My posts, “.com v .org” and the follow up “Is the business of American Business?” have stimulated an interesting and important conversation. The complexities have been revealed, providing a basis for serious discussion which should inform decision making and political action.
Elle recognizes that applying the bottom line to the point that basic humanities majors are eliminated is a problem. She realizes that there is a cultural value, the value of the university, that has an independent significance beyond the logic of the market, and, I would add, beyond the significance the university has for the state. The modern university, with a definitive liberal arts tradition, shouldn’t be subjected directly to the logic of the bottom line.
Elle and I are in agreement with the great 20th century conservative philosopher, Michael Oakeshott, who, in his The Voice of Liberal Learning points out, “Education in its most general significance may be recognized as a specific transaction which may go on between generations of human beings in which newcomers to the scene are initiated into the world they are to inhabit.” He goes on to explain that a liberal education involves “the invitation to disentangle oneself, for a time, from the urgencies of the here and now and to listen to the conversation in which human beings forever seek to understand themselves.”
But Elle and I disagree about the application of this conservative reasoning to the appointment of Cathy Black as Chancellor of the New York City public schools. While I have serious doubts, Elle thinks that Black’s excellence in the arts of administration should be decisive. As a student of Oakeshott in this regard, I am not persuaded. Scott’s particular concerns about Black, revealing an acquiescence to questionable business practices, are disturbing and have implications. The competing ethos and imperatives of business and politics, on the one hand, and education, on the other, undermine the case for the Black appointment. I think this is an instance where the saying “there is a time and a place for everything” suggests that certain people should find their appropriate place.
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