Create accountLogin

Recent searches

No recent searches

Search options

Only available when logged in.
mathstodon.xyz is one of the many independent Mastodon servers you can use to participate in the fediverse.
A Mastodon instance for maths people. We have LaTeX rendering in the web interface!

Administered by:

Server stats:

2.9K
active users

mathstodon.xyz: AboutStatusProfiles directoryPrivacy policy

Mastodon: AboutGet the appKeyboard shortcutsView source codev4.3.7

Public
John Carlos Baez

My friend Joshua Meyers, formerly a math student at U. C. Riverside, is now trying to develop new scholarly institutions: alternatives to universities.

He's gotten money from Jaan Tallinn and the Survival and Flourishing Fund to run "Let Me Think" - a 2-month in-person incubator project.

It'll happen this summer. In a while you can apply to join. Read more about it here:

let-me-think.org/scholarshipwo

Let me show you the schedule, and why he wants to do this.

(1/3)

"Scholarship Workshop 2023, organized by Let Me Think, is a 2-month in-person incubator for new scholarly institutions, taking place this summer in a rural location not far from New York City, exact details TBD. We will study the history and present of scholarly institutions, and then use our knowledge to found scholarly institution start-ups. The workshop is open to both enrolled and independent students. We are fundraising to pay for food and lodging, so that participants won't have to pay." https://let-me-think.org/scholarshipworkshop.html
Public *
John Carlos Baez

Here are the schedule and goals of this 2-month retreat.

(2/3)

Schedule Week 1 The participants settle in for the retreat and get to know each other. Weeks 2-3 Intensive study regarding the past of scholarly institutions. We will read about the history of universities and monasteries among other things. Weeks 4-5 Intensive study regarding the present barriers that people experience to scholarly practice. This will include plenty of literary practice (reading and writing), as well as possible experimental research (e.g. surveys, interviews). Week 6 We rest, integrate the preceding month of study, and get ready for the incubator. Weeks 7-8 Under the guidance of business mentors, we write business plans for new scholarly institutions informed by our study, and we set them in motion. Goals Create new scholarly institutions. The workshop should end with several new scholarly institutions underway. Create new research on scholarly institutions, past, present and future. The workshop will serve as a unique vantage point outside the university to think about scholarly institutions. Explore the potential of hybrid study-incubator retreats for envisioning and enacting new futures. That is, the workshop itself is an experiment with scientific value. We plan to issue a report on the workshop to inform future efforts Applications [...] https://let-me-think.org/scholarshipworkshop.html
Public *
John Carlos Baez

Here are some of the reasons Joshua Meyers wants to build new scholarly institutions. A lot of people make these complaints, of course. What's interesting is that he's trying to do something.

For more details on this, go here:

let-me-think.org/index.html

(3/3)

What's wrong with the university system? The university system does not value students. Tuition is overpriced, classes are overfilled, cafeteria food is unhealthy, and creativity and passion for learning go unrewarded. The students are conceived of as passive recipients of information, rather than active participants in learning. Moreover, many students cannot even access the university for a number of reasons, from financial challenges to family obligations. The university system does not value most professors. More than 75% of professors are off the tenure track, which means that have low wages and large teaching loads with no opportunity for promotion to tenure (source). As New Faculty Majority astutely observes, "Faculty working conditions are student learning conditions". The university system does not value scholarship. Rather, it values false proxies for scholarship, such as grades, quantity of publications, and research grants. When everybody's time is taken up with these proxies, real scholarship suffers. The university system has a monopoly on learning. In spite of all its faults, it is hard to imagine an alternative. https://let-me-think.org/index.html
SearchLive feeds
About