Rachel Ibrahim
Week 10
Section A03
I think this week’s theme of the future of higher education is a good one to end on because it provides the opportunity to take everything we have learned and think about how it can apply to fighting for the future of higher education. This reading, as the Introduction to Fight the Tower, also ties back to the first week about the struggles Asian American women face in academia. Coming back to this topic of the injustices within the university brings a new light on the topic after everything we have covered. The first time reading about these things, I was a little shocked and almost skeptical about everything Professor Valverde was talking about, but after an entire course of diving deeper into race, discrimination and topics like the corporatization of the university I have come to care deeply about this topic. It is still hard to believe that professors like Valverde, Rosalie Tung and Wei Ming Dariotis, among the other stories told in ‘Fight the Tower’ face so many issues with tenure, and having equal opportunities, especially when the are just as qualified if not more than other professors who take their positions for granted. In addition to this week’s reading about the racial issues in academia, I think we all know that there are even more underlying problems within the university. If we want to see a change to this and all the other injustices we have discussed in class, it is important to fight for the future of not just higher education but everything we believe to be wrong in the world. Through knowledge, awareness, solidarity, and activism, we have seen many examples of how to make a change. Valverde’s story, though incredibly unfortunate, is an enlightening and empowering one that ends this class with hope and possibility.
Question:
What do you think the future of education would look like if we didn’t fight for it?
Citations:
Forum, W. E. (2013, February 14). The Future of Higher Education: Visual. Retrieved June 04, 2017, from https://www.flickr.com/photos/worldeconomicforum/8472709399
Valverde, C., & Dariotis, W. (2017). "The Time to Fight is Now": When Asian American Women in Academia Go Rogue. Retrieved June 4, 2017.
Heartfelt!
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