Re: <nettime> Douglas Belkin, Caroline Porter: Corporate Cash Alters

[Brian Holmes <bhcontinentaldrift@gmail.com>]

On 04/13/2014 01:54 AM, Patrice Riemens wrote:

> More companies are entering partnerships with colleges to help design
> curricula, as state universities seek new revenue and industry tries
> to close a yawning skills gap.

Well, yeah, these are the trends that have been emerging since 2008. The 
corporations want people trained in exactly the kinds of technologies 
and business processes that they use, so they can hire and fire without 
having to invest in what they call "human capital." They also want 
prospective employees to be educated by Internet, so they can easily 
retrain, at their own expense, while in between jobs. To the extent the 
corporations retool universities to these ends, we are going to have a 
very different culture. Call it total neoliberalism.

Patrice, you once asked me why I bother paying attention to the 
university stuff when my own projects are all radical educational 
alternatives. Here's the reason why: If the corporate cash 
transformation is completed, there will be radically decreasing numbers 
of people who have any interest whatsoever in those radical alternatives.

For all those who believe that access to art, literature, critical 
philosophy and sociology, dissident science and liberation theology was 
poisoned by the university anyway, and that it will be much better if 
people just find it on their own, out of deeper human needs - well, we 
may get the chance to test your hypothesis!

onwards and upwards, Brian


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