Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Socratic Dialogue Part I


The Socratic dialogue Governor Mark Sanford promised us yesterday got off to a rocky start. Strip away the "red meat"-statements unavoidable in these times of rage and so close to an election the obvious disagreement on "which numbers to use" reveals - once again - that complex matters lend themselves to oversimplifications.
College construction projects including athletic facilities are not financed to a large degree using tuition dollars. A moratorium would handicap us significantly and kill construction jobs in South Carolina.
Why student lottery scholarship money that goes to parents should be "counted twice" on the income side of the universities is unreasonable but of course it inverts the slope of the curves you show with respect to college funding.

Senator Daniel Patrick Monihan put it best:

"Everyone is entitled to his own opinions, but not to his own facts."

Unfortunately but understandable rage and anger are fodder for political aspirations and do not lend themselves to "thinking outside the box" -

But important discussions are being started since many of us at universities have realized that the status quo is not sustainable.

http://chronicle.com/article/Why-Do-They-Hate-Us-/124608/

Monday, September 27, 2010

Socrates in South Carolina?


We are about to embark on an important debate in South Carolina - the "Governor's Summit on Higher Education" that will hopefully be in a "Socratic environment" as he put it:


"We think this summit could well provide the open and indeed Socratic environment needed to foster a frank debate about how best to address recent burdensome tuition hikes, as well as explore ways to better protect the taxpayer while keeping the dream of college within reach for hardworking South Carolina families." (quotes from Governor Sanford's website)

Let's remind ourselves that Socrates who was characterized by Plato as "the gadfly of the state (Athens)" and found guilty of corrupting the young minds of Athens and refusing to recognize the gods - was not necessarily a man of the political establishment in Athens.

A "Socratic environment" calls for an openess to debate and a willingness to engage in education, as well as the need to challenge and question 'conventional wisdom or myths'.



Let the debate begin: myths tend to shrink in the light of reason.

And lets keep Benjamin Franklin's stern warning in our mind: "The only thing more expensive than education is ignorance."