LARGE CLASS IN UNIVERSITIES:
OUTDATED, AUTHORITARIAN!
Erle Frayne D. Argonza
It’s
late afternoon as I write this piece, and it’s the longest day in the northern
hemisphere too (summer solstice). I will devote this piece to the matter of
large university classes that are the mode of instruction in many academic
institutions across the globe.
Large
classes are a thing of the past. The large class modality was referred to as
‘Great Man pedagogy’ in Europe, and was
critically challenged by the youth and professors during the stormy youth
heydays of the 1960s and ‘70s.
The
human psyche is rapidly evolving towards greater individuation. As we humans
become more individuated, the educational instruction fit for us is one that
should account for and enable our individuality, even up to the point of
providing ample space for eccentricity in each one.
In
the olden days, when the Herd Mind or folk mind was the characteristic psyche of
the people, the modality of instructions was one that would fit them well. Large
classes evoked the ‘Herd instinct’ (Nietszchean label for the same), and
unconsciously provided a semblance of community for peoples of those ancient
times who were cut off from family & village to study in the university.
The
coming of the Industrial Age, right after the conclusion of the 30 Years War
(1618-48), ushered the ‘assembly line’ of mass production of articles of
manufactures. The ‘assembly line’ method found its concomitant equivalent in
the Great Man pedagogy which churned out collegiate graduates like commodities
for sale in a rapidly expanding labor market.
Up
until the late 19th century, during the Victorian Era that is the
nadir of the modern age, Great Man pedagogy was a largely unquestioned modality
of instruction. As the crisis of the early 20th century set in, the
same pedagogy found perfect compatibility with the nascent totalitarian ideologies
and systems of that era (fascism, Nazism, communism).
Indubitably,
the success of ‘assembly line’ classes was effective only insofar as the psyche
remained as more folk-mind or herd-oriented. As the psyche mutates to more
individuated type, it will militate against anything that brings it back to the
Herd: subject to manipulation and shaping by authoritarian if not sociopathic
interest groups and persons.
Sure
enough, as the youth rebellion of the 60s set in, the students of the Sorbonne
in Paris burst
out in revolt against the Great Man pedagogy circa 1968. Other universities
quickly caught up the fiery flames of the revolt and followed suit in a tempo
of upheavals that were largely unplanned and spontaneous.
Accustomed
to bureaucratism and pork barrel largesse that went with mainstream political
power, the French Communist Party was caught flat-footed by that revolt.
Tailing behind the event that indicated its being mired in intellectual
bankruptcy and betrayed its archaic mindset, the communists lose relevance
almost overnight.
Had
the communists grasped that event quickly and seized the opportunity by siding
with the anti-large class youth, the sociopolitical landscape of France and Europe
could have changed forever. A social revolution of a new kind, bred by a fusion
of working class militancy and youth revulsion against archaic pedagogy and
culture, could have been registered in the annals of history as worth our
positive valuation.
It
is shocking to find out that the large class modality is still around with us
today. It is anathema to the goal of human liberation, even as it could be a
launching ground to breed new ‘boot camp’ babies for certain interest groups of
a fascistic/authoritarian nature.
The
Industrial Age had now passed away, and the Post-Industrial/Postmodern Age has
brought along with it an erasure (sous
rapture) of the dividing line between Reason and Madness. Fascism is resurgent
worldwide, and before we’d notice it a global state would be in the offing that
is orchestrated by an ideological force of global Bonaparte.
If
the large class modality is re-introduced in any university whatsoever, it
should only be on an interim phase. It is a regressive move, and running counter to the gamut of psychical
individuation, it will erode in time and be abolished across the globe.
Should
there be a youth revolt against this antiquated pedagogy in my own home
country, I will be glad to make my presence in the barricades to be set up.
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