Date: Wed, 18 Dec 2002 19:08:54 +0000 From: "steve.devos" <steve.devos-AT-krokodile.co.uk> Subject: Re: EGS Diane Whilst I'm interested in the EGS as institution, your description of it as 'Star-Power' based system does give me pause - it's certainly not clear how this would be an improvement as an institution or model from the current state-based universities which I'm familiar with. Nor does it seem to function as a more democratic institution than say, for example, Cardiff University or Westminster... regards steve Diane Davis wrote: >Hey everyone. Most of the questions raised here about EGS would be >better addressed by Wolfgang Schiermacher. But I can say that the school >is not free, no. There are bills and faculty salaries to pay. However, >the cost of this program is not high, either--it is well under what a >degree will cost you at most state schools. I don't think this makes it >an elitist institution--on the contrary--but there is of course the >question of whether education *ought* to cost anything. I admit that I >believe that education and health care and food *ought* to be available >for all. If only. ... But you know, there are decisions to make when you >design a program like this one, and Lyotard and Schiermacher thought it >would rattle more institutional cages if this program actually offered a >legit degree, if it actually operated within the so-called system while >breaking as many of that system's rules as possible. And I can also say >that the student population is anything but WASPy. The program's first >group of Ph.D. grads just defended and graduated this past summer--there >were 4 or 5 of them, I believe, and I believe each of them save one (an >artist from Monterey, Mexico) was originally a student Wolfgang's at the >New School in NYC. Since that first group, however, the program >diversified like mad, and the students are from all over; it's the most >diverse group of folks I've ever worked with--both by ethnicity and >profession. Age, too, for that matter, and personal background. > >It is a rigorous school, however, that requires a fairly sophisticated >background in or aptitude for philosophical and theoretical thought, and >that of course is a delimiting factor in the admission process. One does >not come to EGS for a "quickie" degree b/c it requires a lot of >independent thought and quite a lot of personal motivation, etc. No >spoon-feeding here. Through the year, students complete online prep >together for each course (via a web listserv), reading together and >engaging the materials. So throughout the year, one is working, >thinking, becoming familiar with the general concepts and issues they'll >face in the intense summer seminars. > >Though each of the seminars is unique, depending on who's teaching it, >in general they are designed to *introduce* students to >philosophical/ethical/political/pedagogical issues, styles/modes of >thinking, etc., and to *open* spaces of thought--not to close any off or >to offer the last word on a question. The seminars, iow, are >jump-starters for students who are independent thinkers. Students can >then take the questions and run with them in their own work. The entire >enterprise is geared toward shattering borders of thought, busting out >of old molds, etc. There are no tests or "papers." There is only the >student's project, the dissertation, and everything, every course and >prep, is offered as fuel for that project, which must be original and >must offer something "new." > >I'm not quite sure what else to say. It is definitely a different sort >of university set-up. Independent thinking is highly valued...as is a >certain amount of defiance and rule-breaking, so long as something >interesting results from it. Iow, slackers don't survive in this >program, but thoughtful anarchists do. It is a star-power system. This >is true. However, it's not quite that simple. Note that each of these >"stars" is a major rule-breaker who has had it anything but easy in the >university "system." The line is typically post-structuralist, >deconstructionist--so with only a few exceptions, these are all thinkers >who have paid a high for their defiant thinking, have been persecuted >for it. We who have grown up on Lyotard, Derrida, etc., may tend to >forget that these folks, as well as their students (Ronell, Nancy, etc.) >have been kicked around mercilessly by a system that could find no way >to appropriate or assimilate them--so it spit them out, over and over: >they were fired or not hired or considered completely unemployable, >blackballed, etc. Those on the faculty who aren't stars--like moi!--were >hired to teach at EGS basically because they produce work that is not >easily assimilable, that breaks rules, tries to open spaces for thinking >otherwise--so the hiring criteria is not simply stardom. EGS offers >students (also like moi) the extremely rare opportunity to work briefly >but also intensely, intimately with these "stars"--to attend their >seminars, but also to dine with them (breakfast, lunch, and dinner are >taken together--it's almost like a commune), perhaps to meet them for >after-hours discussions at the Happy Bar or, on an off-day, during a >hike in the alps, etc. > >I really do encourage anyone interested to check out the web site and/or >to write to Schiermacher, the dean/director, for more info. I wasn't >looking for a second Ph.D. when I entered the program--not at ALL. In >fact, when I found this program, all I wanted was to attend one summer's >intensive seminars. But it doesn't work that way--you commit to the >degree or you don't. It was worth it to me to commit to a second degree, >and I don't regret it at all. It has been an amazing and intellectually >stimulating experience. > >Best, ddd > > >
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