ErinOconnor.org is a blog about higher education, literature and more
Title
Critical Mass
Description
One way or another, I've been an academic all my adult life. I went to college at Berkeley from 1986-1990, went straight to graduate school at the University of Michigan from 1990-1995, and from there went straight to a job teaching English at the University of Pennsylvania, where I have worked ever since. All those years of immersion--and particularly the years spent working in academe--convinced me that something is deeply wrong with higher education in the U.S.
Critical Mass is dedicated to commentary on the state of American academe. A blogchild of Cant Watch, which I wrote between March and October 2002, Critical Mass is a running chronicle of cant on American campuses, with the occasional relevant digression on books, ideas, and really anything I happen to be wondering about. The purpose of Critical Mass is to track moments of monumental malfeasance on campus--whether administrative, pedagogical, or scholarly; practical or ideological; individual or collective--and to reflect on what they mean for the future of education, intellect, free inquiry, and philosophical diversity in the U.S. It is my belief that awareness about the current ideological climate of American campuses needs to be raised, and it is my hope that Critical Mass will contribute in some way to the education of students, faculty, parents, and citizens--alerting them to patterns, explaining the logic (or illogic) behind them, equipping them with the means of identifying and resisting cant when it comes their way, and--ideally--stimulating thought, study, discussion, and debate.
Contact
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- Philadelphia PA
- United States 19104
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- +1.2158987341
