tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28080901.post7952450994825347539..comments2024-03-01T22:23:29.787+00:00Comments on Bullying of Academics in Higher Education: Academic TribalismUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28080901.post-20742149085582362662016-09-06T17:50:08.555+00:002016-09-06T17:50:08.555+00:00I used to think that academics were open-minded, h...I used to think that academics were open-minded, having access to so much knowledge and the resources by which to acquire it.<br /><br />Not any more. It seems that once one enters the ivory tower, a wall around the building is erected, preventing new ideas from entering, lest they contaminate what has come to be regarded as sacred and unchanging. (There are numerous examples of similar situations throughout history and present-day academe is just one more.)<br /><br />Defence and maintenance of that wall is paramount and, if anyone inside becomes infected with one of those new ideas, that person must be cast into the outer darkness (being figuratively heaved over the wall), converted back to the accepted orthodoxy or forced to recant. Again, one can think of instances like this in the past, so what academe is doing is nothing new.<br /><br />Along being isolated from the outside universe, one is constantly being indoctrinated with "right thinking". Dissent from the norm is rarely tolerated, never accepted, and often harshly dealt with.<br /><br />Rather than encouraging legitimate discussion and debate or the acquisition of new knowledge, academe rewards becoming intellectually root-bound.<br /><br />With that in mind, why would any rational thinking person ever want to be an academic?<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com