[jveld]

>> The fact that academia itself doesn't want to hire its own children suggest even further that academia needs to focus on vocational skills, so that academics can transfer out into a "post-academic" career.

Or perhaps it suggests that University administrators should stop treating their professorate as factories for research "products," who must continually publish to avoid being fired.

[tariqali34]

But "should" does not at all mean "will". We live in an imperfect world, and must deal with reality..or find some way to change that reality. Maybe the real solution is for us to create a "new academia" to compete against the "old academia".

[jveld]

I agree, thus my suggestion that we try and move towards apprenticeships. But I think we should avoid framing apprenticeships/bootcamps/whatever as a replacement for universities, and instead frame them as an alternative.

addendum: imagine how self-referential and masturbatory Turing's 1936 paper would have seemed from the perspective of the time, especially given that it was written during the depths of the depression.

I realize that it's a stretch to imagine university bureaucrats changing their ways. That's why I think that academics and educators should tenaciously promote the value of education for its own sake, rather than trying to attach the value of education to some economic measurement. It's the use of this kind of rhetoric by academics themselves that unsettles me - for bureaucrats it's simply par for the course.

[tariqali34]

I don't believe in "education for its own sake", though that may be because I still associate it with the "publish or perish"/mindless research attitude. I still like learning stuff for fun though, and I may eventually come around to supporting "education for its own sake", but I have to first believe it, and I cannot do so now. Practical knowledge is still better than theoretical knowledge.

I still think the solution lies outside "old" academia, though on a different track that can also run parallel to the "vocational" track of apprenticeships/bootcamps. Academics can simply publish their findings online, via comments, blogs, and open-access academic journals...and can also attempt to teach their ideas (also online). Even research grants could be replaced by Pateron and crowdfunding. A system where academics and educators slowly promote their ideas and gain followers/supporters is one that has the potential of being slightly more just than the old system.