{"id":167,"date":"2018-05-18T15:06:23","date_gmt":"2018-05-18T19:06:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/cheb\/?p=167"},"modified":"2018-05-18T15:06:23","modified_gmt":"2018-05-18T19:06:23","slug":"knowledge-for-sale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.shu.edu\/cheb\/2018\/05\/18\/knowledge-for-sale\/","title":{"rendered":"Knowledge for Sale"},"content":{"rendered":"

Busch, L. (2017).\u00a0Knowledge for sale: The neoliberal takeover of higher education<\/em>. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.<\/p>\n

\"\"This timely volume critiques the effect of relying on market forces, the main tenant of Neoliberalism, on higher education.\u00a0 None of these factors are new, but Busch brings them together under the mantra of \u201cneoliberalism\u201d and argues that collectively they represent a crisis for both higher education and society.\u00a0Busch sees Neoliberalism as \u201ca mirror image of Marxism\u201d in constraining freedom.\u00a0 While this a purely secular work, there are interesting echoes of Newman, Lonergan and other Catholic writers in Busch\u2019s insistence on the need for \u201clearning communities\u201d and higher education as a social good.<\/p>\n

Among the major negative effects of neoliberalism are growing numbers, power and salaries of administrators with a mandate to achieve \u201ccost effectiveness\u201d and an associated explosion of \u201cperformance-related\u201d reporting and standardized testing, a move from public funding for higher education to a \u201cstudent-as-consumer pays\u201d model (with resultant student debt and a need for student to work while attending college), a marketing approach to higher education (including money spent on advertising campaigns), \u00a0a view of higher education as solely a means to increase future earnings, a competitive, divisive emphasis on faculty research and publication rather than teaching, and academic partnerships with corporations. The chapter on \u201cresearch\u201d gives a well-reasoned and extremely negative critique of \u201ccounting citations\u201d and relying on impact factors in terms of faculty advancement which warrants serious reading.<\/p>\n

Perhaps the most important, although not fully developed, sections of the book are those that suggest solutions.\u00a0 Busch cautions that these will not be universal:\u00a0 \u201cwhat may work in one setting may well fail in another\u201d (p. 109).\u00a0 His overarching suggestion is to \u201cresist neoliberal policies and practices\u201d by documenting that they do not work.\u00a0 \u201cWe need to show how, instead of promoting liberty \u2026 neoliberal reforms promote corporate dominance even as they undermine democratic governance\u201d (p. 110). \u00a0We need to show that reliance on market factors maximizes profits, not education. \u00a0He argues that the current system breeds \u201cinsecurity\u201d in terms of student debt (reducing educational and career choices) and faculty effectiveness (especially the reliance on adjuncts and term faculty, and the constant need to \u201cjustify\u201d one\u2019s courses and work).\u00a0\u00a0 We need to create \u201cfreedom from want\u201d so that<\/p>\n

\u201c[Students] can pursue higher education, develop their capacities individually and collectively to the fullest, and overcome the limitations imposed by poverty and want.\u00a0\u00a0 Moreover, we need to do this in a manner that that doing so is not merely an individual<\/em> good, but a social<\/em> good\u201d (p. 113).<\/p>\n

Concrete suggestions include<\/p>\n