Thread by @TheTattooedProf

OK, so this is an interesting and I think important pushback against a dominant narrative: chronicle.com/interactives/g…
BUT... (mini thread)

1. The author lays out the dominant, negative characterization of higher ed that he seeks to challenge:

2. Now here's where his argument goes in rebuttal:

3. But the rebuttal doesn't actually address the critics. Just because productivity is up, research $ are up, enrollments and diversity are up, DOES NOT MEAN that higher ed isn't plagued with neoliberal values, that there are no hierarchies, that there's no caste system.

4. I want us to push back against the higher-ed-should-be-dead narrative as much as anyone. I believe in the essential nature of hope, and in owning the vast amount of good we do. I do not believe, though, in a Pollyanna approach that skips right by the very real problems.

5. telling us we're in a "golden age" for higher ed, while not addressing the very real structural inequalities that affect both students and most faculty (75% of credit hours across the US are taught by contingent faculty, after all), is an opiate, not a call to arms.

6. In many ways, higher ed HAS gotten better. But in case you haven't noticed, the last 20-30 years have seen a monstrous backlash against many of the specific aspects of this improvement, and pointing towards higher enrollments and research funding won't make that go away.

7. We need a counternarrative that upholds the value and accomplishments of higher education, but also honestly reckons with the work we still have to do and does not elide the voices of those who are calling for that work to be done. This piece isn't it, and that's unfortunate.

8. tl;dr--even if good things happen in structures of inequity, it doesn't mean the structures themselves aren't problematic, or that they aren't preventing even more good things from happening. Also: higher ed is a diversity of institutions, not just R1s and elites.

9. Anyway, there's a lot to think about here, and it's certainly a good and thoughtful piece. I just wish it had been more. Maybe that's unfair on my part, but I'm also coming from a context that's all too often left out of the portraits of higher education.