Plan C: Mcro-Manfesto Imagne Plan A sn t workng. Humantes departments are tranng PhDs to be academcs, preparng them to work n unverstes even whle there are few jobs. The value of studyng Humantes, and of havng crtcally-mnded people n socety, s wdely agreed upon, so what can be done to make these PhD programs relevant and worthwhle for students who lkely wll never have an academc job? The answer s Plan B reform. Imagne Plan A s workng. Humantes departments are an ntegral part of the deologcal control apparatus, essentally manufacturng consent for ongong colonal, ndustral, and statst projects. PhD programs n Humantes are mportant not only for mantanng and replcatng the system, but also because they create a good deal of busy work for otherwse crtcally-mnded people, keepng them from realzng any sort of revolutonary project. Cast n ths lght, the dea of reformng the PhD takes on a dfferent meanng. Future of Humantes? A Project of Imagnaton by Plan C Commttee Our purpose s not to be dogmatc or to promote a radcal agenda, but nstead to pont out, through satre and subtle subverson, that the plattudes often repeated by those advocatng Plan B, reform, may be seeng the unversty through rose-colored glasses: that the lofty prncples of the lberal-humanst enlghtenment entrenched as core values of the academy may not lne up wth realty. The result, then, s Plan C, a program that s not exclusvely reformst and not exclusvely revolutonary, but nstead takes the best from both, suggestng that the noble values of the Humantes, and of the academy generally, can be salvaged, but only f potentally uncomfortable or troublng questons about the fundamental purpose of the Humantes are asked, whch won t happen wthout takng off the blnders. 1
Recpe: Recpe: How How to to make make a Humantes Humantes PhD PhD Ingredents you wll need: 1 part Derrda 2 parts Foucault A pnch of French femnsm James Joyce s Ulysses 1 language requrement (an rrelevant language f you can fnd one) 3 or more rejected project proposals 2 parts comprehensve exams Combne all ngredents n a large bowl, and reduce wth a healthy dose of domnance and deference. Spread evenly n a bakng pan, coated wth grant applcatons. Season wth mposter syndrome to taste. Bake under hgh stress untl edges are crspy and brown. Serve on on a bed bed of of rrelevancy and and bombast. Concrete Boat salsal salsalsalsal salsalsalsalsalsalsal salsalsalsalssalsalsalssalsalsal salsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsal salsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalsalssalssaslsalsalsalsalsalsa as the shp was headng nto a storm the captan sad sometmes you can do everythng rght and stll lose and though t may seem that the race s fnte t's only one lap around the track only an agon 2 Where Do We Come From? Let us take a mnute to talk about where we have come from and how our dverse group of subjects came together under the term humantes. Ths s not a comprehensve study of the development of the humantes, merely a short summary to ground us. Most people have some general sense that colleges and unverstes began to take ther current form n the Mddle Ages and that by the late 19 th century had become somewhat smlar to the form they stll have today. We understand that there have always been several key splts between secular and non-secular subjects, between the hard scences and everybody else, and between professonal programs and those that are vewed as 4 not leadng down a clear career path. So how do Humantes ft nto that? The use of the word Humantes n reference to a wde range of subjects studed wthn the unversty s a recent development, partcularly when placed n the much longer hstory of the unversty. If we trust the Oxford Englsh Dctonary, (and what could be more trustworthy?) the date s set n 1855. Pror to that t only referred to the study of the classcs or secular wrtngs. In North Amerca, today we would also nclude relgous studes (though not theology), and often area studes (though that s trcky). Who s and who s not ncluded n the Humantes and thus what the word means has gone through many phases and t contnues to evolve. What s most notable s that the current usage of the word today appeared just as unverstes and colleges n North Amerca were begnnng to move toward ther current format. It was the begnnng of unverstes becomng more accessble both physcally and conceptually to more students and more students choosng to pursue degrees. It also concded wth the begnnng of professonalzaton of unversty faculty (and teachng more broadly). The Humantes opened up the unversty to students who were nterested n learnng how to thnk crtcally and pushed forward a system of educaton that s based on learnng to thnk, not smply to memorze or gan approval needed for work at a partcular job. Our felds, wrt large, are crucal to those developments and thus our place n the academy s drectly ted to ts supposed goal to facltate new deas and ways of thnkng. 5 Bledsten, Burton J. The Culture of Professonalsm: The Mddle Class and the Development of Hgher Educaton n Amerca. New York: Norton, 1976. Jann, Hunt. The Unversty n Medeval Lfe, 1179-1499. London: McFarland, 2008. Haskngs, Charles H. The Rse of Unverstes. New York: Holt, 1923. Levne, Davd O. The Amercan College and the Culture of Aspraton 1915-1940. Ithaca: Cornell UP, 1986. 3
Art: 1. The power of dong somethng not taught by nature and nstnct; as to walk n natural, to dance n art. Art s properly an habtual knowledge of certan rules and maxma, by whch a man s governed and drected n hs actons. South Blest wth each grace of nature and of art. Pope Ev n copous Dryden wanted, or forgot, The last and greatest art, the art to blot. Pope 2. A scence; as the lberal arts. Arts that respect the mnd were ever reputed nobler than those that serve the body. Ben Johnson When dd hs pen of learnng fx a brand, Or Ral at arts he dd not understand? Dryden Humanst: A phlologer: a grammaran: a term used n the schools of Scotland. Course offerngs Practcalty 9990 Agan ths year, we have engaged an outsde source to provde sound manageral gudance to humanzed clents on a go forward bass. Acheve excellent learnng outcomes explorng practcal world engagement potentaltes. Vable self-employment optons such as people moblty expert or ndependent spced sausage sales techncan are explored. Epstemology Applcatons 2015 Whle we may never really 'know much', we dscuss when we can actually know enough to acheve short term objectves. Funded by Canada s Global Opportunty Gan & Rsk Abatement Blueprnt (GOGRAB) Lberal Arts: Orgnally: the seven subjects of the trvum (grammar, rhetorc, and logc) and quadrvum (arthmetc, geometry, musc, and astronomy) consdered collectvely (now hst.). In later use more generally: arts subjects as opposed to scence and technology (now chefly N. Amer.) Humantes: a. In sng. and pl. Lterary learnng or scholarshp; secular letters as opposed to theology; esp. the study of ancent Latn and Greek language, lterature, and ntellectual culture (as grammar, rhetorc, hstory, and phlosophy); classcal scholarshp. In later sng. use, b. In pl. (usu. wth the). The branch of learnng concerned wth human culture; the academc subjects collectvely comprsng ths branch of learnng, as hstory, lterature, ancent and modern languages, law, phlosophy, art, and musc. Hence also n sng.: any one of these subjects. The humantes are typcally dstngushed from the socal scences n havng a sgnfcant hstorcal element, n the use of nterpretaton of texts and artefacts rather than expermental and quanttatve methods, and n havng an dographc rather than nomothetc character. Just for fun What do you call a supervsor wthout grad students? Happy. What do you call a grad student wthout a supervsor? Interdscplnary. 4 5
Dalog: Socrates and Hypata Scene: Interor, grad student offce. Two desks facng opposte walls. No wndows. SOCRATES s sttng at one of the desks, starng at hs laptop. Enter HYPATIA wth an enormous mug full of coffee. H. Oh. H. I ddn t know you were n here. Want some coffee? S. Just readng emals. These kds keep askng me about the nature of vrtue. CHORUS (nasally). What s vrtue, Socrates? Is t taught or s t nnate? S. As f there s a rght or wrong answer, rather than answers that are more rght or wrong n context. They look at me lke I m supposed to be ths sage who knows all the answers to the unverse that or a grade machne. I m a genus untl I gve them an F. But do they ever consder that an F s a gft? Do they ever realze how lberatng t s to be confronted wth ther own gnorance? H. Well, can you really blame them? They need to pass courses n order to graduate. That s how the system works, for better or for worse. Not everyone wll fnd an F lberatng especally not n the humantes. If you d lke to fal people for fun, go teach n a scence department, or better yet, engneerng. Of course, you d also be bound to sometmes gve grades of 100% and I can t help thnkng that would also offend your sensbltes. You can only teach them how to thnk, not what to thnk. (You can only teach people, you can t make them learn.) The ones who are just lookng for credentals wll be weeded out by the tme grad school rolls around, anyway then we ll be able to pursue hgher questons n peace. S. How cyncal of you, Hypata! Is that your frst coffee of the day? H. As a matter of fact t s. S. Then drnk up whle I ask you some sem-rhetorcal and vague questons. What s the unversty for, f not to teach the bascs of 6 crtcal thnkng and good ctzenshp? What s the PhD, f not a sharpenng of all those sklls? What s t all for, f not to go back out nto the world and serve the ctzenry? H. The unversty s a place where all of those thngs can happen, yes. But t s useful to make the dstncton between the unversty and the real world. One should not be collapsed nto the other, I thnk. The unversty s a structure whch has been developed over many centures and has survved n large part because of ts ablty to self-reproduce, ndependent of ts contact wth the real world. Unverstes produce professors. Up untl recently, anyone gettng a PhD was hopng to enter academa as a career and that s what I ntend to do. I have a SSHRC CHORUS. oooooooh H. and all my ducks n a row. But I understand that more and more people are enterng PhD programs wth no hope of gettng an academc job. Ether our PhD programs are bloated or the job market has shrunk, or both. But why would you do a PhD n humantes f you ddn t want to become a prof? Why are you dong a PhD, Socrates? S. Why am I? Ddn t I say that I wanted to use my crtcal thnkng sklls to help people examne ther lves on a daly bass? H. No, you ddn t. And anyway s that really the best opton for you? I know your track record wth real world jobs s not the greatest. Ddn t you tell me once that you were fred from your job at a call centre for gvng a clent an exstental crss? 7
S. I merely asked her what she meant by nne o clock! H. What f the publc doesn t want your crtcal thnkng? What f your PhD makes you overqualfed? What f the prce you pay for your educaton s a lfetme of wakng up at 6am just to drnk hemlock n a cubcle? We have spent too long n ths nsttuton to just gve up on t and walk out nto the real world lke we can ft nto desk jobs when we ve been traned to be creatve, crtcal thnkers. I have no ntenton of gvng up on the unversty or ts structure of knowledge economy. I thnk t should be reserved as a place for hyper-crtcal thnkng whch, yes, may flow nto the manstream. But I resent the popularzaton of the unversty. I don t thnk that young people should be forced to get a BA n order to have any job prospects. The unversty s not vocatonal tranng. The unversty was not created for and does not functon as preparaton for the real world. It s a place where we can thnk freely, more freely than n a world of bottom lnes and budget cuts. I understand that the unversty exsts n a socal context, and s by no means free from budget cuts and corrupton but we should strve to make t freer, not to flatten t onto a map of realty. S. So, then, are you completely at ease wth the knowledge economy mplct n the structure of the unversty? Ths oppressve system of herarchy and deference? 8 H. I recognze that the nsttuton of the unversty s oppressve, herarchcal, patrarchal, kyrarchcal, et cetera, but they can stll be places of relatvely free ntellectual nqury. We can stll teach somethng meanngful and mportant to those students who are wllng to learn. The nsttuton may be oppressve, but people are not fully determned by ther contexts. Just as the unversty s not fully determned by ts socal context. S. And snce t s not fully determned by t, the unversty should shy away as much as possble from ts socal context, the real world? H. Perhaps. S. Then I would have to ask, Hypata, what s the prce you pay for that? Aren t you at all concerned wth the mob outsde the unversty gates? Why should they not have a say n defnng what s meanngful and mportant? It seems to me that the unversty dstances tself from the people at ts own perl. It s a long way to fall from an vory tower. What s the use of an nsttuton that allows people to hde ther heads n the sand? Furthermore, you have sad that people are not fully determned by ther contexts. Ths may be true, but by the same logc, people wthn the unversty are nevtably nfluenced by factors and contexts outsde of t. You and I walked nto ths room from a complcated realty that transcends the boundares between the unversty and the real world. We are already on both sdes of the dvdng lne. We may owe somethng to the unversty, but we owe much more to the world outsde t. What s the use of such hghly specalzed knowledge f t can t be used to help our fellow ctzens? What s the use of phlosophcal nqury f t does not lead to grassroots acton? Truly I say there s none. H. But do you admt that they are dfferent thngs nqury and acton? S. Is an nqury not a mental act? Is acton not propelled by ntent? H. Are those questons rhetorcal? S. What do you thnk? CHORUS. What do yooooouuuuu thnk? (jazz hands) S. All systems bult by humans are subject to change, as we humans are subject to change. Our lves and our nsttutons are bult on 9
multplcaton, dvson, trangulaton. Indeed we are but lvng geometry, and as such constantly n flux. Only one thng s certan: our gnorance. The expert knowledge economy becomes bankrupt when we know that we know nothng and that others know just as lttle as we do. Crossword H. But s t not true, Socrates, that you only know that you know nothng because of your tranng n crtcal thnkng n the academy. S. It s true. But ths s not to say that the academy s the only place where ths knd of nstructon can happen. Can t we examne our lves, and encourage others to do the same, at every moment of every day, and be the better for t? H. Spoken lke a true PhD! Where else s crtcal thnkng so valued than n the unversty? Thnk of your call centre job. S. Don t tease me by brngng that up agan. The real world s not perfect, by any means, but nether s the unversty, as we have dscussed. Perhaps we are both doomed to death, whether we see ourselves as stayng wthn the unversty or gong outsde t. H. Perhaps. (pause) Want some more coffee? Jobs! Jobs! Jobs! Jobs! Outsde Source of Knowledge Researchers: Students are nvted to work on our research and recrutment team. Canddates wll source contracted busness servces provdng Knowledge Coordnaton, Academc Publcatons, Pedagogcal Processng Gudebooks, and Creatve Potental Analyses. These are for varous Arts and Humantes projects planned for outsourcng ths year. Employees wll attend a short tranng sesson (unpad) n phone book analyss system, strategc tme avalablty query and analyss, and rectangular paper compartment fulfllment and dsbursement technology. A project of the School of Busness Management Internshp Fund 10 11
Letter to the edtor: Bologna sandwches whle Leden down! Last ssue s ncluson of a bologna sandwch recpe was refreshng, astute, nostalgc but omnous. Refreshngly, t s so easy to make a standard, affordable sandwch pretty well anywhere n N Amerca. But, you astutely note that t can be functonal and not partcularly healthy. Its only personal flare s expressed through the mustard: Grey Poupon for the wealther, to cheaper honey mustard, to whatever s free. As kds, my buddes and I would democratcally pool our money to buy the unfettered processed meat as a favourte snack. Or, we d slap t between whte bread for lunch on the fly between more mportant thngs. Later, when I developed the taste, I could not experence the personal flare of the mustard because my mouth and throat would swell f I ate t. I loved t, but the easest thng was to smply overlook t. Eventually I gave the sandwch up for ts unform lack of taste and because t was generally an unhealthy quck fx. hearng t. We are n danger of losng our rght, access, and ablty to stretch our mental palates to taste true human, socal and ecologcal consderatons. Please, readers, heed the advce of last ssue s recpe: keep Bologna lvely and relevant. Consumng Bologna wthout mustard enroute to somethng more mportant s juvenle democracy. Because t swells some throats s not a reason to gnore t. Insst on the mustard - Grey Poupon for all! maybe even wth brown or whole gran or rye or? Sncerely, Le Duc de Coeur So, why omnous? Bologna s actually one of many worldwde versons of Bologna s famous mortadella. Now, Bologna s dong t agan. The AUCC says the 2010 Bologna Process ostensbly consoldates the European area of hgher educaton... takng full respect of the dversty of cultures, languages, natonal educaton systems and of Unversty autonomy. Many nsttutons have lsts of ngredents (Dploma Supplements n Europe or Hgher Educaton Graduaton Statements n Australa). They detal dplomas to mprove nternatonal transparency and to facltate the academc and professonal recognton of qualfcatons (dplomas, degrees, certfcates etc.). As wth mortadella, countres outsde of 'the Bologna Process realm' are strugglng to be Bologna compatble. Wth the Bologna process degrees can be defned and taught as easly as, well, a bologna sandwch. But, durng the Leden conference of 2014, nternatonalzed unverstes realzed that someone had forgotten the mustard! They restated: the culture part; the Humantes and Socal Scences (the mustard dammt!) was stll mportant. The presdent and vce-chancellor of McMaster Unversty notes that to make ths nternatonal statement presupposes not only that somethng sgnfcant s at stake, but also that there exsts an audence n need of 12 Post Graduate Certfcaton: Socology of Underemployment - Certfcate of Knowledge(s) (SU-CKs) Explore the theory and practce of today s contractual socety. Taught by multple short term lecturers from varous dscplnes, ths course offers nsght nto the developng world of fleetng knowledge(s) acquston for whmscally redefned workplace ntatves. Though reducng elaton for academc accomplshment s suggested, canddates wll stll be able to clam that they reman calm and measured n challengng stuatons. Start date: Shortly before convocaton Tuton: BYO Coffee E.I. Elgble.: Yes 13
Sports In an unexpected upset, bell hooks defeated regnng champon Paulo Frere n the recent Pedagogathalon. Complete results below. Just for fun Why can t anarchsts ever get nto PhD programs? Because they don t have any masters. Dd you know Roland Barthes was klled when he walked nto oncomng traffc? Guess he ddn t see the sgn. Plan C Commttee are Emma, Laura, Stephen, and Jon, grad students at Memoral Unversty. Ther collectve experence encompasses the pessmsm of the ntellect and the optmsm of the wll. 14