In "Education, Democracy, and the Life Worth
Living" (2012), an evaluation article, Mark Kingwell claims that higher
education is currently not obtained for the pursuit of knowledge, but the hopes
of landing a good paying job. Kingwell establishes and supports his thesis by
discussing how postgraduate degrees are sought in regards to a market
advantage, personal values are endangering the standard position, the word
"use" is defined by market reality, and there is a need to break the
association between education and work. Kingwell's purpose is to inform people
in general on the need to reevaluate what a college education is composed of in
order to repair the depression created by the market advantage seeking
students. The intended audiences are those individuals who define education as
relating to work and Kingwell establishes a relationship with the audience by
providing a background of philosophy which questions the very essence of market
reality.
Our group has found that we have different opinions on this topic. One group
member claims that a personal friend obtained both a degree in Philosophy and
English, yet this individual wants to be a stylist, which defines the market’s
influence on what a college student pursues. Another group member agrees and
blames the standard position for defining what a prosperous life encompasses.
However, we all agree that the standard position defines a prosperous life as
purchasing luxury cars, homes, toys, and clothes. This lifestyle is only
achieved by making a good amount of money and therefore forcing envy into the
minds of the general public and infusing them with the will to do whatever
makes the most money, so they too can live a luxurious life. We agree that the
standard position is negatively affecting students as they are the only ones
left with the choice of what they do with their collegiate career.
While college students are supposed
to choose what path to follow based on their career choices, market advantages,
the standard position, the definition of “use”, and the link of education and
work tend to affect a college student’s decision of where to direct their
collegiate career- that is towards their passion or towards an abundance of
money. Kingwell claims that postgraduate degrees are chosen based on market
advantage by asserting that “Students respond by assuming a consumer stance to
their own education, swapping tuition dollars not for the chance to interact
with other minds but to acquire a postgraduate market advantage.”Kingwell
further states that “When we don’t articulate the value of the humanities, we
end up with the predictable spin-off into denunciations of elitism and
counter-denunciations of its reverse-snobbery evil twin, anti-intellectualism.”
Kingwell goes on to define the word “use” by “Things of instrumental value
serve needs other their own, either some higher instrumental value or an
intrinsic value. And yet, in practice, “use” almost always comes down to money,
which is itself a perfect example of a lower instrumental value” (Kingwell). “The
market’s monopoly on reality reinforces the dominant value of competition and
selfishness, incidentally coverting education into a credential-race that can
(and rationally should) be gamed rather than enjoyed” suggesting the definition
of “use” is influenced by human competition and selfishness (Kingwell). Since “democracy
depends on a population of engaged, critical thinkers who have general humane
knowledge of history, politics, culture, economics, and science” then we, as
citizens, must break the bond between education and work and once we complete
that, “the value of the humanities and non-applied sciences” will become clear
(Kingwell). As long as money is the driving force behind collegiate careers,
there will continue to be a depression among graduating students and only a philosophical
perspective can relieve the current crisis at hand.
Works
Cited
Kingwell, Mark. “Education, Democracy, and the Life Worth Living” Connections. Southlake:
Fountainhead Press, 2013.
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