What?s Wrong With University And How to Make It Work For You Anyway

by Rybak, Jeff

• ISBN13: 9781550227765
• ISBN10: 1550227769
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-05-01
• Publisher: Ecw Press

Summary

Students invest a lot of time and money in a university education but all too often don't get what they came for. This book addresses the most pressing concerns for undergraduate students and helps them cope with the university system. The author illustrates that a university has five distinct functions, which are often in conflict with each other; students often find themselves with different goals and motivations than their peers and with institutional features designed around the needs of those other students. As a result they are frequently frustrated by their experiences. This guide explains how a university really works and provides advice on how all students can overcome these internal conflicts to get what they most want from the university experience.

Author Biography

Jeff Rybak is a former students' union vice president of academics and, within campus governance, a former chair of the academic committee at the University of Toronto–Scarborough. He spent many hours counseling students on how to deal with all aspects of the university and was responsible for the production of several resources for students, including three editions of the campus "Anti-Calendar." Jeff is currently a director on the board of the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) and lives in Toronto, Ontario.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. IX
The Functions of Education	p. 1
What Happens in a School	p. 1
Why Go to University?	p. 11
The Modern University	p. 23
How Does It Happen?	p. 23
How Does it Get Measured?	p. 34
What Do You Get?	p. 43
When Things Go Wrong	p. 49
What Comes Next?	p. 65
Getting More of What You Want	p. 75
What You Can't Control	p. 75
The Academic Student	p. 79
The Vocational Student	p. 95
The Certification Student	p. 106
The Good Citizen	p. 112
The Holding-Pen Student	p. 126
Internal Contradictions	p. 135
Things That Don't Make Sense	p. 135
Grading	p. 136
Too Cool for School	p. 147
Competing Agendas and Politicization	p. 154
Private or Public, Consumer or User?	p. 160
Eroding Value and Graduating "Everyone"	p. 169
Why Does It Hang Together?	p. 177
The Big Picture	p. 183
Beyond the Personal	p. 183
The Universality of University	p. 184
The Scam	p. 195
Further	p. 205
The Big Investment	p. 211
Financial Pressure	p. 211
Silencing Dissent	p. 222
Proposals for Reform	p. 331
A Few Modest Suggestions	p. 231
Redefine "Of Age"	p. 232
Separation of Functions	p. 235
Break the Monopoly	p. 240
Civil Service	p. 244
Grassroots Change	p. 247
Shaking Things Up	p. 247
Unofficial Classes	p. 248
Clubs and Organizations	p. 251
Participating in Governance	p. 257
Asking the Big Questions	p. 261
Acknowledgements	p. 267
References	p. 269
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