What does it take to change higher education culture for good? Opinion

This article shows how corrupted the Australian university field has become. It starts off promisingly reading like a critique of the increasing neoliberal proletarianization of Australian academics. It finishes, however, deceptively, as an advertisement for a parasitic private consultancy company, seemingly in the business of placating troublesome academics to make us more compliant in accepting changes designed to strip us of autonomy and ultimately make us redundant. Under the radical neoliberal policies of Australian governments, our tertiary sector has lost the plot and forgotten its role of passing on humanity’s stories and intellectual traditions to new generations to create deep thinking, active responsible citizens. Our kids have been left depressed, anxious and disoriented as a result. If the thinking, conscientious academics in this country are not just plain angry about this, they are exhausted and de-motivated from constant, pointless, expensive and ultimately failing change. We are watching a parade of amnesic change agents perverting the ancient, tried and tested practices of education by dressing them in superficial, trendy, hi-tech garb, plagiarizing it as their original idea, failing, then moving on. The result is universities shamelessly advertising that in their courses you can look at pictures instead of reading; what I used to do when I was 3 years old. To see here, fellow academics attempting to profit from the misery and dis-empowerment of their peers, makes one feel uncivil, to say the least.