The article seeks to consider the cultural and educational implications of ignoring times for pause and reflection by moving to service industry model of delivery higher education based on market considerations

Ressel, James

English

NECTAR

This work has been submitted to NECTAR, the Northampton ElectronicCollection of Theses and Research.ArticleTitle: The "52 week, 24 hour" universityCreators: Ressel, J.Example citation: Ressel, J. (2014) The "52 week, 24 hour" university. Law,Culture & Ideas Blog. 11/05/2014Version: Published versionOfficial URL: http://lawcultureblog.wordpress.com/2014/05/11/the-52-week-24-hour-university/Note:This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0International License.http://nectar.northampton.ac.uk/6629/NECTARThe “52 week, 24 hour” University.Posted on 11/05/2014On 7 May 2014 The Northampton Chronicle & Echoreported that: “The University of Northampton hasunveiled plans to dispense with the traditionalthree-month student summer holiday and movetowards a “52-week, 24 hour” campusarrangement.”[1]The newspaper reports a rather fascinating but potentiallydisruptive and revolutionary notion . If on the one hand thereport of the alleged proposal is factually accurate, inKuhnian[2] terms the proposal would amount to as yet undiscovered ‘paradigm to shift’ and one unsustainableby any credible evidence, quite consistent with Kuhnian theory.If, on the other hand, the Northampton Chronicle is reporting an ideological (im)position seeking to articulatean expression of bare power, that is quite a different matter. As we know, statements of belief, especially those‘religiously’ held as matters of fundamentalist principle, are not by definition capable of rational critique oranalysis. Such statements owe their existence and justification to the potentiality and the politico-juridicalactuality of pure violence.As George Monbiot observes, we live in an era of appeasement:“There has seldom, in the democratic era, been a better time to thrive by appeasing wealth andpower, or to fail by sticking to your principles. Politicians who twist and turn on behalf ofbusiness are immune to attack. Those who resist are excoriated.” [3]In itself the proposed new methodology of the ‘delivery’ of higher education experience is not necessarily per sedefective, assuming that the designers of the new method have a reasoned evidence-based rationale for theproposal and do not offend our shared social and cultural values.In thinking through the system, we must assume, that intellectual and academic  considerations were takeninto account, and the evidence was carefully gathered and evaluated.  The factors which must  have beenconsidered include: 1) the recognition of and compliance with the necessary standards for the highereducations needs and aspirations of students, 2) the recognition of the post-experiential characteristic ofhigher education, 3) recognition that learning is a lengthy process of intellectual and personal humandevelopment involving a considered and often painful process of accumulation and refinement of knowledge,wisdom, creativity, maturity, experiences, excitement, daring,  inventiveness, flexibility, academic and lifeskills.We are dealing with a plan put forward by a public  institution of higher education  and, accordingly, we canassume that the proposal for a “52 week, 24 hour campus” university has been rigorously tested in accord withthe required academic standards, expectations and protocols. We can assume that the expected highstandards of scientific and analytical processes which all undergraduate students at any university areexpected to meet would have been applied in this instance.Law, Culture & IdeasFurthermore,  we must trust that all the relevant public regulatory bodies and stakeholders, including thestudent body, academic and administrative staff, have been instrumental in promoting the proposed changefor a “52 week 24 hour campus“.We must trust that the general public has been persuaded and more than consulted but has unequivocallyexpressed its assent to the proposal and agrees that the proposal would deliver improved education to thestudents ensuring that graduates are better equipped to succeed in their post-university  careers. However, theempirical evidence does not support this view. On the contrary, the better view is that university education isgenerally considered a ‘public good’ [4], meaning that an educated population is of benefit of the whole society.We would expect that the proposal has been tested against current higher educational values and principles,precedents have been carefully measured and analysed, aims and objectives have been openly debated andcritically tested and scientifically examined and tested to ensure that the overall welfare of the community isenhanced.The trouble is that it in absence of any open debate supported by credible pedagogic evidence in support of theproposal to implement a “52 week 24 hour” university it is far to easy to conclude that the proposal isinformed solely by neo-liberal economic aims privileging vested financial interests  in total disregard of  socialand academic interests of the students and the wider community any university claims to serve. Moreoverthere appears to be no credible empirical evidence favouring the proposal.On the other hand, we have all had the experience of enjoying a meal at McDonald’s  at some time in our lives.We may eat there in the knowledge that the food is brought to us quickly, at our demand, in utter defiance ofthe ebb and flow of nature’s seasons. We expect that the rule-driven standardised routines, processes andproduction procedures ensure that the food we buy remains insulated from external contingencies, andsatisfies our ‘manufactured’ needs and consumer expectations we are trained to believe in. We know we canrepeat our experience of consumption at any time of night and day – 52 weeks 24 hours a year quite outsideany temporal references and in absence of even disregard of the Other, especially those who serve our needs.Our senses and feelings, natural human responses, become neutralised by the relentless consistency of themanufactured experience, the totalising blending even of the most fundamental  division and subdivision ofour temporal being and existence into days, hours and minutes ( i.e. time); those moments to look forward toand those others we regret or pity; the experience of being human ceases to contain colour or texture. In short,the loss of our autonomy means transportation into the world of the grey blended bland.Interestingly McDonald’s has established university called the Hamburger University the ‘McDonald’s Center ofTraining Excellence’, which trains people to operate in the ‘52 week 24 hour‘ culture.  The aims of theHamburger University, are as follows:McDonald’s Center of Training ExcellenceSince its inception, training at Hamburger University has emphasized consistent restaurant operationsprocedures, service, quality and cleanliness. It has become the company’s global center of excellence forMcDonald’s operations training and leadership development.In 1961, Fred Turner, McDonald’s former senior chairman and Ray Kroc’s first grillman, foundedHamburger University in the basement of a McDonald’s restaurant in Elk Grove Village, Illinois.February 24, 1961, Hamburger University’s first class of 15 students graduatedToday, more than 5,000 students attend Hamburger University each yearSince 1961, more than 80,000 restaurant managers, mid-managers and owner/operators havegraduated from this facilityAt McDonald’s, our training mission is to be the best talent developer of people with the most committedindividuals to Quality, Service, Cleanliness and Value (QSC&V) in the world. Our strong commitment tothe training and development of our People has resulted in many “firsts” and honors, including being…The first restaurant company to develop a global training centerThe only active QSR currently to receive college credit recommendations from the AmericanCouncil on Education (ACE), the United States’ oldest and most recognized unifying body forhigher educationContinually recognized for excellence in trainingOur founder Ray Kroc once said, “If we are going to go anywhere, we’ve got to have talent. And, I’m goingto put my money in talent.” Hamburger University continues to promote that philosophy, everyday.[5]The McDonald’s example indicates that for “the world’s largest chain of hamburger fast food restaurants,serving around 68 million customers daily in 119 countries“[6], a quasi-university of its own creationeducates students to efficiently internalise the idea of “52 week, 24 hour” convenience consumer culture. Theaim seems to be to normalise the exceptional  economic needs of the business such that natural humanendavour and the spirit of enquiry efficiently serve generation of profit.The question we need to ask is whether the McDonald’s educational model, predicated on notions of themarket and neo-liberal orthodoxy, dedicated to promoting the economic interests of business and theaccumulation of money, arguably at the expense of the rights to human creativity and autonomy, has thecapacity in fact to  promote the general public good, including for instance the spirit of democracy, rule of law,and a more equal and fairer society.The manifestation of the neo-liberal assault on the deeply shared value of universities as public good, includerising tuition fees, increasing student debt and the global commodification of leaning [7].However, despite the persistent ideologically informed  attempts by the market to reconfigure highereducation as a public cost paid for by the mythical tax payer, it seems that the public continue to value highereducation as a public good [8]. A cost that, the ideologues argue, should not be borne by the public pursebecause over a life time a graduate student has the personal benefit of enhanced earnings. Put this way we canimmediately spot the fundamental flaw in this justification: the flaw is to ignore the possibility of social andthe reduction of human relations to monetised transactions.Moreover, assuming, that our public universities remain loyal to their founding principle of spirit and reasonfor existence as a  ‘public good’ of higher education, encompassing ideas of the interdependency of social andpersonal benefits attendant upon the education and cultural development of the next generation of our youngpeople.And, assuming that our universities continue to maintain at least some degree of structural and intellectualindependence in face of the immense ideological pressures of finance capitalism and have not as yet quitesuccumbed to the myths of ‘shareholder value’, buttressed by the ideals of maximisation financial return andprofit, and the economic myths of dematerialised global corporations, but maintain as their purpose widersocial, pedagogic and communal functions and democratic purposes, it must logically follow that universitiesare more than  places of  “consistent… operations procedures, service, quality and cleanliness.” Places beyond“ global center[s] of excellence for..[capital] operations training and leadership development.” demanded byany global capital operation.In the circumstances it would appear that the reported proposal to establish a “52 week, 24 hour” universitymay be a symptom of the attempted homogenisation and denaturing of the public good value of universities byneo-liberal orthodoxy.Sadly, the only example we have of an institution dedicated to the service of a global corporation is Hamburgeruniversity. Unfortunately, this university does not seem to offer transformative  opportunities for intellectualand personal development of students and its communities, nor offer subjects for study beyond being the“global center of excellence for…operations training and leadership development.”In the circumstances, it is difficult to envisage how the ‘52 week, 24 hour‘ university would be able to provide afull and varied range of educational experience and personal intellectual development to a wide range ofstudents and their communities.Footnotes:[1] ‘University of Northampton unveils plans for ‘52 week, 24 hour’ campus with no three-month summerholiday.’ The Northampton Chronicle & Echo 7 May 2014 availableat: http://www.northamptonchron.co.uk/news/education/university-of-northampton-unveils-plans-for-52-week-24-hour-campus-with-no-three-month-summer-holiday-1-6041446[2] Thomas Kuhn The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962), 3rd Edition 1996. The University of ChicagoPress, Chicago and London.[3] George Monbiot ‘Land of Impunity’ (5 May 2014) Available athttp://www.monbiot.com/2014/05/05/land-of-impunity-2/ And published in The Guardian 6 May 2014.[4] For instance see the study by Mountford-Zimbars et al which examined the British Social Attitudes Surveysfrom the last thirty years and found that “a persistent belief in the core values of Higher Education” as a publicgood.  Anna Mountford-Zimbars et al (2013) ‘Framing higher education: questions and responses in theBritish Social Attitudes survey, 1983-2010’ British Journal of Sociology of Education (34, 5-06) pp 792-811.[5] See http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/corporate_careers/training_and_development/hamburger_university.htmlNote the use of acronyms as mimicry to give the statement simulated academic credibility in fact only helpingto peddle anti-intellectual obscurantism.[6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonald%27s  McDonald’s says that “[It] is the world’s leading global foodservice retailer with more than 35,000 locations in more than 100 countries each day.”http://www.aboutmcdonalds.com/mcd/our_company/mcdonalds_system.html[7] Steven Jones & Anna Mountford-Zimdars ‘University as a ‘public good’? Only for those who never went…’LSE British Politics and Policy Blog (4 October 2013) (Available athttp://blogs.lse.ac.uk/politicsandpolicy/archives/36638[8] Anna Mountford-Zimbars et al (2013) ‘Framing higher education: questions and responses in the BritishSocial Attitudes survey, 1983-2010’ British Journal of Sociology of Education (34, 5-06) pp 792-811.Suggested citation: J Ressel ‘The “52 week, 24 hour” University’ Law, Cult. & Ideas Blog (11 May 2014)(Available at  http://lawcultureblog.wordpress.com/ )Share this:Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MoreThis entry was posted in Higher Education, Northampton, Uncategorized, Universities and tagged 52 week 24 hour, consumerism, George Monbiot, markets, McDonald's,Northampton Chronicle, Public good. Bookmark the permalink.Law, Culture & Ideas    Reblog  LikeBe the f irst to like this. The Twenty Ten Theme. Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Framing higher education: questions and responses in the British Social Attitudes survey, 1983-2010’

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonald%27s McDonald’s says that “[It] is the world’s leading global food service retailer with more than 35,000

Land of Impunity’

Mountford-Zimdars ‘University as a ‘public good’? Only for those who never went…’

Note the use of acronyms as mimicry to give the statement simulated academic credibility in fact only helping to peddle anti-intellectual obscurantism.

The Structure of Scientific Revolutions

unveils plans for ‘52 week, 24 hour’ campus with no three-month summer holiday.’

The "52 week, 24 hour" university

The "52 week, 24 hour" university

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