See today's Times op ed on Blooms Day, (June 16 from Joyce's Ulysses) - The ‘Learning Knights’ of Bell Telephone - where corporate leaders felt they needed people with liberal arts education:
"The sociologist E. Digby Baltzell explained the Bell leaders’ concerns in an article published in Harper’s magazine in 1955: “A well-trained man knows how to answer questions, they reasoned; an educated man knows what questions are worth asking.” Bell, then one of the largest industrial concerns in the country, needed more employees capable of guiding the company rather than simply following instructions or responding to obvious crises."
"The capstone of the program, and its most controversial element, came in eight three-hour seminars devoted to “Ulysses.” The novel, published in 1922, had been banned as obscene in the United States until 1933 and its reputation for difficulty outlived the ban. The Bell students “found it a challenging, and often exasperating, experience,...
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/16/opinion/16davis.html?ref=opinion
Afterburn
I never read Usylsses. The only time I read Joyce was in freshman English - and barely survived.
8 comments:
Not to be pedantic, but it's Bloomsday.
Additionally, and on a more cynical note, why on earth would upper management want people to know "what questions are worth asking?" Just shut up and do your job (if you have one).
After all, as a higher form of life, management knows and controls all. They point, we shlep, and ours is not to reason why.
The fruits of this new public education system will make 1984 look like child's play. Complete control of the minds and hearts of the young, administered by robots producing widgets,while the masters profit from selling them slavery beyond all measure.
Masters like Meryl Tisch's brother who heads K12 the education services firm will profit betyond all measure. Companies like Kaplan (owners of the Washington Post) using big media to brainwash the public against us-will profit endlessly after this final stake is driven through our heart.
Meryl Tisch-Mayor Scumberg's next door neighbor on the upper east Side...a small cabal of corporatists who are destroying the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of honest,hard working,people nationwide.
Let's not look at these people from a teacher centric point of view. They are destroying the educational possibilities of millions of kids while taking decision making out of the hands of parents - even though they use their phony choice campaigns to disguise it.
From ANY lens you view them from, it's ALL about THEIR self interests, sourced from greed, and power.
The results are profound throughout the nation.
Listen to the speeches from the two union leaders yesterday from NYFD and NYPD. Listen to the ferocity of their delivery. When was the last time the UFT spoke on our behalf with fire and conviction?
The revolution must first happen with them - they must be removed, by any means necessary.
No. The revolution must happen way below them. Build an organization from the grassroots up and stop focusing on them. There is no removal with power rising against them from the schools.
When I mentioned 1984,, I was not being teacher centered. This is the subjugation of free though throughout the nation, since very few hands and minds will be providing the intellectual content to millions of people.
Agree. Good point. You should do some elaboration on this idea.
And you're right about removing them from the school level.
They own the schools like The Mob owns the docks in On The Waterfront...
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