grade or higher merely for warming a seat and handing in assignments
on time. The result, as I soon discovered, was a generation of
students so accustomed to being praised for their work that when I
told them it was inadequate, they simply could not or would not
believe me. They seemed very nearly unteachable: lacking not only the
essential skills but also the personal gumption to respond adequately
to criticism."