Kamp

l H E BAKER INTERVIEW wanted to talk to the resident about the fut- re of UPEI. The recent ears have shown consid— rable declines in the nrollment at this univ- rsity: the TREND looks ike.it will continue. tow does Ron Baker View

his trend? , -nerally, I got the im-.

Yes", he stated, "enroll- ent is down, it will con- inue to go down for maybe ne or‘two years - then I*

tself." "Why should you xpect this, I can see a uch more fundamental vent happening than a hort-run trend: maybe it s the Whole philosophy nd structure of our ed-

It is obvious from "the

our president thinks in.

istics that seem well founded, but I thought we ere over the days of"THE SURVEY". Apparently Baker does not accept this/not- ion.

More and more people,es< pecially radical educat- ors. are realizing the fundamental perversion of our so-called liberal ed- ucational system. Can stu dents.who are seeking knowledge (-a‘point of much debate) be put in a market situation where‘ degrees are purchased for the price of twenty or so courses and still feel ‘ thatvthe whole thing is not a farce? To me this i the primary problem the'

"Photo by Jim Crombie"

"5 . Koncern

ression he was optimistic.

xpect the trend to reverse

ucational system that is responsible for the de— cline in enrollment." I returned. Baker then went on to show me a report of Statistics Canada which, according to him, effect— ively showed that my as- sertion, of problems with the educational sy- stem, AS NOT BEING quite correct. The report was

.based on a survey sent

out to what is known as \ "STOP-OUTS " . _( Stop-outs are students who were in the process of obtaining a degree or diploma but decided to drop-out of university). The survey

--virtually\searched out

every possible complaint a "STOP-OUT" would have. The most consistant com-

he Baker Interview Revisited

ing. It is an institution

Baker interview" the tenns which shows most dramatic-

ally the contradictions

Iis prpof of a good future that exist in our "west- for UPEI is based on stat-‘ern" and, more SpeC1flC-

ally, "Island" society. It has led one noted I philosopher: of education to state (Ivan Illich):

"Educators are the best' salesmen the world has ever known. They make themselves indispensable by making society ad- dicted to the myth of the necessity of education,

'they arefithe new

"Messiah". ,

This idea of educators as salesmen I like. Like L all other commodities (for sale, knowledge he- comes "consumable", "portable" etc: It comes in packages called

S "degrees".s V ~ . ' But these contradictions

eduoationalsystem is fac-. are not existing just in

THE CADRE,

plaint that was recorded on the survey, which was sent out to some 90,000 people of which 80% res— ponded (Unbelievable!) was the problem of job security. Students are sonvinCed, and quite correctly, that a degree does not guarantee a job zof some decency. It became apparent, from the report that Baker produced, that the prob- ‘lem is not quite educat- ional: it is, in fact, beyond educational lim— its, the problem is ec- onomics (as if we didn't know). The equation of

by ioel hanse‘n

professional or degree holding person. The study showed that five years from now there will be a definite short— 'age of engineers,chemists biologists, economists and mathematicians. The study further showed that it will be necessary to import from other cont— inents the professionals needed to keep industry going (assuming that a major depression is not in the offing). However, there will be a large' §urplus of people hold- ing degrees in English & History which will re— duce the job opportun- ities for them. As far as language majors are

declining trends equallingconcerned (eSPeCially declining job opportunit— FrenCh majorS) the civil

ies stands as the main

reason for the "stop out".

It is on this point that

service will absorb any surplus of these people. From this study", the

the Preéident found reasor.PreSident d901ared: "I

for optimism. He informed me that just recently he has been talking with a - president of a large multi—national corporat— ion (all bow down) who told him of a study,

done attempting to pre— dict the future of the

university: they exist from kindergarten onward. The idea of a teacher bestowing the great wisdom, at aiprice, of »the world through the assylum of the class- room is, in itself, perverse! How is it that know1edge of reality is gained by compulsory . locking up of children in rooms with so-called "teachers"? It is a blatant contradiction. Teachers generally are

those who were not ex— \

perts.in the field of

their endeavor: they us- ually are plain intel— lectual and emotional ’incompetents. Knowledge about reality is gained in reality, in the wor- ld, not in the sacred "classroom". Psychologists are high- ly aware that students

think it is safe to sa that if the job security vfactor is the dominant reason for declining en— rollments then a change in trend is near; the job market will stabilize

(all hail), "the students Will return!"

gain most of their know— ledge outside the class- room. The classroom situation is regarded by most students as a "bore". It is because of this fact that most ’Students, who drop—out, drop out! Not because

a big junior executive position in General Motors does not recruit them but because stu— dents are starting to realise the farce of education, of education that can be bought, of education that is boring.

Watch out Ron, ABRAXES is coming.