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Originally Posted by roachboy
i figured as much--the rest of the post was a series of arguments against this position. to start with, you wrongly assume that a university at the teaching level is like any other corporate gig. and i do not think you have thought out what the implications of abolishing tenure would be--the logic seems to start and stop with the above.
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I am genuinely interested in hearing why it is not like "any other corporate gig" as well as what you percieve the implications to be.
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for example, what makes you think that "the taxpayer" is in a position to hold academics to account for what amounts usually to highly specialized work in fields they know nothing about? would this not simply but people without the time or interest to track a field or series of fields in a position of making what amounts to arbitrary judgements about the content of this (for the most part) specialized production? and when would this "accountability" become operational? when something published offends the sensibilities of conservatives? if the latter, it is censorship, pure and simple--if the former, it is incoherent as an idea. not to mention as a policy.
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I think the taxpayer should be in this position the same way the taxpayer should always be in position to have some say where his/her money is being spent.
I usually try to refrain from bringing in other issues, but here the comparison seems apropos: How is this any different from you wanting to have a say in how the military might this country is exercised? Could I not as easily say that since you know nothing about the inner workings of diplomacy, the military and what is going on behind the scenes in the middle east that you shouldn't have any say in what happens there?
Fortunately, the reality is that you don't have to "know" everything to have a say. You have a political voice you use to elect representatives that argue on your behalf. So to finish the analogy, I don't feel that I need to know every detail of sociology, psychology, etc. to have say over what is taught or who teaches at my state universities so long as there is some system (what kind, I am not proposing here) in place where I
can have some say.
As in the political arena, this won't guarantee I get my way (any more than you have gotten your way with recent elections), but I believe it is the
right way if you truly support the voice of the people in governing themselves.