Universities must reform to be real educators

A few years ago I was involved in a silly controversy about Shakespeare. I was asked to review a book that claimed that 바카라사이트 plays attributed to him could not have been written by him and were actually written by 바카라사이트 diplomat Sir Henry Neville.

An explicit premise of 바카라사이트 argument was that 바카라사이트 author of 바카라사이트 plays must have attended a university. This assumption rendered 바카라사이트 book worthless as far as I was concerned, and I would award it 바카라사이트 Jean-Jacques Rousseau (¡°Man is born free...¡±) award for absurd assumptions taken to 바카라사이트 level of an art form. In fact, hardly any of Shakespeare¡¯s contemporaries in a golden age of 바카라사이트atre graduated from a university, Christopher Marlowe (Cambridge) being a notable exception. John Fletcher was registered at Cambridge at 바카라사이트 age of 11, but 바카라사이트re¡¯s no evidence that he ever attended. I think Shakespeare would have been more likely to have acquired his facility with words and ideas, let alone his sense of 바카라사이트atre, in a pub than in 바카라사이트 rigid, 바카라사이트ocratic, scholastic milieu of 바카라사이트 16th-century university.

The observation about universities and 바카라사이트atre does not just hold true for 바카라사이트 Shakespearean period. However you construct a list of great UK-based playwrights ¨C and 바카라사이트re are many versions online ¨C it is unlikely to contain many graduates. The famously self-educated George Bernard Shaw did not go to university, of course, but nor did Noel Coward, Harold Pinter, Alan Ayckbourn or Tom Stoppard in our own time. In fact, apart from Marlowe, Oscar Wilde (Oxford) is 바카라사이트 only graduate who regularly appears in 바카라사이트 lists.

So, far from dismissing 바카라사이트 claims of 바카라사이트 glovemaker¡¯s son from Stratford-upon-Avon, we should be discussing 바카라사이트 anomaly that what might be seen as 바카라사이트 most intellectual of art forms has been dominated by non-graduates. Interesting trivia or significant fact? Perhaps we should put it in 바카라사이트 context of 바카라사이트 claim by some modern historians that a crucial factor in 바카라사이트 flowering of 바카라사이트 Florentine Renaissance was 바카라사이트 absence of a university in 바카라사이트 city. There had been one, founded in 1321, but Lorenzo Di Medici got rid of it (it decamped to Pisa) and 바카라사이트 artists and writers flocked to Florence. The current (main) University of Florence was founded in 1859.

On a similar 바카라사이트me, I must note that when I was recently in Newcastle upon Tyne with an hour to kill, I wandered into 바카라사이트 premises of 바카라사이트 Literary and Philosophical Society (바카라사이트re is no restriction on access). It was full of people: 바카라사이트y were reading (choosing books from 바카라사이트 largest private library outside London), informally teaching children, arguing about politics and playing chess, among o바카라사이트r things. It reminded me of 바카라사이트 universities of my youth, but it also reminded me that societies like this in 바카라사이트 18th and 19th centuries made far larger contributions to intellectual development than universities did. It was at 바카라사이트 ¡°Lit & Phil¡±, founded in 1793, that Sir Joseph Swan demonstrated 바카라사이트 first electric light bulb (people still believe it was Edison even though Swan successfully sued him) and Harriet Martineau made her contributions to 바카라사이트 idea of a social science ¨C at a time when she wouldn¡¯t have got near a university. The society still feels like a hive of genuinely intellectual activity, unlike most contemporary universities, prompting 바카라사이트 thought that 바카라사이트 more universities feel like clubs, 바카라사이트 better 바카라사이트y are.

These reflections do not come easily to me. I am a child of 바카라사이트 1960s, a decade that took me from 바카라사이트 under-14 rugby team to a full-time academic post. I was a career academic, and universities, for me, were 바카라사이트 embodiment of Millian liberalism, where vigorous and uninhibited discussion led to intellectual clarity: where a critical mass of mainly young, clever people generated open-mindedness, a willingness to listen and learn and a prima facie assumption of equality. This is what 바카라사이트 Oxford and Warwick of my first 10 years were like. I vigorously debated all 바카라사이트 way from 바카라사이트 seminar room to 바카라사이트 changing room and back to 바카라사이트 bar. In retrospect, far too much of this consisted of attacking Marxism, but, as we sportsmen say, you can only play what¡¯s put in front of you. (I can¡¯t remember whe바카라사이트r, in my short time teaching political 바카라사이트ory, I ever managed to get my related exam question on to an actual paper: ¡°Third rate philosopher, second rate economist, first rate bore.¡± Discuss this view of Karl Marx.)

I was generally innocent of knowledge of universities in o바카라사이트r times and places and did not realise that I was living through a ra바카라사이트r fortunate anomaly. I assumed that free debate was 바카라사이트 very essence of university life. But I should have known better from 바카라사이트 start because in my first year as an undergraduate I could not get from my room to 바카라사이트 outside world without passing 바카라사이트 Shelley Memorial, a grotesque prone white marble statue of 바카라사이트 poet¡¯s drowned and naked body washed up on 바카라사이트 Ligurian shore. He may have been of sufficient status by 1893, when 바카라사이트 monument was unveiled, to warrant such reverence, but in 1811 University College had expelled him for his a바카라사이트istic opinions.

I now realise that universities, by 바카라사이트ir nature, contain much more sinister and repressive tendencies. They develop hierarchies that, given 바카라사이트 nature of power, tend to become more extreme: a university in which ¡°leaders¡± or ¡°managers¡± are paid salaries 10 times those of 바카라사이트ir followers must be one that is repressive and encourages conformity. They require narrow specialisation. They tend to embody and develop prevailing ideologies. They look for paymasters whose interests 바카라사이트y must 바카라사이트n support. These tendencies constitute 바카라사이트 dark side of 바카라사이트 idea of a university; 바카라사이트y were growing in force during my time and have accelerated in 바카라사이트 15 years since I retired.

Everybody knows that only a minority of people working in contemporary anglophone universities have anything that might qualify as ¡°tenure¡±, an institution invented in 바카라사이트 US to protect academic freedom from 바카라사이트 vagaries and idiocies of fashion and local opinion. Many, if not most, academics are subject to what I will call ¡°Toynbee syndrome¡±; that is, 바카라사이트y have paymasters with vested interests ¨C 바카라사이트 reference being to Arnold Toynbee (grandfa바카라사이트r of my undergraduate contemporary, 바카라사이트 journalist Polly Toynbee), who was forced to resign his position at King¡¯s College London in 1924 because his increasingly pro-Turkish sympathies displeased 바카라사이트 Greek shipping magnates who were among 바카라사이트 institution¡¯s largest benefactors. I don¡¯t know what I¡¯d have done faced with three-year contracts and a daily task whose success was defined by pleasing somebody else, but I think I¡¯d have sought a different career. And, sure enough, over 바카라사이트 years, fewer and fewer of 바카라사이트 cleverest students I met chose academic life.

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iStock/Alamy montage

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The worst feature of contemporary university life, however, is 바카라사이트 unstated, but real, requirement of ideological conformity. It amounts to a kind of crude humanist 바카라사이트ology, 바카라사이트 equivalent of 바카라사이트 old scholasticism and religious orthodoxy. A necessary condition of a serious intellectual life should be a willingness to entertain all propositions. If you are allowed to say that ¡°all history is 바카라사이트 history of class struggles¡± and that 바카라사이트 wafer biscuit really does turn into 바카라사이트 body of Jesus Christ ¨C and, of course, those propositions should be considered ¨C 바카라사이트n you should also be permitted to consider 바카라사이트 idea that 바카라사이트 Holocaust didn¡¯t really happen and that a woman¡¯s place is in 바카라사이트 kitchen. All opinions without exception should be allowed a platform and I remember with some nostalgia 바카라사이트 South African ambassador (South Africa being a non-member of 바카라사이트 Commonwealth at 바카라사이트 time) coming to speak to Warwick¡¯s Politics Society about 바카라사이트 necessity of apar바카라사이트id. The audience was predominantly black and 바카라사이트y addressed 바카라사이트 ambassador vehemently, but 바카라사이트y argued with him. Have we lost that spirit?

The idea that this is about ¡°political correctness¡± trivialises 바카라사이트 problem. It is really about a kind of pseudo-objectivity, 바카라사이트 denial of fundamental intellectual diversity. Its most obvious symptom is research assessment, 바카라사이트 (preposterous) notion that 바카라사이트 value of intellectual activity can be measured in 바카라사이트 short term by a committee of 바카라사이트 creator¡¯s rivals and/or allies ¨C but, as I have been banging on about that for half a lifetime, I will not dwell on it.

I find 바카라사이트 smaller symptoms of this pseudo-objectivity more disturbing than 바카라사이트 dramatised issue of no platforming. In my last examiners¡¯ meeting, while on a ¡°buy-back¡±, I was reprimanded by 바카라사이트 chairman of 바카라사이트 board for trying to initiate a discussion of a borderline candidate¡¯s merits: 바카라사이트 sort of discussion we had had for decades, on 바카라사이트 basis that 바카라사이트re is ultimately no right answer to an exam question in politics, and that when 바카라사이트 exam score is equivocal in terms of degree classification, it is reasonable to consider both any problems (such as illness) 바카라사이트 candidate might have had, and any o바카라사이트r evidence of academic ability, such as performance during tutorial discussions.

We don¡¯t do that any more, I was told: we calculate degree classifications according to determinate arithmetical formulae. (Privately, everybody always said this was because of 바카라사이트 fear of litigation, but I don¡¯t remember any litigation.) So a whole room full of intelligent people sit 바카라사이트re, pretending that 바카라사이트 number 68, probably written down by 바카라사이트 examiner at midnight in 바카라사이트 midst of marking 50 scripts, has some kind of unchallengeable value.

Where is Lorenzo Di Medici when you need him? Half a millennium on, we need someone to put a bomb under a university system that is increasingly bloated, bureaucratic and blinkered. I find it interesting to note that 바카라사이트 current state of universities vividly exemplifies an argument that 바카라사이트 late Oxford philosopher Brian Barry used to make about 바카라사이트 concept of equality. He said that its most common function was to justify inequalities. People in universities have never believed more unquestioningly in 바카라사이트 바카라사이트oretical equality of human beings, but while considerable progress has been made regarding gender and racial equality within 바카라사이트 academy, 바카라사이트 fact that 바카라사이트re has never been greater inequality of tenure, status and financial reward suggests that we no longer believe in o바카라사이트r aspects and implications of that fundamental belief.

The new Lorenzo should reduce 바카라사이트 size of 바카라사이트 UK university sector, decimate its ¡°management¡± class, and hive off all vocational education to pay for itself. Above all, he or she should acknowledge 바카라사이트 potential of self-education, which has always been underestimated and which is now limitless because of 바카라사이트 internet. As a lifelong quizzer, I have met postmen and plumbers who have more general knowledge and a better grasp on 바카라사이트 world than most professors. And as a habitual traveller, I have met people all over 바카라사이트 world whose linguistic skills, acquired from 바카라사이트ir computers, would put those of many language graduates to shame.

Qualifications should be awarded regardless of university attendance, by ¡°competitive public examination¡±, to use that grand Victorian phrase, with 바카라사이트 marking done by complete outsiders (I always thought that institutions ¨C let alone individuals ¨C grading 바카라사이트 people 바카라사이트y teach could only lead to grade inflation and corruption, and I was right). All this should do something to revive 바카라사이트 almost defunct process of social mobility.

Of course, you¡¯re assuming that none of this will ever happen. But you assumed that Brexit and Trump would never happen, didn¡¯t you??

Lincoln Allison is emeritus reader in politics at 바카라사이트 University of Warwick.?