Student Rebellions
Wednesday, January 13, 2010 at 7:00pm
UCLA Campus: Ackerman Union 3517
At the end of last year, UC students made headlines by protesting the board of regents' decision to increase student fees. Such protests bring to mind the "student activism" of the 1960s and the resulting clash between university administrators and students. This week, to compare the rebellion of that era to the protests of today, we will be reading from Ayn Rand's article "The Cashing In: The Student 'Rebellion'".
In preparation, please consider the following questions:
- Ayn Rand's article claims that "the central theme and basic ideology of all the activists is: anti-ideology". What does a commitment to "anti-ideology" mean?
- Is there a connection, now and in the sixties, between philosophic ideas taught in the classroom and the beliefs and actions of student protestors?
- Placards at protests in the 1960s read "Strike now, analyze later". What is the deeper meaning of this slogan?
- "Directly or indirectly, the influence of philosophy sets the epistemological standards and methods of teaching for all departments, in the physical sciences as well as in the humanities." What is the relationship between philosophy and other fields? Does philosophy color the judgments of thinkers in other areas? How does this affect student activists?
- The article refers to "the policy of permanent moral neutrality" of most university administrations. Is this phenomenon visible today? If so, how?
- According to Rand, "the country at large is a mirror of its universities". Do you see any relationship between philosophic trends in schools and philosophic trends in the culture at large?
- Have the student protesters, in the past and today, initiated force? If so, is ideology a factor?
