"We should look for speakers who can present real examples of where
Universities do NOT deliver wisdom ..."

Indeed!

Given the worsening financial-economic, political and social malaise
besetting the global economy, and the accompanying waste of 'scarce' natural
resources and human endeavour, the question of " ... Shouldn't Universities
be Creating a Better World?" is surely a 'no-brainer', IMHO.

Tragically, it is the unintended consequences of the division of labour or
'specialisation' within Western academe that has facilitated the series of
moral and political crises confronting the whole of humanity.  If we
accept, for the sake of the debate, that the role of the university was (or
ought to be) to provide a broad 'liberal arts' education (along the lines of 
the
earlier Western European universities that produced some of the 'greats' in
social, political and economic theory and practice - eg Adam Smith,
Max Weber, Durkheim, Marx and so on) ... with the view to
enabling/facilitating the development of  well-rounded, erudite and moral
citizen-leaders within the community ... then the 'products' of most
contemporary Western universities tend to be what one credible Australian
public intellectual has labeled as 'educated fools'.

The focus upon ever-narrowing aspects of the world around us and esoteric
'specialist ' languages to analyse and describe them has, in far too many
cases, left us bereft of an understanding of our inter-dependence and
inter-connectedness ... our humanity or 'spirituality', including our 
relationship
with other species in the broader universe we inhabit with them!

Yet perusal of the set curricula for both undergraduate and post-graduate
students in the 'hard' sciences (eg Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry,
Radio-Astronomy and so on) is likely to reveal an almost if not total
absence of subjects that focus upon the social world around us.  Efficacious
studies of enduring ontological/epistemological/methodological profundities
and the moral-ethical issues besetting the global community, if included in
said curriculae at all, tend to be 'optional'. Such is the case in those 
academic
'disciplines' that today tend to dominate politico-economic and social
relations around the globe. I refer in particular to those subjects or areas
of study and teaching which long ago adopted and tried to emulate the
success of the so-called 'hard' sciences, viz, today's self-styled
'management sciences' ... economics, psychology, financial accounting and
the like.  Utilising complex mathematical equasions, econometric models and
trendy catchphrases, these subjects and the university schools, faculties or
specialist business colleges in which they are instructed occupy a 
predominant
position not only within all Western university systems, but the broader 
global
community and political-economy in which they are embedded. Moreover, the
intellectual sophistry and political ideology handed down to generations of
business and public administration etc students by the "best and brighest" 
of their
forebears, is reinforced by conservative ideologues in privately funded,
right-wing 'think tanks' and a handfull of giant trans-national financial 
accounting
and business consulting firms. Highly influential and powerful 'executive' 
employees
of public and private institutions such as the OECD, World Bank and 
International
Monetery Fund help perpetuate the everyday politico-economic myths and
shibboleths used to keep countless millions of human beings in subservience 
to the
'needs' of The Economy. They assisted in their task by 'specialist' 
editorial and
journalistic employees of hegemonic media corporations that dominate the 
public
airwaves, private loungerooms and both public and private libraries.

In his thorough analysis of the historic transformation of American higher 
education
during the latter years of the nineteenth century and early twentieth 
century, Barrow
explicates the ways and means used by that country's richest and most 
powerful men
to 'manage' (control) - from afar - the appointment and dismissal of the 
most senior of
academic staff and the curriculae they employed to 'educate' America's 
scientific and
industrial middle class hirelings or managerial subordinates. [Clyde W. 
Barrow -
Universities and the Capitalist State: Corporate Liberalism and the 
Reconstruction
of American Higher Education, 1894-1928.  The University of Wisconsin Press 
1990]

The peoples of the United States AND the rest of the world today continue to 
witness,
if not experience, the dreadful adverse effects of that misanthropic or 
anti-social 'strategy'
employed by a cabal of 'self made men' (Rockefeller, Carnegie, Peabody and 
the like),
in order to enable their families to accumulate an endless quantity of 
surplus wealth or
'private Capital' ... AND the power and privilege that such great wealth 
commands!
One can observe a similar strategy having been employed over recent years to 
're-form'
the Australian university/higher education system.

But as Zinn observes in his 'Peoples History of the United States' and the 
public intellectual-
writer Gore Vidal quips, as he despairs for his beloved country, America is
"The United States of Amnesia".

The result or 'outcome' of all this is widespread or mass un- and 
under-employment,
poverty, homelessness, economic-financial crises, resource waste and 
depletion,
environmental degradation and war across not only the so-called Third World, 
but all
of the 'advanced' or 'civilised' Economies as well including, in particular, 
the United States.
Actual or real statistics of the abovementioned contradictions of the 
Capitalist mythology
are distorted or hidden from public view by collaborative, university 
trained, 'executive'
government officials and the dominant, privately owned and controlled media 
conglomerates.

I hope that my rant may be of interest and possible use to some on this 
list.

John Foster
Victoria, Australia


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "ian glendinning" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, June 20, 2008 6:42 AM
Subject: Re: Friends of Wisdom Conference


Hi Nick, good news .... some initial suggestions / observations

The title - maybe simplify it from
"Wisdom and the University: How Can Universities Best Help Us Create a
Better World?"
to
"Wisdom and the University: Shouldn't Universities be Creating a Better
World?"
(Leaving the "How?" implied and the answer "Yes" being a no-brainer -
something to make people stop when they see the title - why would
anyone ask that - a bit of marketing. Or did you see some specific
value in the Best / Better construction ?)

At the size of around 100 - don't believe it should be multi-threaded,
unless there is strong demand from attendees for distinct agendas. My
view is we need to have the Wisdom and Wisdom-Enquiry people in the
same room so that we evolve and cross-communicate understanding - I'm
still not clear myself that we can keep even these distinct.

I would hope we could get someone involved in the Chicago initiative
to report progress / projects.

I think we need to be clearer about objectives - the question in the
title is good, but we won't be coming out with direct answers after a
first conference - my guess is the real objective is to get the
question recognized as real and on the agenda in education, linked to
the "Wisdom" keyword in future. Get Wisdom on the map. That way we can
build activity, demand, support, funding going forward.

I'm no expert in academic conferences - but it seems right to ask
potential participants to submit synopses of potential papers - so
that the conference committee, can select relevant threads suited to
our agenda - and may suggest changes back to volunteers.

Would it be possible to have a "poster session" - so that those who
are really just plugging their pet theory / latest book have an
outlet, but not necessarily presentation air-time.

We should look for speakers who can present real examples of where
Universities do NOT deliver wisdom, and what the eco-downsides of that
are / have been - are there such people - Jeffrey Sachs style ? (Again
this is to get the significance of the question on people's agendas
rather than provide the answers necessarily.) What sort of budget
would we have to pay a keynote ?

I would certainly look to attend and participate in some way.
(Being from outside education - in business / industry - I personally
could maybe offer some contribution of what wisdom "is", rather than
what wise education policy is. Let me think about that.)

Regards
Ian Glendinning.



On 6/19/08, Nicholas Maxwell <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>
>
> Dear Friends of Wisdom,
>
>
>
>
>
>                                    At the mini-meeting of
> Friends of Wisdom in March of this year, it was agreed that I, Bruce Lloyd
> and Niall Scott should explore setting up a Friends of Wisdom Conference.
> It was agreed that I should see if this could be done at the London
> Institute of Education.
>
>
>
>
>
>                                    On Tuesday, 17 June, I
> met up with Professors David Watson and Ron Barnett about the possibility
> of
> holding the Friends of Wisdom Conference at the Institute of Education
> (London UK).  David Watson and Ron Barnett are Co-Directors of the "Centre
> for Higher Education Studies" at the Institute.  The proposed Conference
> would be hosted by the Centre.
>
>
>
>
>
>                                    We discussed various
> ideas.  Should we have keynote speakers?  How can we arrange things so
> that
> there is as much general discussion as possible, and people have as much
> chance as possible to meet and talk?  Do we split up into groups?  Do we
> have parallel sessions?  Might we invite those attending to contribute a
> 200
> word mini-article, before the Conference, saying what they would like the
> Conference to concentrate on, with the idea that we would gather these
> contributions up and send them to all those attending at least two weeks
> before the Conference begins?  Should we have sessions, each devoted to
> some
> specific problem or theme, but instead of a talk, have someone chairing a
> discussion session, perhaps giving no more than a 5 minute introductory
> talk?  What should we call the Conference?
>
>
>
>
>
>                                  After exploring ideas for
> about an hour, the three of us agreed that we should go ahead with the
> Conference.  It would be, I imagine, under the joint auspices of the
> Centre
> and Friends of Wisdom, but open to anyone.  It would be a two day event
> and
> will take place in May or June of 2009, at the Institute of Education,
> Bloomsbury, London, UK, and will have an upper limit of about 100 people.
> After various suggestions had been thrown around, the following possible
> title emerged: "Wisdom and the University: How Can Universities Best Help
> Us
> Create a Better World?".  When we come to advertize the Conference, there
> would be a brief rationale spelling out in a bit more detail what the
> Conference will be about.  It was suggested that we should perhaps have
> two
> or so keynote speakers.  There would be a registration fee, probably of
> the
> order of £125-135, which would include refreshments and a dinner.  The
> publicity would be aimed at a wide possible set of participants, including
> institutional leaders of universities and relevant others (eg, in Think
> Tanks and in policy making).
>
>
>
>
>
>                                   I explained that I would
> like to consult Friends of Wisdom about what shape the Conference should
> take.  David, Ron and I will only begin organizing the Conference in
> earnest
> at the beginning of September.  We have the Summer to discuss
> possibilities.
>
>
>
>
>
>                                  Do please send ideas and
> suggestions to the FoW emailing list - to the full list, rather than the
> discussion, "D" list (unless a discussion of some detailed matter gets
> going).  And it would be helpful if those who think they might want to
> attend the Conference could let me know (at [log in to unmask]),
> so
> we can have a provisional idea of how many Friends of Wisdom will want to
> attend.
>
>
>
>
>
>                                  At the Conference we might
> have a session devoted to Friends of Wisdom matters: the future of the
> organization, whether we should form ourselves into a Society, how we can
> increase our impact on the world, develop the pursuit of wisdom-inquiry,
> etc.
>
>
>
>
>
>                        Best wishes,
>
>
>
>
>
>                                 Nick Maxwell
> www.nick-maxwell.demon.co.uk
>
>


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