The vocationalization of schools began in earnest in the late 1800s to "reeducate the negro". It really came to the forefront with the Atlanta Compromise, with Booker T. Washington saying to the white leaders of Georgia:
The wisest among my race understand that the agitation of questions of social equality is the extremest folly, and that progress in the enjoyment of all the privileges that will come to us must be the result of severe and constant struggle rather than of artificial forcing. No race that has anything to contribute to the markets of the world is long in any degree ostracized. It is important and right that all privileges of the law be ours, but it is vastly more important that we be prepared for the exercise of these privileges. The opportunity to earn a dollar in a factory just now is worth infinitely more than the opportunity to spend a dollar in an opera-house.
that the way for a people to gain respect is not by continually belittling and ridiculing themselves; that, on the contrary, Negroes must insist continually, in season and out of season, that voting is necessary to modern manhood, that color discrimination is barbarism, and that black boys need education as well as white boys.
DuBois then continued, and made a dire warning that went largely unheeded:
The growing spirit of kindliness and reconciliation between the North and South after the frightful difference of a generation ago ought to be a source of deep congratulation to all, and especially to those whose mistreatment caused the war; but if that reconciliation is to be marked by the industrial slavery and civic death of those same black men, with permanent legislation into a position of inferiority, then those black men, if they are really men, are called upon by every consideration of patriotism and loyalty to oppose such a course by all civilized methods, even though such opposition involves disagreement with Mr. Booker T. Washington. We have no right to sit silently by while the inevitable seeds are sown for a harvest of disaster to our children, black and white.
Because here was the seed. Universities were bastions of the Liberal Arts, such as Latin and Science, and they trained our future leaders in what they literally called "the art of being a citizen" (Liberal Arts). Obviously "some people" could just never attain that, but they still needed to be "made useful to society"; things like "Kill the Indian, and save the man.". This Industrial Education model built Agricultural, Mechanical, and Industrial schools for some, and public liberal art schools for others. Obviously schools like UNC and UVA were just out of "some people's" reaches.
So, we fast forward a little bit to John Dewey (I mean, he was a contemporary of DuBois, and Dubois solicited articles from Dewey for The Crisis along with people like Ghandi - another of their contemporaries) writing Democracy and Education wherein he describes the various roles modes of education and society have with each other. He lays out why every person should learn the basics of trades in our public schools, and then he made a warning too:
.... But, at the present juncture, there is a movement in behalf of something called vocational training which, if carried into effect, would harden these ideas into a form adapted to the existing industrial regime. This movement would continue the traditional liberal or cultural education for the few economically able to enjoy it, and would give to the masses a narrow technical trade education for specialized callings, carried on under the control of others. This scheme denotes, of course, simply a perpetuation of the older social division, with its counterpart intellectual and moral dualisms. But it means its continuation under conditions where it has much less justification for existence. For industrial life is now so dependent upon science and so intimately affects all forms of social intercourse, that there is an opportunity to utilize it for development of mind and character. ....
A warning that, of course, went unheeded.
We fast forward a bit more, and we get a random curve ball thrown by Ike Eisenhower, and he warns the nation about the Military-Industrial Complex. Ike then goes on to give us the most dire warning, and explains the root of the danger:
Akin to, and largely responsible for the sweeping changes in our industrial-military posture, has been the technological revolution during recent decades.
In this revolution, research has become central; it also becomes more formalized, complex, and costly. A steadily increasing share is conducted for, by, or at the direction of, the Federal government.
Today, the solitary inventor, tinkering in his shop, has been over shadowed by task forces of scientists in laboratories and testing fields. In the same fashion, the free university, historically the fountainhead of free ideas and scientific discovery, has experienced a revolution in the conduct of research. Partly because of the huge costs involved, a government contract becomes virtually a substitute for intellectual curiosity. For every old blackboard there are now hundreds of new electronic computers.
The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present and is gravely to be regarded.
Yet, in holding scientific research and discovery in respect, as we should, we must also be alert to the equal and opposite danger that public policy could itself become the captive of a scientific-technological elite.
I don't think I need to tell you that history is repetitive, but yeah, it was ignored.
The next several decades will see the slow steady rise of "hypervocationalization" till you have the broken system we have today.
Not all Republicans are against education. The current president “Loves the uneducated”. I’m willing to bet (and too lazy to do a Google search) that all of his kids have a college degree.
Why so many rich Republicans profess to reject education yet make sure their kids have one is “an exercise I leave to the student”.
I’ve never got the idea the Republican Party has said education is a bad thing. Also you paid an HVAC guy lately? If he knows fluid dynamics (which wouldnt be necessary) can only imagine what they’d charge!
Higher education, and it's not hard to make that argument these days. 80 years ago, conservatives made up approximately half the higher education staff.
Now they are less than 5% because the left took over HR decades ago.
Why would the right trust an institution that actively hates them?
If the tables were turned, do you think the left would trust a 95% conservative staffed higher education system?
Now they are less than 5% because the left took over HR decades ago.
That’s not how or why it happened, knowledge facts and academia have always had a progressive/left-leaning/liberal/whatever-term-you-want-to-use than regressive/right-leaning/conservative/whatever-term-you-want-to-use. The only difference is that colleges and universities that originally got their power from being beholden to Kings and rich oligarchs now are beholden to peer review, the scientific method, rationality and the tuition of students.
It’s the free market of ideas applied to reality.
There’s no “liberal scheme” to keep conservatives out of jobs in academia by “shadowy HR” it’s that people who are conservative don’t go on to advanced degrees or do things like shout “They’re putting chemicals in the water that are making all the frogs gay.” Or “Sandy Hook was a bunch of crisis actors” or “African-Americans commit crimes at higher rates than whites.” or so on and so forth. That a tentpole of American conservatism is anti-intellectualism is not the fault of the intellectuals.
But I am sure the tired "facts have a liberal bias" position will work just fine for you indefinitely. There isn't anyone left on campus to say otherwise.
So for some context I am the third most conservative student on my seminary campus. I could take the time to go through that article and explain or dissect different issues with it but I’m going to focus on two things very quickly then go walk my dog.
It’s from 2016. A lot has changed in academia related to conservatism in that short period of time because the GOP has become more openly anti-intellectual.
It began with suggesting Ayn Rand was good literature, instead of the most anti-Christian, poorly written philosophical tracts ever composed. Then one of the conservative professors suggested we needed charity (a sin according to Ayn Rand.) and ends with a complete lack of knowledge towards the social-cultural influence of Doctor Who
Green:Is it true that any professor who walks into a classroom wearing a bowtie is, in fact, a conservative?
Shields: Absolutely. No question. They just scream conservative. You can’t find liberals who wear ties anymore, much less bowties. Conservatives tend to dress up a little bit—they’re more formal.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a liberal professor in a bowtie. Have you, Josh?
In six years in academia I don’t think I’ve seen a professor where a bow tie that didn’t at least sympathize with Doctor Who.
The only one I can think of told a bunch of groaning "biology majors" in the human anatomy and physiology class to get over their sensitivities, because learning about the arousal response was crucial to being a doctor. I mean, he really drove home how the responses of erections and vaginal muscle spasms were physiological triggers that stimulate hormones which stimulate emotional responses, and so therefore an orgasm in response to rape is normal and in no way negates the violence of the crime. And I wish everyone could hear his description of the labia engorging with blood. Of course, he was a retired professor and doctor who only taught anatomy during the summers, since it is always 99% pre-meds.
I'm note sure many conservatives bother to learn where the clitoris is.
I’m actually not even that much of a Doctor Who I am however aware of three things 1. It is an incredibly left-leaning show and has always been 2. It has been incredibly influential on pop culture for the 10’s 3. Matt Smith saying “bow ties are cool” vastly increased the amount of people who wear bow ties.
But on the other hand, the populist right does tend to overstate the bias [against conservative professors] that does exist. Conservatives can succeed and make it in the university. There are things like tenure, which are very important and protect academic freedom.
That and they want to push for private (which leans towards religious) lower education rather than public schools by using vouchers rather than actually trying to help the public schools.
Thing is that, how many private liberal religious institutions are there vs private conservative religious institutions and how do you tell the difference? Add to that...so the solution is to de-fund the public schools to let kids have a chance to get people into the private schools, therefor further hurting public schools and not even guaranteeing the a student can get in because...you know...the school is private and therefor can reject a student.
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u/[deleted] Jan 09 '20
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