So a while ago I pointed out that Mariel Gruzsko, a friend of mine, was writing a blog about her experiences doing Anthropological work in Guatemala. Well, it’s taken off splendidly, and I seriously recommend you take a look. She updates often, thoroughly, and thoughtfully.
I’ve been doing some thinking on the role of a University. Our conception of what it should be is very different from what it is in reality, at Brandeis but also most everywhere else. Professor Michael Wesch, a Cultural Anthropologist at Kansas State University put it very nicely a while ago:
Some time ago we started taking our walls too seriously – not just the walls of our classrooms, but also the metaphorical walls that we have constructed around our “subjects,” “disciplines,” and “courses.” McLuhan’s statement about the bewildered child confronting “the education establishment where information is scarce but ordered and structured by fragmented, classified patterns, subjects, and schedules” still holds true in most classrooms today. The walls have become so prominent that they are even reflected in our language, so that today there is something called “the real world” which is foreign and set apart from our schools. When somebody asks a question that seems irrelevant to this real world, we say that it is “merely academic.”
Not surprisingly, our students struggle to find meaning and significance inside these walls. They tune out of class, and log on to Facebook.
A true University should embrace learning, not teaching. A true University should view knowledge as a journey, not a scarce parcel. A true University should build a culture of the possibly of discovery through discussion at all times of day and night.
Instead we fidget in our chairs for three hours a day, spend hours dumbly thumbing through books in the library, and spend the rest of our time in a whirlwind of activity, trying to keep up with mounting piles of work, but also plunging headfirst into the elaborate civil society we’ve created to bring meaning, purpose, wholesomeness to fill the emptiness in our lives that our classes carve out.
Mr. Reinharz, please tear down this wall.
Read more…
Do you think America needs better public transportation? Me too, but our local, state, and federal governments lack the vision to plan it and the political will to fund it. I’m not talking about maintaining current service levels during the recession, nor am I referring to a 10 or 20 percent increase in funding. I’m talking about investment in the system we need for our future. Currently the federal gas tax is 18.4 cents, a figure which hasn’t risen since 1993. Massachusetts adds an additional 41.9 cents. In Europe, taxes can amount to over 70% of the cost of fuel, but in America they make up only around 25% of the cost. Unless we pay more at the pump, we cannot reduce the collective miles we drive, nor can we afford bicycle lanes, trams, trolley buses, or trains.
In light of my representatives’ inaction, I have created my own gas tax. For every gallon of gasoline I buy, I will contribute 50 cents–nearly doubling the taxes I currently pay–to an organization that promotes more sustainable transportation options. I haven’t chosen the group yet, but I am thinking of Reconnecting America, the National Complete Streets Coalition, and the LivableStreets Alliance. I invite you to join me in my small effort towards creating a more sustainable and liveable America.
One thing I really like about Brandeis is that our mascot is named after Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. I’ve often claimed that we need to expand that tradition: before I graduate my goal is to get something named after Earl Warren, and hopefully work “Thurgood’s” in somewhere. It must happen!
Anyways, the good folk at Brandeis are shopping around this video: “Day in the Life of Ollie the Brandeis Student“.
According to them:
The purpose of the video is to get people to our website (to raise money for scholarship), and for them to tell their friends (who can later tell more friends) to view the website (aka viral marketing). So take a look, give me your feedback, and– if you are amused by what you see– please forward it to along.
True dat. Raising money for scholarships is important – and it’s gratifying to see Brandeis embracing the small dollar donor model – the biggest contribution was $500 and the lowest was $20. And a foundation will match 50% of any donation. So it’s a pretty sweet deal, check out the website for more info.
