"Dear students, If you add up our time in college classrooms, we've been teaching for over four decades. We spent this much time in academia, because we believe in the transformational potential, for you and for society, of what one coworker calls your " right to an intellectual life." At the very least, this right should ensure access to every kind of knowledge; the opportunity to learn from experts; the freedom to pursue questions; and, crucially, the material stability to follow your intellectual curiosities."
"They do so because this right gives you access to books that can teach you just how often learning-not always from books, often through connection with one another-inspires people to fight for a better world. To quote Assata Shakur, "No one is going to give you the education you need to overthrow them." Meaningful protection of the right to an intellectual life ensures that you will have the conceptual tools to overthrow tyrants."
Faculty with over four decades of classroom experience affirm a student's right to an intellectual life that secures access to all knowledge, opportunities to learn from experts, freedom to pursue questions, and material stability for intellectual exploration. Exploring fields across scales fosters a sophisticated understanding of what evidence is required to change one’s mind and can shift history when many people alter their views. Opponents seek to censor knowledge because such access reveals how learning and human connection inspire people to fight for a better world. Protecting the right provides conceptual tools to resist tyranny, sustains courage and tenacity, and helps distinguish passion from bluster.
Read at The Nation
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