What's Wrong with University: And How to Make It Work for You Anyway

291 Pages·2007·1.21 MB·English

by  Jeff Rybak

wrong
what’s
university
with

wrong
what’s
university
with
and how to make it work for you anyway
jeff rybak
ECW Press
Copyright © Jeff Rybak, 2007
Published by ecw press
2120Queen Street East, Suite 200,Toronto, Ontario, Canada m4e 1e2
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form by any process—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording,
orotherwise—without the prior written permission of Jeff Rybak and ecw press.
library and archives of canada cataloguing in publication
Rybak, Jeff
What’s wrong with university: and how to make it work for you anyway / Jeff Rybak.
Includes bibliographical references.
isbn-13: 978-1-55022-776-5
isbn-10: 1-55022-776-9
1. College student orientation—Canada. 2. Education, Higher—Aims and
objectives—Canada. 3. Universities and colleges—Canada. i. Title.
lb2343.3.r92 2007 378.1'980971 c2006-906800-3
Interior and back cover illustrations: Evan Munday
Cover photo: A. Huber/U. Starke/Corbis
Author photo: Kevin Wong
Editor: Emily Schultz
Development and typesetting: David Caron
printed and bound in canada:Webcom
This book is set in Sabon, designed by Jan Tschichold in 1964.The chapter headings arein
Sackers Gothic, created by the Monotype Design Studio. The sub-headings are in Franklin
Gothic, designed by Morris Fuller Benton in 1902,and redrawn by Victor Caruso in 1980.
The book is printed on Legacy TB Natural, from 100%post-consumer-waste recycled pulp.
The publication of What’s Wrong With Universityhas been generously supported by
the Canada Council for the Arts which last year invested $20.1 million in writing and
publishing throughout Canada, by the Ontario Arts Council, by the Government of
Ontario through Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit, and the Government of
Canada through the Book Publishing IndustryDevelopment Program (bpidp).
distribution
canada:Jaguar Book Group, 100Armstrong Avenue,
Georgetown, Ontario,l7g 5s4
united states:IPG, 814North Franklin Street,
Chicago, Illinois 60610
First printing, 2007
TABLE OF CONTENTS
FUNCTIONS OF EDUCATION
introduction ix
chapter one
the functions of education
1
What Happens in a School
1
Why Go to University?
11
chapter two
the modern university
23
How Does It Happen?
23
How Does it Get Measured?
34
What Do You Get?
43
When Things Go Wrong
49
What Comes Next?
65
chapter three
getting more of what you want
75
What You Can’t Control
75
The Academic Student
79
The Vocational Student
95
The Certification Student
106
The Good Citizen
112
The Holding-Pen Student
126
chapter four
internal contradictions
135
Things That Don’t Make Sense
135
Grading
136
Too Cool for School
147
Competing Agendas and Politicization
154
Private or Public, Consumer or User?
160
Eroding Value and Graduating “Everyone”
169
Why Does It Hang Together?
177
chapter five
the big picture
183
Beyond the Personal
183
The Universality of University
184
The Scam
195
Further
205
chapter six
the big investment
211
Financial Pressure
211
Silencing Dissent
222
chapter seven
proposals for reform
231
AFew Modest Suggestions
231
Redefine “Of Age”
232
Separation of Functions
235
Break the Monopoly
240
Civil Service
244
chapter eight
grassroots change
247
Shaking Things Up
247
Unofficial Classes
248
Clubs and Organizations
251
Participating in Governance
257
Asking the Big Questions
261
acknowledgements 267
references 269