Roger et al,
I did publish a "Vision: The Idea of a University in the Present  
Age." Maybe it can be "useful" in our discussion - considering where  
we are in the world and times.
Harvey





On Oct 24, 2006, at 7:04 PM, Karl Rogers wrote:

> Mathew,
> There are three senses of "alternative" at play here.
> There is the sense of an alternative vision, there is the sense of  
> alternative institutional arrangement (structure), and there is the  
> sense of alternative content.
>
> I agree with you that the institutional arrangement of academia can  
> be changed without having an alternative, but I do not think that  
> it is possible to change academic without an alternative vision  
> because, without such a vision, we would have no idea about what we  
> would be changing it into or why we were trying to change it at  
> all, beyond a sense of dissatisfaction with its current content. I  
> think that one of the important tasks for the FOW is to develop  
> this alternative vision, which could then be used to transform the  
> institutional arrangement and content of the current state of  
> academia.
>
> Perhaps, the theme of the conference could be to discuss this  
> vision for a revolution in education. Which could then be developed  
> further in the journal.
>
> However, the initial task of the VU would not be that of providing  
> a vision but rather offer alternative content. The purpose of this  
> would be to attract web browsers to the site via the wide range of  
> courses, say on anarchism, zen buddhism, crop circle studies, or  
> whatever, we would offer and thereby draw people to the core FOW  
> courses, which would be on wisdom-inquiry. This would increase the  
> awareness of the need for a revolution in education and attract  
> people to Nick's ideas. Thus we would increase the awareness of the  
> limits and shallowness of mainstream education, as well as  
> disseminate interesting ideas and provide a broader education.
>
> As such, it would be complementary to the FOW, rather than the  
> central project, but could increase the FOW membership as well as  
> motivate students to join academics in transforming the vision,  
> structure, and content of university education.
>
> In my opinion, while an introductory book or written pamphlet would  
> be useful for introducing students to Nick's ideas and the call for  
> a revolution in academia, we need move beyond books and written  
> materials which interact on an individual basis.
>
> The FOW will only really attract large numbers of students --  
> especially radical students -- if it is participatory and based on  
> free-association. Yhe Internet is an invaluable resource for  
> including students in the FOW as participants, within which the  
> students can decide upon the terms of their participation. Consider  
> Wikkipaedia or Yahoo! Answers -- even though the content of these  
> sites are often questionable, to put it midly, the level of  
> participation is huge, largely because people can participate  
> freely and in their own terms. I think that something like the VU  
> would be very helpful in attracting and motivating serious  
> students, by providing them with some basis for developing their  
> own ideas about the vision for education, as well as an accessible  
> forum for their participation in its development. And should some  
> serious academics participate then the VU would become very  
> interesting indeed.
>
> Of course, by requiring membership and having some minimal level of  
> censorship in play before people could post courses, we would be  
> able to filter out offensive dross.
>
> So the idea of the VU, as an internet based resource, is to support  
> the larger project of the FOW, which would then be directed to  
> transforming the structure and content of bricks and mortar  
> universities. I did not mean to suggest the the VU would become an  
> alternative institutional arrangement to universities, but it would  
> be a way of involving large numbers of people in the ongoing  
> development of an alternative vision for education in general. I  
> see it as a "seed idea" from which a network could emerge that  
> could help the FOW grow and become influential as a confederated  
> free-association of members or a formal society should members  
> prefer that.
>
> As I have already said, the VU is just a suggestion for something  
> that would help the FOW grow. There would clearly need to be some  
> discussion about its starting conditions, if members wanted to  
> start it up, but as Tom has said, from a technological point of  
> view, it would be relatively straightforward and we could easily  
> provide a short and user-friendly technical guide to help people  
> get started.
>
> Karl.
> Send instant messages to your online friends http:// 
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