A modest proposal

I am going to propose a way to cure many of the America’s ills, and by extension, the world’s. In spite of this post’s title, I am not being ironic. I really think this would work. It would take a while, a generation or two at least, to take effect. Ready? End the tenure system in American universities. Make professors teach, not publish. That’s it. In a short time, at very little expense, with no bloodshed, America could begin to cleanse the filth of Marxism out of its system.

I cannot take sole credit for the idea; it came up during a discussion with a friend, a liberal professor. I’m not sure he would approve.

Posted on December 8th, 2006 by pwyll
Filed under: politics

3 Responses to “A modest proposal”

  1. Paco Malo, on December 9th, 2006 at 7:30 am Said:

    Setting aside the flotsum woven into paragraph one, graduate school professors do need to start teaching. If they want to publish, or run anal intruder web sites, fine.

    Good teaching — and I said good, not teaching the blackboard how to do matrix algebra — is more valuable, and more rare, than gold. Our current civilization’s survival depends on it.

  2. pwyll, on December 9th, 2006 at 12:14 pm Said:

    flot·sam

    1. the part of the wreckage of a ship and its cargo found floating on the water. Compare jetsam, lagan.
    2. material or refuse floating on water.
    3. useless or unimportant items; odds and ends.
    4. a vagrant, penniless population: the flotsam of the city slums in medieval Europe.

    I take it you mean the third definition, and are referring to my comment about Marxism. If I am correct, may I conclude that you are being intentionally obtuse? My entire premise is that the American university system is shot through with Marxism, and that this has disastrous consequences. This unfortunate state of affairs could be eliminated through economic reform. There is no great market demand for Marxist claptrap. The university system artificially creates a subsidy for it through the tenure system.

    The issue I raise is not about good teaching. It is about teaching what is good. More correctly, it is about ceasing to teach evil. That Marxism and socialism (Marxism lite) are evil is not something I am arguing at the moment; I take it as axiomatic. I suggesting how to fix things, not why.

    On the topic of good teaching I would also suggest market reforms. Schools are too important to be entrusted to government.

  3. Paco Malo, on December 10th, 2006 at 9:44 am Said:

    I try to avoid being intentionally obtuse, but alas, often stumble into rants that greatly resemble it.

    If good teaching is not a concern raised by your post, then what happened is your post punched one of my buttons: the horrible teaching I encountered at the hands of tenured professors at universities where “publish or perish” is the rule.

    I do not share your views regarding the nature or cure for the problem.

    I humbly thank you for clarifying your position so I could see that I had missed the point.

« The government we deserve Gog and Magog »