[SSC] SSC - Response to Journalism student (interview questions)

[Sandie Stratford]

I agree!
Sandie

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Joss Winn" <joss at josswinn.org>
To: "Sarah Amsler" <simonewright73 at googlemail.com>
Cc: <ssc at lists.aktivix.org>
Sent: Monday, April 30, 2012 7:56 PM
Subject: Re: [SSC] SSC - Response to Journalism student (interview 
questions)


> This would be great to publish as a blog post! It extends what is already 
> on the site in a very positive way.
>
>
> On 30 Apr 2012, at 17:17, Sarah Amsler <simonewright73 at googlemail.com> 
> wrote:
>
>> Hello everyone,
>>
>> Please find below my response to Angela Cheng, a Journalism student
>> from Taiwan who asked some questions about the SSC for a report she is
>> writing as part of her course assignment.
>>
>> I am planning to send it later this eveing; if you have any comments,
>> please get back to me before then.
>>
>> Best,
>> Sarah
>>
>> Hello Angela,
>>
>> I've sent your request out to other members of the Social Science
>> Centre, so they may reply independently. I'll try to answer your
>> questions from my own perspective, but if you want to talk about
>> anything further, please let me know.
>>
>> I'd like to say at the outset that these are my own personal
>> respsonses to the questions -- at least where I don't quote from the
>> Social Science Centre website. It's important for me to emphasise this
>> because we are a group of people who are trying to work collectively
>> at all levels. Within the group, however, there is a lot of diversity,
>> so different people may answer the questions in different ways. Some
>> of them are in fact still questions that we are discussing and
>> debating amongst ourselves. So the one thing we do like to say is that
>> no single person can represent the Social Science Centre in its
>> complexity, and that each person offers one representation, their own
>> (though often one forged through lots of discussion with others).
>>
>> 1. What is the main point that the teachers set up The Social Science
>> Centre, Lincoln?
>>
>>
>> The Social Science Centre was established in early 2011 by a small
>> group of academics, mainly social scientists, who were concerned about
>> the British Government's decision to both withdraw all public funding
>> for teaching in the social sciences, humanities and arts, and to raise
>> student tuition fees nearly three hundred per cent to, at present, a
>> maximum of £9000. They were concerned that it would become difficult
>> or impossible for many people to undertake study in these disciplines,
>> and indeed that some young people (and many older people wishing to
>> return to university) would be unable to pursue higher learning at
>> all. One major reason for establishing the SSC, therefore, is to
>> provide some way for people who wish to study social science but who
>> cannot pay the new fees, do not want to or are unable to take out
>> student loans, or are not particularly interested in learning towards
>> a formal credential to be able to do so. Alongside this, however, is
>> the need that I think many educators feel to work with students and to
>> teach and learn in creative, cooperative, non-authoritarian and
>> non-bureaucratised ways that are not always possible within
>> universities today. The increasing financialisation and marketisation
>> of universities in this country and around the world are altering what
>> higher education means, what knowledge is for, and how people learn.
>> In some institutions, ways of knowing and learning that are not
>> economically efficient or profitable in different ways are
>> marginalised or prohibited. Languages of critical education, critical
>> pedagogy, are often silenced where discourses of 'employablity' become
>> dominant. And the worth of education -- of different universities,
>> courses, schools of thought, methodologies, teachers and students --
>> is now often measured through quantitative metrics such as league
>> tables which encourage competition rather than collaboration between
>> all of the above. So, we are working both against these negative
>> trends in education, which lead towards tying knowledge, research and
>> higher learning to the needs of capital and to the already-powerful,
>> and towards the creation of alternative forms of critical and
>> cooperative education in our own locality.
>>
>> The Social Science Centre is very much a 'situated' or local project;
>> it is based in the city of Lincoln in the UK, and our hope is to be as
>> active as possible across the city itself -- in community and social
>> centres, museums, public spaces, spaces that should be public.
>> However, we are also inspired by and in contact with other people
>> working on other kinds of alternative higher education projects in
>> other parts of the UK, and overseas.
>>
>> For a selected things that have been written about the SSC to date,
>> see http://socialsciencecentre.org.uk/documents/. The Stanistreet
>> (2012) article might give some background; the Burgin (2011) may give
>> a hint at historical precendents and histories of
>> radical/autonomous/cooperative education.
>>
>> 2. When is the exact time that the courses start? And How will it carry 
>> out?
>>
>> We are planning to begin courses in October 2012. This will work
>> slightly differently from a typical university course, in that the
>> first weeks are likely to be spent discussing the concept of each
>> course and negotiating its main themes, structure and curriculum.
>> There are also likely to be different kinds of courses -- running in
>> the evening, or on weekends, or perhaps in other blocks of time,
>> depending on the needs and desires of those who are involved in them.
>>
>> Prior to this, in the summer, we'll be organising workshops and
>> seminars around the ideas of curriculum, cooperative education,
>> pedagogy, and other issues that are relevant for our work, and for
>> developing deeper understandings of both our work and the context in
>> which we are working. There is a sense, I think, of needing to learn
>> to learn, and build to be able to build. There is a mindfulness within
>> the Centre that the sort of project we are imagining not only requires
>> commitments of time and energy from those involved, but because it is
>> in many cases very different from what we and others are used to, it
>> also demands a lot of learning along the way. So while classes will
>> begin in October, the process of their development precedes this point
>> in time, and will overflow it as the courses and the Centre develop.
>> I, at least, am looking forward to being taken in not-yet-imagined
>> directions as they do.
>>
>> 3. How do the institution operate in the situation that students don
>> have to pay the fees?
>>
>> As it is not an institution as such, we have a lot of flexibility in
>> how we operate. The Social Science Centre runs mainly on the energy,
>> commitment and generosity of its members. None of the people teaching
>> are being paid for our work. Scholars have different reasons for
>> volunteering their time. Some see it as am intellecutal or social and
>> political responsibility; others are in positions, for example being
>> retired, where the need for such payment is not so acute. Members of
>> the Social Science Centre, whether student-scholars or
>> teacher-scholars, are encouraged to contribute to the cooperative if
>> they feel able to. We recommend a sum of one hour of a person's montly
>> wage (e.g., if a person earns £6 per hour, they are invited to
>> contribute £6 per month to the cooperative). This money is then used
>> for materials, paying for spaces to hold classes, purchasing library
>> cards for students, or the like. But this is a voluntary contribution
>> and does not affect anyone's membership rights. As an example, it
>> costs £5 per hour to hire a space in a local community centre. It
>> costs approximately £5 to make copies of a book chapter or article for
>> 10 people. It costs nothing to find paper to write on and pens to
>> write with. Various people in the Centre have other sorts of
>> technologies of their own -- computers, printers, etc. We are not
>> paying fees to external organisations for accreditation, 'marketing'
>> or etc. And above all, there is a wealth of collective skill,
>> experience and knowledge -- really in any group that organsises
>> themselves -- which, when pulled together and worked with, makes many
>> things possible that may seem not so.
>>
>> 4. How many students will the institution recruit? How is the
>> evaluation now? (Is there many students want to enter to The Social
>> Science Centre, Lincoln?)
>>
>> We would be delighted if as many as twenty people joined the Centre in
>> order to undertake study and research in the autumn. Because there is
>> a small group of teacher-scholars at the moment, the idea is to start
>> and perhaps to remain small. Thus far, we have had expressions of
>> interest from more people than this, and I think many people are in
>> the process of seeing what the project is about and how it works;
>> above all, whether it's something that could be meaningful for them.
>> It is likely not to be interesting for people who are focused on
>> earning a formal, accredited university degree. It is likely to be
>> more interesting for people who desire a cooperative,
>> non-instrumentalised, non-hierarchical and really alternative kind
>> higher education, and who want to participate actively in making such
>> opportunities possible for others. That being said, there is no
>> either-or relationship between this and formal university studies; I
>> have spoken to some people who plan to undertake both simultaneously.
>>
>> Personally, I'm hugely excited about the project. It offers space for
>> me to teach and to learn with others from a diversity of social
>> positions about the insights of sociology, philosophy and education
>> that I believe to be of deep significance for engaging critically and
>> ethically in the social world. It is already also a type of space
>> where we can learn to reinvent our relationships with each other; to
>> cultivate ways of working with others, speaking and listening,
>> thinking and producing in ways that are not profit-driven,
>> competitive, bureaucratised and precarious. This is not an easy
>> process, of course; a brief glance at the history of autonomous and
>> cooperative projects in education, ecology and politics will give an
>> immediate indication of the contradictions and difficulties. But for
>> those who believe that the present organisation of society, and many
>> of the current ways of defining and organising higher education are
>> themselves unsustainable, the alternative should to work towards
>> something better. The Social Science Centre is part of this wider
>> project, and speaking personally, has opened up new windows of
>> possibility.
>>
>> It might be a nice idea if you wrote back again in, e.g., November, or
>> in January, to see what's happened since today.
>>
>> 5. Please help me to find some students who want to enter to the
>> institution. I would need their opinions.
>>
>> I have sent your request out to a number of people. If they haven't
>> replied to you, I will try to contact them again.
>>
>> I hope this is helpful for your report. I'm sure you don't need this
>> advice at all, but you should of course try to find some critical
>> questions and comments about the Social Science Centre, in order to
>> broaden and criticalise the perspective. There are a number of really
>> pressing debates in general about the notions of 'collectivity',
>> 'cooperatives', 'autonomy', 'radical education', 'critical pedagogy',
>> and etc., as well as problems of social inequalitie, representation,
>> hidden hierarchies, the role of the university in society, the meaning
>> of higher education, and etc. Any of these would be worth exploring;
>> they are all issues and problems we are discussing in the Centre.
>>
>> All best,
>> Sarah
>>
>>
>> On 4/29/12, Sandie Stratford <sandiestrat at phonecoop.coop> wrote:
>>> I agree this makes excellent material for a discussion.  Thank you 
>>> Megan, I
>>> found your suggestions very coherent.  We must keep our ideals [sic]
>>> polished.  But I share Joss and others' anxiety about biting off more 
>>> than
>>> we can chew, if wide publicity brings large numbers on board.  Much as I
>>> want more people to be involved, if that's not a contradiction.
>>>
>>> Sandie
>>>  ----- Original Message -----
>>>  From: Sarah Amsler
>>>  To: ssc at lists.aktivix.org
>>>  Sent: Friday, April 27, 2012 12:03 PM
>>>  Subject: Re: [SSC] SSC Digest, Vol 16, Issue 42
>>>
>>>
>>>  I think a great comment and suggestion from Megan, thanks!
>>>
>>>  We could actually use these statements to play with when we 
>>> meet...which
>>> do people feel close to, common themes and differences, talking around
>>> them...
>>>
>>>  Best,
>>>  Sarah
>>>
>>>
>>>    ------------------------------
>>>
>>>    Message: 3
>>>    Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2012 11:23:22 +0100
>>>    From: "Megan Robertson" <megan at medals.org.uk>
>>>    To: <ssc at lists.aktivix.org>
>>>    Subject: [SSC] Media stuff
>>>    Message-ID: <CC29A156A1AD439DA30C38973DFEA579 at mexal>
>>>    Content-Type: text/plain;       charset="us-ascii"
>>>
>>>    May an 'outsider' comment, please?
>>>
>>>    Having discovered you just yesterday through a BBC website article,
>>> having
>>>    had no idea of your existence before then, I would hope that you 
>>> would
>>> grasp
>>>    any suitable opportunity to raise your profile through the media.
>>>
>>>    It will, however, be important for you to decide just what you think 
>>> you
>>> are
>>>    as a collective organisation, and to ensure that you present 
>>> yourselves
>>>    accordingly.
>>>
>>>    So, what are you?
>>>
>>>    People who want to share knowledge in a structured way, by offering
>>>    'courses' in subjects in which you are knowledgeable in a manner
>>> accessible
>>>    to anyone who wants to learn.
>>>
>>>    People who don't like the way in which higher education is developing
>>> and
>>>    who want to offer an alternative.
>>>
>>>    People who see themselves as 'activists' seeking to destroy existing
>>> modes
>>>    of providing education and replacing them with their own vision.
>>>
>>>    People who do not care for the increasing 'commercialisation' of
>>> education
>>>    and so want to offer it for free...
>>>
>>>    Woolly-headed idealists? :)
>>>
>>>    Some, all or none of the above?
>>>
>>>    Different things will attract different people, so you will also need
>>> to
>>>    consider the sort of people that you want to attract. (You may at 
>>> this
>>> point
>>>    decide you'd rather I went away!)
>>>
>>>    For what it's worth, I followed up the BBC story and stuck my nose in
>>>    because I am passionate about the provision of excellent education 
>>> that
>>>    inspires learners, and as an e-learning specialist I'm fascinated 
>>> about
>>>    'alternate' ways of sharing knowledge and skills.
>>>
>>>    (I also happen to be unemployed, so am always looking for projects 
>>> that
>>>    might want to make use of my skills... at least, until I find someone
>>> who'll
>>>    pay me! Until then, and even beyond, interesting not-for-profit 
>>> projects
>>> can
>>>    have those skills for nothing.)
>>>
>>>    A few thoughts from an outsider looking in, read, discard at your
>>> pleasure.
>>>
>>>    Megan Robertson
>>>    FBCS CITP
>>>
>>>    "By doubting we come to questioning, and by questioning we come to
>>> perceive
>>>    the truth" (Abelard)
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>    ------------------------------
>>>
>>>    _______________________________________________
>>>    SSC mailing list
>>>    SSC at lists.aktivix.org
>>>    https://lists.aktivix.org/mailman/listinfo/ssc
>>>
>>>
>>>    End of SSC Digest, Vol 16, Issue 42
>>>    ***********************************
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>
>>>
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>>>  SSC at lists.aktivix.org
>>>  https://lists.aktivix.org/mailman/listinfo/ssc
>>>
>>
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