~by David Aiken~
 |
| Diogenes with his lantern |
It could be an interesting by-the-way kind of
reflection, just in passing, that the jobs, classes and programs that are cut or
reduced to reimburse the various come-due and past-due notices, seem to come from
the Liberal Arts & Sciences – e.g., theater, film, languages, general
anthropology, general sociology. And so the powers-that-be are still able to invite
us, over and over and over again, with a funereal shake of the head but a sigh
of relief, to yet greet the news that jobs and classes and programs in disciplines
related to science and technology, those that are obviously important because they are immediately useful and
productive, are protected when the bill collectors descend upon the flailing
institution. Softly muttered, the phrase, ‘silver lining in the dark cloud’ can
be heard twittering around and about.
And yet the common denominator, the thread linking all of our institutional
crises, does not seem to be due to any particular failing in the LAS teachers
or their model of LAS classes and programs, which are regularly sacrificed in
order to pay the bills for the whole faculty. Rather, it seems that Ariadne’s desperate
thread leads us inexorably back into a labyrinthine and very secretive black-hole
in the world of finances and management of institutional funds, funds initially
entrusted to the institution and replenished through the years, that LAS might
thrive in this place.
The institutional crises that have historically
undermined our imaginary LAS establishment, inevitably suggest that the
philosophizing fabulist needs to ‘Follow the money’.
Now, there are some fairly traditional paths to follow in narratively exploring,
in seeking out adequate translations for, these financial and managerial crises
that have been plaguing our imaginary LAS educational institution. Narrative
options allow authors to weave tales that are plausible for a viewing audience.
So, we will develop our little philosophical fable along the two traditional
and entirely predictable narrative lines of Tragedy and Comedy.
First, the tragic narrative of the Life & Times of
our LAS college, with perhaps a high tragycall twist. This would have to include
the wanton destruction of jobs, laying waste to real people and lives; the
dismantling of LAS classes and programs; and very tragically indeed, the
willful destruction, especially for students in quest of a vision for life, of
the possibilities associated with the enormous variety of life-visions that are
consistently born out of LAS models of education. Sadness, loss of livelihood,
loss of vision, depression, youthful potential hindered or wasted, expense
incurred, etc.—all the hallmarks of the tragic narrative, which leaves everyone
exhausted and completely depleted.
The high tragycall twist, of course, which would be the
totally depressing bombshell in this narrative, is if it were in fact to be demonstrable that the LAS ideas
our institution is trying to ‘sell’ are simply not saleable to the world, that there
really is no intellectual market for such LAS programs; and this could perhaps,
or not, also be aggravated by repeatedly inadequate marketing presentations of
the product to potential student-buyers and interested parent-investors.
But while this question of marketing competence could
be a minor plot twist to introduce perhaps at some point, it is not a realistic
narrative addition. Because it so happens that most thinking citizens are aware
that academic studies world-wide actually show that LAS programs are in fact
very desirable, demonstrated by indications that investment world-wide remains
consistent and robust in such educational programs. And it is because this
information is so painfully ubiquitous, much like the educational equivalent of
Melville’s Moby Dick—"the ubiquitous white whale” of American literature, that
a different data-driven narrative development suggests itself, one that,
instead of moving our fablelike drama along the tortuous paths of tragic
development, suggests that we should instead lend a comedic evolution to our
little philosophical moral tale
So, faithful to the more realistic goal of telling the happy tale, of lending
comedic twists and turns to the narrative of our imaginary LAS college: Our
philosophical fable remains centered around an LAS-place that is historically
plagued by crisis after crisis. And yet, adding confusion to frustration, thereby
creating narrative tension, it is also obvious to All & Sundry that these
institutional crises are not educational
in nature. Because those involved in this tale of our LAS community—students,
teachers, parents, et al, choose to be associated with us by commitment to
precisely the educational ideals of
LAS.
Rather, the stream of continual crises that beset our beleaguered
LAS place, seem always to be financial
and managerial crises. And because
this retelling of our fable is comedic—plot
oblige, we would be permitted to imagine that the educational community
would get to remain intact, this time and in this telling. And we could well imagine,
instead, a different destiny for those to whom the financial and the managerial
well-being of our imaginary LAS program have been long entrusted, the ‘guardians
of the funds’ in our imaginary narrative. For the long history of crises that
have continued to shake and define the institution, makes it more than obvious that
these ‘guardians’ have not been very faithful stewards of their charge. Or is it
just that they have been distracted by other interests, which could have kept
them from discharging well their managerial and fiduciary trust toward our
imaginary LAS college? (This could inspire another minor plot twist,
eventually… perhaps.)
In the outworking of this comedy about our LAS college,
then, it would be the turn of such as these to pay, with their jobs and their
livelihoods, the bill that is even now coming due. And in the high moment of comedic
realization, the viewer would discover that, for once, he is watching a dramatic
tale where teachers would no longer
have to pay with their lives and livelihoods for misdeeds of finance and management.
You’ve just got to love a Hollywood-style happy
ending!
The movies have long popularized the catch-phrase that acts as the title
of our little play, and which comes from the fact that plots almost always unfold
when the players ‘Follow the money’. How
very tedious it would have been to always hear from Hollywood: ‘Follow the LAS teacher’.
Further reading:
· https://nonimprimatur.blogspot.com/p/blog-page_4833.html (from 03 May
2019); but especially the TED-talk video-clip argument, with Eric Berridge, for
the marriage between LAS & STEM. This suggests a desirable outcome,
entirely different from a wholesale destruction of programs and lives: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2XPF6rQ6fs&fbclid=IwAR25yNzl5JsrQi-yC_mhKkvm3RJZe8aq8ImHX3Buvy78M2waKFO7mT2BxhI
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