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India Rules

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Clarissa

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I profoundly admire these three brave scholars in India:

The tug-of-war between the management of National College and the Association of University Teachers over the former’s scrapping of philosophy as a course of study peaked on Friday as one of the three fasting philosophy professors of the college fainted. The three philosophy professors of the college – Dr T Seshasayee, 56, professor S Gunasekharan, 51, and Dr R Prabhakar, 49 – sat in what they called an indefinite fast three days ago demanding that the college not do away with the aided philosophy courses. . .

Though the condition of the three professors deteriorated on Friday, they refused to accept medical care. The medical team, police and revenue officials were waiting helplessly at the college premises as a solution evaded them. “We want a categorical assurance from the government that the courses will be revived this academic year, or else we have no other option but to continue the agitation,” Pandiyan said.

We could learn a lesson or two from our colleagues in India. While we sit here, batting our eyelashes helplessly as entire departments are being destroyed to feed more football teams and a growing army of bureaucrats, some people show that they truly have the courage to defend their disciplines.

6 responses to “India Rules”

  1. Priyankaya Avatar
    Priyankaya

    Indian unis are often deeply political. So much so that the sanitised US campus environment took me completely by suprise. Indeed, despite my completely abstinance from active party-politics as a student, I’ve been within punching distance of a baton-swinging police attack about twice in my five years at university. What was it like in Ukraine?

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    1. bloggerclarissa Avatar
      bloggerclarissa

      Everybody was deeply apolitical and cynical about things when I was s university student in Ukraine. Having opinions about anything or caring about things was not in vogue. God, I hated that.

      The US campuses used to be very politicized from what I hear but now only the rich students somewhat are. I don’t know, maybe it was always this way. Does anybody know? Now I’m seeing that the poorest students are the least interested in politics.

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      1. Priyanka Avatar
        Priyanka

        I think it’s one of those things — only the rich have access to tools (like a good college education) that train the intellect to analyse, ask questions and think. The poor, to repeat a cliche, have fast food, two jobs, and television. They haven’t the time and energy to devote to political analysis, especially in this confusing modern environment of billion-dollar PR machinaries built specifically to obfuscate.

        Of course, this doesn’t include those that have these tools but choose to be intellectually lazy and pro status quo anyway, because it is comfortable and unthreatening. But an active choice to be ignorant can’t be helped.

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        1. bloggerclarissa Avatar
          bloggerclarissa

          The poor are also more trapped by religion and religious forces in the US seem to be deeply conservative nowadays.

          Of course, there are also things like access to less mainstream cultural products, travel, etc.

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  2. musteryou Avatar
    musteryou

    I always wondered why people in the Humanities did not have a better grasp of the psychology of political machinations. They are too ready to bend and submit in response to empty rhetoric concerning, “changing times” and “our duty to those who run the society we serve”. There’s no criticism here, or analysis.

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    1. bloggerclarissa Avatar
      bloggerclarissa

      SO TRUE!!!! I always wondered the same thing. We are told that the number of our Majors should grow every year. So we bend over backwards to make sure it happens. But nobody ever stops to ask: why do we need that? Who said this should be our goal and why?

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A conservative literary critic and college professor

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