with my relationship to life. Yet at the core of it, is a sense of
self respect that allowed me to walk away from a couple of decent
incomes and destructive human relationships because of the culture of
war they brought with them. Somehow, expressing truth in the moment
was never enough, the war raged on. In retrospect, I can see that
what I was walking to when walking away was far better, but at the
time, the path was forming as my foot hit the exit doorway in the
walking away. I've never been comfortable in that scenario, but I can
now see it has payed off for me in the long run. It always starts
with listening to my gut.
An interesting time we live in, with our education, political and
financial systems no longer serving us. With eyes blurred from Rome
burning, it is hard to see what is coming for us. What I do know is
we are a resilient lot, and something will. The education system does
suck, my youngest is still in University and has always struggled with
the system. He will get his BA in May with honors, something he never
experienced in the younger grades. Somehow, he made it work out of a
desire for a good life.
Myself, I found a way to make it work while still doing my own thing
in the University, but after being told by the English Dept to find a
different course of study. I was lucky that there was a more creative
"alternative" available or I would probably have quit. I did see
(what seemed to me) the brightest teachers struggling with the
bureaucracy of their profession. But it seems to me we all struggle
with that, even my husband, the Chiropractor, who is in practice by
himself. If we live in community, we adapt to the rules, regs, norms,
laws, while expressing ourselves the best we can. Seems to me that
finding a lasting harmony there is the real trick, no matter the
details of it.
On Feb 1, 3:54 pm, archytas <nwte...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I had a sense of doing what seemed right as a cop Allan - even though
> most situations were difficult to see a right side in. The academy
> stinks as in the State of Denmark and I get to feel the only thing is
> to retreat to the margins. My working guess is that it's
> "meritocracy" that sucks.
>
> On Feb 1, 8:30 pm, Allan H <allanh1...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > not being obnoxious, The that comes to my mind is just what is your
> > understanding of morality and how it is applied in ones life.
> > Understanding morality on a personal level can be quite difficult,
> > especially if you want it to make sense.
> > Allan
>
> > On Wed, Feb 1, 2012 at 7:39 PM, archytas <nwte...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > I hope to spend the next 5 years "not teaching" - a difficult
> > > financial decision as this is my 'ready-to-hand' income. Some years
> > > back I tried to take and stick to a decision not to teach 'ideological
> > > rot' - broadly the mainstream of business and economic subjects. This
> > > might seem a fairly easy personal, moral decision; yet it isn't.
>
> > > The interesting issues don't concern the easy morality of doing what's
> > > right. One can find plenty of material, from Critical Theory through
> > > to deconstructive approaches to behaviour and critical psychology -
> > > and once, very critical management books like Peter Anthony's
> > > 'Foundation of Management' and sort programmes out on the basis of
> > > these. Thus one could teach material one might feel credible and
> > > stretching, broadly aimed at students learning critical reasoning. I
> > > do offer modules based around writers like David Graeber, Steve Keen
> > > and modern blogs at the moment.
>
> > > What muddies the waters is a combination of streamlining costs in HE
> > > and more or less the extirpation of syllabus control by academics,
> > > along with a massive dilution of student brain-power and the
> > > connection of student success with the numbers we pass. This
> > > situation makes moral judgement very difficult and academe has
> > > collapsed altogether as a moral place.
>
> > > Economics has long been taught as a science - an utter farce - and
> > > management theories are only fit for ridicule (excellence, kwality and
> > > anything with 'strategic' in it). The world works around power and
> > > rhetoric, and this is the only real content of such "theories".
>
> > > The madness that underlies all this is that we never address what the
> > > real issues might be. Accumulated wealth is clearly a problem for
> > > democracy as it inevitably means some will benefit by doing nothing
> > > while others work and that the wealth will be used to influence
> > > politics and the very ground of commercial competition. Yet with no
> > > consideration of this we leap into "theorising" in a system that
> > > applauds the creation of excess wealth in few hands as a 'good'.
>
> > > One can try to teach what one believes is true and in simple morality
> > > this is what one ought to do. The actual situation is much more
> > > complex. The jobs available in teaching (apart from a few little
> > > eddies I have occupied) are nearly all to do with teaching the rot,
> > > because this is the cheapest way universities can devise. The moral
> > > choice of not teaching rot changes to a choice not to teach (and get
> > > paid) - partly because your own students will be examined on the rot
> > > because you are teaching as part of a 'team' and all students are set
> > > the same questions as part of standardisation. If you don't teach the
> > > muck you put your students at a disadvantage.
>
> > > I see no answers to the moral conundrum - other than just to walk
> > > away, putting distance between oneself and the madness.
>
> > --
> > (
> > )
> > |_D Allan
>
> > Life is for moral, ethical and truthful living.
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