Stephen Downes

Knowledge, Learning, Community
Excellent analysis by Richard Hall of the British government's White Paper on education. "What is clear from these analyses is the rule of money in higher education, with this White Paper standing as a marker for what will follow. This marker focuses upon for-profit-maximisation, competition, the removal of state subsidies for shared, public goods, individualisation of experience, and commodification of learning." The analysis was devastating enough to send me into a spiral of thinking about how to distinguish my own program, which is all about actually empowering learners, from the 'official program', which is all about commoditizing them. I will say, from my own perspective, the existing professoriate is of no help. You can't just defend the existing order. "This is not about resetting the clock. It is about taking action to recast and re-create something different in the public sphere. This is as much about what the University has become as what it might be." And I agree - I so agree - with this: "We need to focus on co-operation against the rule of money. In the face of the discipline of debt and the kettle, this is tough, but what is the alternative?"

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Stephen Downes Stephen Downes, Casselman, Canada
stephen@downes.ca

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Last Updated: Mar 29, 2024 07:16 a.m.

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