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Artur Grzesiak
Developing Works 2 – What does it Say? What does it Do?
On the Uses of a Liberal Education: I. As Lite Entertainment for Bored
College Students by Mark Edmundson
Pre-Write:
“Whether students are sorority/fraternity types, grunge aficionados, piercer/tatooers, black or
white, rich or middle class (alas, I teach almost no students from truly poop backgrounds, they
are, nearly all across the board, very, very self-contained.”
It doesn’t matter what a students background is or to which group of people a student
affiliates him or herself with because a great majority of students is still, nonetheless, very
similar. University students do not articulate or show emotion but rather go through the day in
an expressionless fashion.
This quote presents that argument that despite the ever-promoted diversity on university
campuses, the majority of students are still very similar in their behavior. The author
expresses his disappointment that the prevailing trend at universities is a lack of expression
and passion of the students, therefore the author insists that a greater ideology or culture must
be the reason behind this expressionless fashion. The repetition of “very” is used for effect
“That would be getting too loud, too brash. For the pervading view is the cool consumer
perspective, where passion and strong admiration are forbidden.”
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Students watch their actions and statements in order to make sure that what they do and say
isn’t too provocative. That is the standard set by the consumer ideology, not to be outside the
norm. As a result many means of powerful expression are repressed.
In this quote the author establishes the “consumer perspective” which he claims is the reason
behind the expressionless student body and the reason because of which certain topics and
ideas are not discussed at universities. He indicates that students disguise themselves in the
expressionless mass in order to be part of this perspective trend. This quote adds flesh and
weight to the argument by criticizing the fact that the consumer ideology limits expression
and the mixture of idea at universities.
“Granted, you might say, the kids come to school immersed in a consumer mentality – they’re
good Americans, after all – but then the university and the professors do everything in their
power to fight that dreary mind-set in the interest of higher ideals, right?”
Due to years of exposure the students that enter universities are already corrupted by the
consumer ideology and perspective, one which is prevailing throughout the todays American
society and culture. It is, thus, the role of the university and the professors to use education as
the means to help the students escape this dull ideology and replace it with passion for a
subject of choice.
Here the author communicates directly to the reader as he explains that it is not the fault of the
universities that the students that arrive are stuck in the consumer mentality. Consumer
mentality is a perspective that the students are exposed to prior to their entrance into higher
education. The author then presents the role of the universities and professors, that it is the job
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of these institutions of higher learning and academic figures to spark the fire of passion in
their students. Thus, this quote impacts the argument because it establishes and
simultaneously questions a counter force to the consumer mentality.
“From the start, the contemporary university’s relationship with students has a solicitous,
nearly servile tone… Pictures, testimonials, videocassettes, CD-ROMs (some bidden, some
not) arrive at the door from colleges across the country, all trying to capture the student and
his tuition cash.”
In the current educational system the universities have to sell themselves to the students and
therefore in the university to student relationship it is the student who has the upper hand.
Universities send numerous ads and use a variety of methods to advertise themselves to the
students in order to seize the best possible students body, considering both academic and
financial aspects.
In this quote the author examines the relationship between the universities and the students. It
affects the argument because the author states that the universities are partially responsible for
the consumer mentality of the students because they themselves have fallen to it. Thus
universities enforce the consumer perspective because they sell themselves to students, which
the author finds demeaning as it devaluates the idea of education.
“A sure result of the university’s widening elective leeway is to give students more power
over their teachers. Those who don’t like you can simply avoid you. If the clientele dislikes
you en masse, you can be left without students, period.”
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The currently ongoing process of the liberation of the universities in order to promote
themselves to students results in a shift of power from the professors to their students. As a
consequence it is the role of the teachers to not only provide students with education but also
entertainment otherwise the teacher will end up without any students.
Here the author describes the relationship between the professors and their students and the
shift of power from the first to the second. The author criticized the fact that professors are
becoming not only academic figure but also entertainers in order to attract students to their
classes. Thus this quote adds to the argument because it presents how the consumer mentality
has infiltrated the classrooms at universities and that the professors have to also sell
themselves and their fields of study to students.
“My students, alas, usually lack the confidence to acknowledge what would be their most
precious asset for learning: their ignorance.”
Most of the students at universities fail to recognize that a lack of predisposed bias, opinion or
knowledge is their biggest asset when they begin their higher education because they do not
want to exist at an institution of higher learning without a strong ideological core. They are, in
fact, blank pages onto which professors can spill their knowledge and passion for various
topics.
In this quote the author communicates that ignorance is a great asset in education because it is
the reason behind wonder and passion, both needed in the pursuit of higher education. This
quote presents the outcome of the consumer mentality, that students who are stuck in a trend
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of hiding their emotion and expression and not taking risks by avoiding any sort of
confrontation, are simply not confident enough accept and embrace ignorance.
“Yet this admirable impulse has expanded to the point where one is enjoined to speak well –
and only well – of women, blacks, gays, the disabled, in fact of virtually everyone.”
The phenomenon of political correctness, though a positive aspect of social interaction,
became so influential that any negative comment is looked down upon. One cannot adversely
remark on a variety of topics including gender, ethnicity and sexual orientation but instead
everyone lingers in a state of pleasant but shallow statements.
This quote has a cynical tone which presents the authors dismay about the fact that political
correctness that is promoted in universities has become so dominant that one cannot truly
express oneself about a variety of topics especially regarding people whose gender, ethnicity
and sexual orientation have in some manner been historically persecuted or underprivileged.
This quote adds to the argument by claiming that it is not only the consumer mentality that
limits expression in universities but also a dominant fragility of interaction in the fear of
offending someone.
“It’s not that a leftwing professor coup has taken over the university. It’s that at American
universities, leftliberal politics have collided with the ethos of consumerism. The consumer
ethos is winning.”
The liberal outlook of American universities is not the result of a dominance of leftwing
professors. At the moment the lack of enthusiasm resulting from the consumer ideology and
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passive and polite behavior caused by political correctness are the two established war-camps
at universities but it is the ethical appeal of consumerism that is prevailing.
This quote impacts the audience because it presents the point of view of the author to the
reader in a clear cut way by portraying two phenomena’s that are fighting for dominance at
university campuses. To the author this is a case of the better of the two evils, and in a tone of
remorse he states that it is the consumer mentality that at the moment is overpowering the
leftwing, liberal style of interaction at universities. This quote is in fact the argument that the
author builds throughout the paper and has a very definitive tone to it.
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Summary and Analysis:
In his piece As Lite Entertainment for Bored College Students Mark Edmundson
presents his observations regarding the phenomena that he describes as “consumer mentality”
and the dominance of political correctness and how the two limit student expression and
change the relationship of the student to the university. He states that “From the start, the
contemporary university’s relationship with students has a solicitous, nearly servile tone…
Pictures, testimonials, videocassettes, CD-ROMs (some bidden, some not) arrive at the door
from colleges across the country, all trying to capture the student and his tuition cash.”
In this quote the author examines the relationship between the universities and the students. It
affects his argument because the author states that the universities are partially responsible for
the consumer mentality of the students because they themselves have fallen to it. Thus
universities enforce the consumer perspective because they sell themselves to students, which
the author finds demeaning as it diminishes the moral value of education.
On the other hand Edmundson argues that the expansion of political correctness limits
expression and the flow of ideas at universities as only positive remarks are comfortable in
the society. He states “Yet this admirable impulse has expanded to the point where one is
enjoined to speak well – and only well – of women, blacks, gays, the disabled, in fact of
virtually everyone.” This quote has a cynical tone which presents the authors dismay about
the fact that political correctness that is promoted in universities has become so dominant that
one cannot truly express oneself about a variety of topics especially regarding people whose
gender, ethnicity and sexual orientation have in some manner been historically persecuted or
underprivileged. This quote adds to the argument by claiming that it is not only the consumer
mentality that limits expression in universities but also a dominant fragility of interaction in
the fear of offending someone.
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Edmundson’s argument regarding political correctness expands into his observation on
the student and professor relationship. Today professors no longer discuss very controversial
topics in fear of offending someone and thus dealing with the punishment for the alleged
offense. He states “A sure result of the university’s widening elective leeway is to give
students more power over their teachers. Those who don’t like you can simply avoid you. If
the clientele dislikes you en masse, you can be left without students, period.” Here the author
describes the relationship between the professors and their students and the shift of power
from the first to the second. The author criticized the fact that professors are becoming not
only academic figure but also entertainers in order to attract students to their classes. Thus this
quote adds to the argument because it presents how the consumer mentality has infiltrated the
classrooms at universities and that the professors have to also sell themselves and their fields
of study to students.