Love the Questions

University Education and Enlightenment by Ian Angus

What are universities good for? This question has generated intense debate, particularly since the culture wars and Allan Bloom’s The Closing of the American Mind. Where radicals once critiqued universities’ elitism, that argument has recently been turned on is head: many academic administrators and business leaders now see a university education as little more than job training for the information economy. Such pressures threaten universities’ ability to play the critical social role that justifies them.

The newest addition to our Semaphore Series is a provocative look at the central questions facing university education today. Drawing on decades of experience in the scholarly trenches, Ian Angus considers the future of academic freedom in an increasingly corporate university setting, the role of technology, interdisciplinary study, and the possibilities for critical enlightenment and solidarity.

Part of our Semaphore Series.

Subject Politics/Education/Philosophy
Published November 2009
Price $14.95 CDN
Pages 102 pp (Paper)
Dimensions 5″ × 7″ × 0.25″
ISBN-10 1-8940374-05
ISBN-13 978-1894037-40-2

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Reviews

  • Gerald Pillay, in The Times Higher Education writes:

    Administrators and politicians should read this book. I fear some of them may dismiss it as outdated idealism, but that would be a grave mistake. Angus concedes that some changes to the sector may be irreversible, but emphasises that we must seek to ensure that the university never loses its informing humanist tradition. It is easier said than done, but well worth struggling for.

About the Author

Ian Angus is professor of Humanities at Simon Fraser University. He has written or edited nine books on critical theory and political thought, including A Border Within: National Identity, Cultural Plurality, and Wilderness and Disfigurations: Discourse/Critique/Ethics. He lives in East Vancouver with his wife and daughter.

Visit Ian’s website

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