[P2P-F] [commoning] The Co-operative University

[anna at shsh.co.uk]

I certainly don't want to criticise the idea of a cooperative university and all the work you are doing at the SSC. However the fundamental distinction between students and teachers is that the former have to pay and the latter get paid. In my work as a professional this was a barrier I found I could not overcome. My time was valuable, my clients time was not.

 I'm just wondering if there is room to add on, perhaps as an option, a space where students and teachers merge, where students are in charge of what they learn, and may teach the teachers.  Eg http://www.theguardian.com/business/2013/oct/24/students-post-crash-economics

Anna

Sent from my iPad

>> On 15 Dec 2013, at 16:03, Samuel Rose <samuel.rose at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 
>> On Sun, Dec 15, 2013 at 10:51 AM, Anna Harris <anna at shsh.co.uk> wrote:
>> I think Sam you are underestimating 'where people are at now'. It doesn't
>> take much for people to see through the professional accreditation system,
>> witness all the alternative knowledge systems that are burgeoning on the
>> web. Support people in discovering what they already know, and their concept
>> of themselves as failures as defined by mainstream culture, will dissipate.
>> Apathy is taught in our culture from the nursery when children are
>> discouraged from following their own interests, in favour of a curriculum.
>> Changing the curriculum, ie still needing to learn what someone else thinks
>> is important, does not get to the core of the distortion, if at every level
>> we are taught that what we want is inappropriate and unavailable.
> 
> 
> All that I can tell you is this: my biggest successes in bringing
> commons based approaches into reality here in the Industrial Midwest
> of the US have happened where they were "hybridized" combinations of
> existing paradigms, and commons-based approaches. And, even those were
> difficult and often short-lived.
> 
> If people have really good examples of "non-co-opted" approaches that
> meet your criteria for "de-institutionalization :
> non monetized, self organized ( and open sourced ), non
> credentialized." I am ready to understand and learn from them
> 
> At least with "open sourced" I've had experience and can point
> examples where institutions and professional networks of people have
> and can co-exist.
> 
> I'd love to see commoning work outside of long standing institutions.
> However, my experience is that more success can be had by working with
> the existing system, and changing it where it is genuinely ready for
> change. If there is a different way, please shine a light upon it for
> the rest of us.