Strypey
This seems relevant to the recent discussion we had here about the firing of Dr Mike Joy and the problem of managerialism in our universities:
https://www.npr.org/2013/09/22/224946206/adjunct-professor-dies-destitute-then-sparks-debate
So sad. Hopefully it sparks an open revolt against treating tertiary faculty like seasonal fruit pickers.
Thaiis Thei 𓁟
@strypey I got my UE in NZ when uni was free. I saw many people like me i.e. from super poor families, going to uni and being great contributors to NZ. Sadly I wasn't able to go to uni then and didn't go till decades later in Australia when there were fees. 😐
Strypey
@Oozenet
I think about this every time I go to someone's graduation. I also think about how the fact that I personally know people graduating from uni is a sign that I'm (still, somehow) part of a privileged social class. This doesn't need to be the case and I wonder how many great minds among less privileged classes are missing out on the opportunity to get a uni education, which is a net loss for society. This is the real " brain drain' we need to do something about.
Strypey
@Oozenet
So we've got the departure of academics who care passionately about the pursuit of truth in their discipline, but refuse to play musical chairs over dwindling, casualized positions. Then we've got corporations funding academic positions for PR purposes. Placing industry-friendly experts inside respected institutions, and getting the names of those institutions on research designed to support their PR claims.
The combination of the two leads to a horrifying distortion of #academia.
Thaiis Thei 𓁟
@strypey The heavy casualisation of the work force and the total lack of any desire to do anything about it on the part of academic staff were high on my list of reasons for leaving the academy.
Strypey
@Oozenet
> The heavy casualisation of the work force and the total lack of any desire to do anything about it on the part of academic staff were high on my list of reasons for leaving the academy
I've seen many friends who would have made great Professors come to the same conclusion. It's a massive loss to the academy and to society in general :/
Ewen Bell
Not to mention access to evening classes. That was all wound back in the push to make classes bigger and reduce teaching costs. Not so easy to get a degree while working these days.
Thaiis Thei 𓁟
@ewen @strypey https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674984615 This is an amazing book that sets out the process whereby this has happened since (the most ironically named thing ever) The Enlightenment. Yay, let's all hate The Enlightenment!
The American accent in the audiobook gave me culture shock...
I drove trucks the whole time I studied.
Thaiis Thei 𓁟
@strypey @ewen Same. I have a hard copy, but it is so beautiful I don't dare read it.
Strypey
@Oozenet
> Please, please let me know if you record Dawn!
I'd have to get hold of a copy and read it first. It's one of the few Graeber books I haven't read.
Thaiis Thei 𓁟
@strypey @ewen Dawn certainly doesn't meet the copyright requirements for librevox.
Please, please let me know if you record Dawn!
Thaiis Thei 𓁟
@strypey @ewen I don't suppose you know where there is an audio book of the dawn of everything that isn't either the one on Audible, may Djhuty destroy them, or the robot girl one on archive.org?
Strypey
@Oozenet
> I don't suppose you know where there is an audio book of the dawn of everything
I don't but let me know if you find one. I had a quick look here:
https://librivox.org/
... but didn't find anything.
I had a sneaky look on TPB too. There's a couple of results for audios of Debt, but nothing else. Maybe I need to do some recording...
Strypey
@Oozenet
> This is an amazing book that sets out the process whereby this has happened
Bookmarked. I wish Graeber had lived to write more about the state of the academy, and especially about the prospects for improving it.
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