 |
 |
I don't get it. Some of the recent postings about markets, privatization and universities seem to posit a "marketplace" that is alien, separate, and inhabited by some other tribe. Where is this place? How does one stand away from or above it? I would think that any person who wants to receive money for using his or her wits (e.g., a professor or teacher) is standing right in the the hubbub of a large market. To change the perspective: as a student, I like to have as much market information as I can get before I part with my time and my money on a course or programme or school. Am I going to learn what I want to learn? Might Ilearn more? Is the teacher the best I can get? Do employers respect credentials from this school? Could I learn this topic better on my own? By correspondence? Elsewhere? Another perspective: Isn't it a good idea for any intellectual worker, and perhaps especially teachers, to teach, research, listen and observe in as many markets and forums and businesses as possible? To people attending a university located on one floor of a commercial downtown highrise, or to a community reading circle, or to a student in Northern Ontario doing long distance learning, I think the notion that the "marketplace" and "business" are inimitable to universities (or to real learning) would sound pretty strange. We live in a marketplace, a place of perpetual exchange. I think it behooves us to better understand our place within it.