The central argument of this book posits that today's American university is dysfunctional or, perhaps, «Dysacademic.» This affective disorder is traced to the increasingly corporate and performative utilities of many contemporary institutions of higher education. Today's commodified and closed university doesn't transform the self as it once did, when the pedagogy of
Bildung emphasized the development of character and culture by teaching «the rules of thought.» Rather, the dysfunctional American university controls, constricts, and normalizes its subjects according to hyper-structured, accreditation-happy, economically driven disciplinary specialization, and
a priori established standards and outcomes that work to define and transform the effective utility of higher education. After deconstructing the discourse of Dysacademia, the author outlines his vision for a third curriculum, one wrought with complexity, self-organization, and critical, open spaces.
«Philosophical, autobiographical, historical, and political, Paul R. Geisler's intellectually engaging interdisciplinary analysis enables us to imagine, as he terms it, a 'cosmopolitically based 3rd curriculum' designed to 'deconstruct' and 'displace' conservative efforts at academic censorship through testing and accreditation. It is a book at the crossroads; be sure to meet him there!» (William F. Pinar, Canada Research Chair, University of British Columbia)
«In his dissatisfaction with 'the lived curriculum' of our current universities, Paul R. Geisler has imagined a new educational epistemology to replace our current entrapment in the needlessly restrictive coils of disciplinarity. Many of us who despair at the current state of undergraduate education in the universities have reacted to the same dilemma - how do we empower students to think without telling them what to think? - but few have come up with such an imaginative way of reconceptualizing the dilemma. Creative university malcontents need to read this book.» (Stanley N. Katz, Professor, Director, Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies, Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University)
«If you have not sold your mind to the corporate world yet and still believe the intellectual is first and foremost a scholar, then read this book. The university can be saved from the corroding nature of corporate-think, but intellectuals need to reclaim their primary responsibility to thought before the dyseased university can be challenged. Paul R. Geisler provides the evidence of how university performance standards are not standards at all, but a failed manoeuvre to control what students think and what professors teach.» (John A. Weaver, Georgia Southern University; Author of 'Rethinking Academic Politics in (re)unified Germany and the United States')
The Author: Paul R. Geisler is Assistant Professor and Director of Athletic Training Education at Ithaca College. He received a B.S. in sports medicine from Marietta College; an M.A. in exercise physiology from UNC-Chapel Hill; and an Ed.D. in curriculum studies from Georgia Southern University. Geisler has twenty years experience as a certified athletic trainer and ten years as a university/college educator.
Über den Autor
The Author: Paul R. Geisler is Assistant Professor and Director of Athletic Training Education at Ithaca College. He received a B.S. in sports medicine from Marietta College; an M.A. in exercise physiology from UNC-Chapel Hill; and an Ed.D. in curriculum studies from Georgia Southern University. Geisler has twenty years experience as a certified athletic trainer and ten years as a university/college educator.
Klappentext
The central argument of this book posits that today's American university is dysfunctional or, perhaps, «Dysacademic.» This affective disorder is traced to the increasingly corporate and performative utilities of many contemporary institutions of higher education. Today's commodified and closed university doesn't transform the self as it once did, when the pedagogy of Bildung emphasized the development of character and culture by teaching «the rules of thought.» Rather, the dysfunctional American university controls, constricts, and normalizes its subjects according to hyper-structured, accreditation-happy, economically driven disciplinary specialization, and a priori established standards and outcomes that work to define and transform the effective utility of higher education. After deconstructing the discourse of Dysacademia, the author outlines his vision for a third curriculum, one wrought with complexity, self-organization, and critical, open spaces.
