tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post3354027381673175196..comments2024-01-06T10:36:04.084-05:00Comments on A Commonplace Blog: Last days of the academic ruling classD. G. Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10659136455045567825noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-12014429414377662462010-09-05T10:18:49.503-04:002010-09-05T10:18:49.503-04:00Thank you, D. G. Meyers.Thank you, D. G. Meyers.Susan Messerhttp://www.susanmesser.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-58422378587011294872010-09-01T00:04:23.154-04:002010-09-01T00:04:23.154-04:00Since most social challenges are actually at their...Since most social challenges are actually at their root ethical challenges, I'd prefer an indispensable book that dealt with ethical dilemmas and choices about them. Now that is old fashioned, I know. I also believe in reading lists across the curriculum (not just for English majors). Dumbing down is such a problem, but the consumer mentality is taking over everything. Also, sorry for my typos--not good when one complains about "dumbing down."PMHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01848296275862900483noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-56034049328397916972010-08-31T14:55:55.227-04:002010-08-31T14:55:55.227-04:00This is my university's not-so-enlightened sel...This is my university's not-so-enlightened selection for this year's batch of freshmen: The Braindead Megaphone by George Saunders. I refuse to include it in my students' reading. Someone has to take a stand against PC drivel being passed off as worthwhile reading.R/Thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07791522136032565027noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-79123101924332703102010-08-30T13:10:44.626-04:002010-08-30T13:10:44.626-04:00Students at Haifa University are taking their educ...Students at Haifa University are taking their education in their own hands.<br />"Haifa University students prepare to rally against leftist teachers"<br />http://alethonews.wordpress.com/2010/08/26/haifa-university-students-prepare-to-rally-against-leftist-teachers/Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00101915582791035092noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-48168545497600080762010-08-30T12:43:07.158-04:002010-08-30T12:43:07.158-04:00If I were one of those English students forced to ...If I were one of those English students forced to read Derrida, I'd say, "Why bother with Derrida when we could read Sayyid Qutb?" That ought to give that professor a jolt. I'd also declare that the postmodernists really ought to be called what they are, pre-Islamists, and that there was no point in reading pre-Islamists when one could read the Islamists themselves.<br /><br />There's no need to worry that I'm trying to impose shari'a on the West. It's the exact opposite. Let's force these professors, who often don't even know what words like "shari'a" and "dhimmi" mean, to understand the danger that their attacks on the West are posing.<br /><br />By the way, tsc, Kuhn is a model of clarity compared with Derrida.<br /><br />John PeppleAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-55089873865143784242010-08-30T10:04:31.990-04:002010-08-30T10:04:31.990-04:00Years ago, I turned down two tenure track appointm...Years ago, I turned down two tenure track appointments to a Colorado university after being quietly warned by professors in the department that it would be best to fly low on the political horizon. (This was a science department - and therefore most members were conservative - but could not openly express it.) I went to industry instead and have done far, far more for myself, my savings, and society.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-33239873114224892722010-08-30T10:03:33.881-04:002010-08-30T10:03:33.881-04:00But Miss Messer: the difference is that your novel...But Miss Messer: the difference is that your novel is actually distinguished. And can be defended on that ground.D. G. Myershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10659136455045567825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-89381308931929530762010-08-30T09:53:56.214-04:002010-08-30T09:53:56.214-04:00Hmmm. A timely subject for me, as the University o...Hmmm. A timely subject for me, as the University of Michigan Honors College this year chose my novel (Grand River and Joy) as the summer reading book for freshman. The college gives copies to students (so they don't have to buy it). And one of the ideas behind the choice is to get students thinking in a broader way about the southeast region of Michigan and the problems therein. The faculty plans to discuss the book with students when they arrive on campus (next week, I believe), and then I'll visit in November, during parents' weekend to carry on the discussion. I don't know of any controversy around the choice (though I wouldn't necessarily have heard), and of course I'm curious about how 18 year olds will respond, if indeed they do read the book. <br /><br />On another subject, D. G., did you stop in Chicago on your way north? I could have sworn I saw you in Millennium Park.Susan Messerhttp://www.susanmesser.netnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-84511033755792066842010-08-30T09:50:00.034-04:002010-08-30T09:50:00.034-04:00Bob,
I kind of agree. My point, though, is that a...Bob,<br /><br />I kind of agree. My point, though, is that any professor who assigns Derrida ought to be able to defend his place in the curriculum.<br /><br />And the question is also how he is to be taught. Elsewhere I have <a href="http://www-english.tamu.edu/pers/fac/myers/teaching-literary-theory.htm" rel="nofollow">argued</a> that Derrida cannot be taught in the way you hint at—that is, simply on the basis of his historical importance. To do so would be a betrayal of Derrida’s own objectives, which are to upset the cart of literary and philosophical history.<br /><br />To teach Derrida as received wisdom, in short, is not to teach him as a deconstructionist. But that is precisely how he is usually taught, and how the English professor of my recent acquaintance was proposing to teach him—as a necessary familiarity.D. G. Myershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10659136455045567825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-51802560064453248432010-08-30T09:35:28.232-04:002010-08-30T09:35:28.232-04:00While I agree with your premise, the Derrida examp...While I agree with your premise, the Derrida example is terrible! An English major who didn't know about Derrida would be like a history major who didn't know about Hitler and Stalin. Derrida was wrong about most everything, but to allow an English major to avoid reading him is malpractice.Bob_Rhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14013147654544140102noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-36044110200246903642010-08-30T08:41:09.960-04:002010-08-30T08:41:09.960-04:00[T]oday's middle class parents are compelled t...<i>[T]oday's middle class parents are compelled to do everything they can to give their kids a "leg up" in life. What else can they do?</i><br /><br />More and more, when parents ask my advice about where to send their children to college, I suggest the U.S. military as an alternative.D. G. Myershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10659136455045567825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-68076743122548388782010-08-30T08:06:50.287-04:002010-08-30T08:06:50.287-04:00In the 1960s John W. Campbell (a great thinker, if...In the 1960s John W. Campbell (a great thinker, if not a true intellectual) posited that Lord Acton's aphorism "power corrupts, absolute power corrupts absolutely" was not quite right.<br /><br />Campbell asserted that immunity corrupted, but that power granted immunity. Even if you have no power, if you are immune from the consequences of your actions it was easy to become corrupt.<br /><br />I think higher education is a marvelous illustration of Campbell's point.Mark Lnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-3554880737977698282010-08-30T08:04:48.237-04:002010-08-30T08:04:48.237-04:00The bubble can't burst fast enough for me. It ...The bubble can't burst fast enough for me. It is encouraging to see the recognition in the blogsphere but until the current generation that has experienced the farce called a "college education" become parents themselves it will continue unabated. Alas this is because today's middle class parents are compelled to do everything they can to give their kids a "leg up" in life. What else can they do?Sly Foxhttp://afoxthought.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-66458868551144748732010-08-29T21:12:45.979-04:002010-08-29T21:12:45.979-04:00Political content of the book aside, it strikes me...Political content of the book aside, it strikes me as a conflict of interest (and cheesy) for a university to assign a volume written by a faculty member. Also, it's not a book that has stood the test of time, it's a new publication, which also seems a strange thing to try to get thousands of students to buy.Tom B.noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-22563302520369209432010-08-29T20:27:23.823-04:002010-08-29T20:27:23.823-04:00My college assigned, among others long forgotten, ...My college assigned, among others long forgotten, Thomas Kuhn's Structure of Scientific Revolutions. That one, in particular, stuck with me because the main idea is simple enough to be explained in an 850 word op-ed, but it went on for some 300 pages of the most bloated obscurantist prose imaginable, to the extent that few of us could detect what it wanted to say. This was the fault of the author, and the publish or perish regime of the scholarly community, not the failure of the students.tschttp://bonalibro.usnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-73973469747961134712010-08-29T17:57:38.536-04:002010-08-29T17:57:38.536-04:00Immunity is perhaps another species of the lack of...Immunity is perhaps another species of the lack of cultural leadership of academicians. It seems to be that what is often missing in decisions about books (about anything with any possible PR value) is courage. Academicians often speak about books that are indispensable for educated (or enlightened) people. How many of these indispensable texts are every choices for common reading?<br />Too often the books are ephemeral or popular and then ephemeral. (My college once assigned Harry Potter). IMHO, if one is asking an entire first year class to read a book, it had better be one that has passed the tests of time and critical judgment.<br />I'm impressed that the English department is involved (in the example you cite). In my college's entire history of its common reading program, no one has ever asked the English department to take a central role.PMHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01848296275862900483noreply@blogger.com