Higher Education: Creative Destruction?

Comment:  I came across this article Higher Education: Creative Destruction in 24Jun - 04July 2014 edition of 'The Economist'. I normally do not read The Economist for its outlook and truthfulness in reporting due to the publications strong bias. This article caught my eye after having written on Free-Market Capitalism.  After reading the article, I saw so much wrong with the fundamental logic purveyed, that I thought it may serve as a good example of the challenges facing U.S. Citizens. 

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Higher Education: Creative Destruction?

The article opens with a glowing affirmation of welfarism as the unequivocated source of higher education's entitlement successes offering to the middle class what had previously been only for the elite. The article continues on to describe the Free-Market principle of ' Creative Destruction ' as a force operating in the remaking of the university. The article cites a variety of statistics, newer technologies, and market forces as evidence of the remaking. Specifically, the article cites Massive Open Online Courses, MOOCs, as the defining technology that will remake universities and upset the tenure system.  The MOOCs are still early in their development and research is ongoing to resolve long standing remote or distance training issues.  However, in general the MOOC offers classes for free and for a fee the student can transfer the course to an accredited status. The operative strategy of the MOOC is to reach as many people as possible training them in the values, knowledge, and perspectives of the course. 

The concept of 'Creative Destruction' is a Free-Market principle. Creative destruction replaces old technology with newer technology in service of humanity.  The article cites the older university system being replaced with MOOCs and provides value and benefits of the transition. However, the greater operative mechanism behind the transition is not human creativity in the production of wealth in a free market system but instead creative politics, institutional theft, and demeaning values of political ideologues.

The education system has been wrought with political ideologues for over the past 100 years.  Welfarism is touted as the champion of education but is nothing short of institutional theft which is rooted in political investments vice the production of free-market wealth. These political actors in the education system have introduced mechanisms for change that are not natural and not typical of the Free-Market system.  One such mechanism is Outcome Based Education which has the purpose of educating students according to planned outcomes. The misleading stated purpose is a systemic plan to prepare all students to meet high standards. The real purpose behind the misleading premise is a delivery system for new beliefs, values, and ways of thinking. The Father of Outcome Based Education is professor Benjamin Bloom stated, "The purpose of education and the schools is to change the thoughts, feelings, and actions of students" (Kjos, 1995, pp. 11-13).  In 1956 Professor Benjamin Bloom published  Taxonomy of Educational Objectives in which he defined and classified learning behaviors into measurable categories that deny personality and the spirituality of a person stripping away individuality.  In doing so, Bloom changed the focus of education from a general education that benefited humanity to narrowly focused training based on behavioral psychologists' determination of what changes in thought, feelings, and actions are desirable and perhaps necessary for society as a whole. This led to Mastery Learning and Outcome Based Education (Coffman, 2012, p 203). 

The MOOC is a natural movement for political ideologues seeking globalization.  World-class standards seek new high standards for global challenges and a global economy. However, the new standards are low for literacy, comprehension, and factual learning but high standards for beliefs, attitudes, and group thinking to prepare human capital for the next century (Kjos, 1995, p. 11).   An upgraded version of Brave New Worldby Aldous Huxley is being implemented to include thinking skills based on feelings and experiences, not facts and reason (kjos, 1995, p. 29 ). The world has moved towards a high degree of confidence in unsupported personal beliefs; opinions are ok. For example, the method used for scholarly publication and citations by the American Psychological Association (APA) Publication Manual, is deliberately designed to permit adaptations of the truth. The citation methods that the APA uses are paraphrasing in order to permit pliable and malleable adaptations of other scholarly works.

Evidence of the progress towards globalization and adaptation of the educational system is no more evident than this remark, "I have learned may things… children who are educated to respect other cultures, races, and religions generally grow into tolerant adults who raise tolerant children – Reema Sanghvi, grade 11 (Cummins and Sayers, 1997, p. 61).”   This is a political ideological view, a sound byte that sounds good, and not a critical assessment nor realistic as among religions there are intolerant paradoxes. For example, Islam's Surah 112:1-4 is direct denial of Christianity's ultimate revelation and well known verse, John 3:16.  Islam is directly denying Christianity holistically.  In another example, Islam's ultimate revelation is the Sword of Islam, Surah 9:5, states to kill the infidel. Christianity's counter point is Matthew 26:52, for those who live by the sword shall die by the sword.  In order for the Reema Sanghvi's remark to be upheld, the Muslim and the Christian must surrender their belief's to the secular belief rendering those beliefs mute to the secular belief. The issue is a struggle for dominance being taught in the schools not cooperation and tolerance.  The secular view is intolerant of others. "Round pegs in square holes tend to have dangerous thoughts about the social system [the secular system being installed] and to infect others with their discontents," Aldous Huxley (Kjos, 1995, p. 157).  Comment:  I received several remarks expressing concerns about this paragraph. I must stress that the Judeo-Christian theology is not built around one-verse localized context. The Judeo-Christian theology is built around an integrated message system that weaves its message through layers of complexity upon complexity. The principle involves internal consistency and is called the Entire Counsel of God. Therefore, any serious study of the Judeo-Christian theology goes well beyond any one-verse citation and may offer surprising nuggets of knowledge in ways not apparent without study.

Interesting enough, the American Forefather Thomas Jefferson commented on March 23, 1801, "The Christian Religion, when divested of the rags in which they [the clergy] have enveloped it, and brought to the original purity and simplicity of its benevolent institutor, is a religion of all others most friendly to liberty, science, and the freest expansion of the human mind," (Federer, 1996). Jefferson was referring to education and learning when remarking, "freest expansion of the human mind". A socialistic tax supported secular education today has become the topic of this Economist article that attempts to herald free-market concepts that are behind the Christian worldview and the socialistic system is rejecting.  Side note: Christian Doctrine promotes the free-market capitalism centering on the Lesson of Talents and stewardship in support of God's Plan for each individual. People are to be free to pursue their God-given talents. The Bible does discuss social justice as it discusses other bad things like theft and bad government leaders.  The early church, during times of crisis, pooled resources but this was short lived.  The Bible does not ordain social justice as legitimate.

The goal of a proper higher education is not designed to shape social systems or advocacy of political views. Higher education in support of free-market capitalism is designed to develop creative and critical thinking skills as well as sound reasoning abilities. Utilizing these kinds of skills people are able to envision and bring to market new technologies in service to humanity.  Creative destruction is only one component that is operative in a free-market.  Another operative component is innovation through which entirely new markets are possible. The MOOC is possible only because of the innovation of the World Wide Web.  Unfortunately, the MOOC may become a success for the wrong reasons and wrong purposes. Instead of promoting skills in support of free market capitalism, the student may be trained to think in terms of a labor job performing tasks after tasks with no end in sight. 

In conclusion, the authors of the article either have a fundamental misunderstanding of free-market capitalism and the operative mechanism of Creative Destruction or the authors are deliberately trying to mislead readers as they present this blend of socialist and capitalist mechanisms.  Closer to the truth is that the authors may be simply a product of the educational system that trained them in process obfuscation.  Secular thought sounds good but lacks critical assessment skills illustrating a myopic one sided view.  With a proper education, people can make better choices and reject bad things because they can see beyond the spin.

References: 

American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication Manual. (6th ed.). American Psychological Society: Washington D.C.

Coffman, M. (2012). Plundered: how progressive ideology is destroying america. Environmental Perspectives, Inc: ME

Cummins, J. and Sayers, D. (1997). Brave new schools: challenging cultural illiteracy through global learning networks. St Martin Press. NY.

Economist, The (2014). The Economist: Higher Education, Creative Destruction. Vol 421 Nbr 8893. p. 11.

Federer, W. (1996). America's God and Country. Fame Publishing. ISBN: 1-880563-05-3.

Kjos, B. (1995). Brave new schools. Harvest House Publishers: OR. 

Greed is Eternal?

Comment: Over the years, I have noted an increasing movement in industry and social settings towards dysfunctional relationships and personality base character ethics. People no longer dialogue on important matters, value systems are moving towards a corporate morality, and companies are becoming politically centered. The movement has some eerie reflections on  horrors both real and fictional.  

Greed is Eternal?

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Most everyone is familiar with the term Gestapo which is short for the German term, Geheime Staatspolizei meaning Secret State Police. Most people in Nazi controlled territory lived in fear the Gestapo. Among the tactics of this organization was a subversive undercurrent in which unnamed persons reported other persons activities, nature, comments, and behaviors to the Gestapo who in turn investigated. As an outcome, people were reluctant to participant in the public sphere and democratic processes for fear of reprisals. In a similar manner, paranoid people, corporations, and governments in Western society utilize similar tactics of the Gestapo.  People no longer dialogue on important matters, debate, or undergo formal argumentation. When someone does not like something, they simply just report another person to HR, the boss, or provide tips to some other institutionalized system such as email tips, drop boxes, or hot lines. Then counter to the US Constitution and US Bill of Rights, one has to answer to some third party regarding the allegations without confronting the accuser. Often the reports are trumped up, unfounded, or partially based in a truth in response to an authority figure or a peer of whom someone finds issue with.  This erodes the status quo identity of the society as competitive identities leverage this method to advance self interest and selfish beliefs.

People within modern Western society often complain about political correctness and adherence to a social doctrine under which nearly every behavior and belief is tolerated to the chagrin of the status quo identity. If a society is to hold any identity then other identities are either not compatible, competitive, and/or hostile. There has to be boundary limits in order to maintain an identity. For example, if people are to be under a republic then socialistic, communistic, kingdoms, cast systems, and other identities are not compatible as well as any elements of those other identities. These different systems are known by their identity to which there are limitations before the identity erodes, becomes lost, or changes to one of the other identities. The issue goes deeper than just clashes of political systems and becomes much more complex when considering corporations that commingle personhood and governance.

In 1886, the case of Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad Company the United States Supreme court ruled a corporation is the same as a living breathing organism. From this ruling is the notion of corporate personhood in which an organization legally becomes human-like and is the basis for corporate law in the United States.  Complicating corporate personhood is the emergence of the corporate governance that fundamentally changes and commingles personhood with governance. A corporation assumes under corporate governance, at some level, governing responsibilities. Among these governing duties the corporation has a moral, ethical, and economic responsibility to the customer and employees.  This has exacerbated over the years to the point that corporate rights, principles, morals, ethics, etc… now supersede human rights, personal belief systems, and compromise the US founding. Corporate employee policy manuals, codes of ethics, and even national leases in apartment complexes are preventing people from participating in democratic processes and rights. These corporations are advancing beliefs, political ideologies, and other systems often not fully consistent with the domain of commerce for the company.  The post Values Leadership touches on this issue.

In the past, people were adherents to principally one of the three monotheistic theologies but following the Post-modernist movement corporations have assumed the role that religion once played. Scriptural text are being replaced by Employee Codes of Conduct and waivers of rights. People continue to participate in an array of personal beliefs that have little impact on their lives and are more or less an activity in private as they assume the Corporate Code of Ethics in all their dealings. In fact, many policy manuals prohibit some employee activities 7/24 or hold employees accountable 7/24 but pay the employee from 9 to 5. The company policy manuals define the person more than a sovereign deity or god. 

In 1809, Thomas Jefferson wrote in a letter to Larkin Smith, "The selfish spirit of commerce knows no country, and feels no passion or principle but that of gain.”

Perhaps Jefferson's concern was captured best by the fictional Star Trek characters, the Ferengi, who are known for their enterprising savvy to the point that they are con-artists. In the Star Trek Voyager episode “False Profits”, Figure 1, the enterprising Ferengi posed as gods and established their Code of Ethics based on the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition, a Bible of sorts, that have principles of economic vanity. Are humans on Earth to become like the Ferengi on Takar?  Will the next tyranny be corporate demi-gods in a socialized economy after capitalism dies? 

Figure 1: Star Trek Voyager - False Profits

Greed is Eternal

Approach Your Gods

We are sort of Gods

Rules of Acquisition

The Unwritten Rule

On planet Earth, humans must come to terms with purpose and meaning of their existence. Living by Rules of Acquisition or strong economic vanity, like the Ferengi, reduces life to an economic venture, mere pennies on the dollar.  Humans should reconsider the meaning of work as a component of their lives but not the defining doctrines in their life. Economic influence, wealth, is not available to all humans. Most humans live a modest life and have other focuses.

Interestingly, Jefferson saw commerce as a source of good and a fabric of a capitalist society that lead to the sense of national happiness found in the Declaration of Independence. However, Jefferson stopped short of social justice and viewed merchants as having no loyalty to a country or moral system (Mayer, 1994, pp. 137-138).  America is at juncture. The question is will America retain the capitalist views of the founding or become some sort of socialized economic center of influence? Will our gods become enterprising tycoons and their sense of ethics? Will your ethics, morals, and principles be determined by your paycheck? How much control will you give your employer over you?

References:

Federer, W. (1996). America's god and country: encyclopedia of quotations.  Fame Publishing: USA. 

Mayer, D. (1994). The constitutional thought of thomas jefferson. University Press of Virginia: USA. 

Menosky, J. & Brozak, G. (Writer) & Bole, C. (Director). (1996). Star trek voyager: false prophets season 3 episode 5. Paramount Television