[Peace-discuss] [Peace] demonstation for a public university not a corporate military-related cog producer

Wed Apr 3 02:08:07 UTC 2013

Niloofar,

That is a really good point.

I was also trying to think of a short way to say that I would prefer that
our young people to learn how to collaborate in science rather than knock
out communication; to navigate the challenges of climate change rather than
navigating drones.

-karen

On Tue, Apr 2, 2013 at 2:26 PM, Niloofar Shambayati <
niloofar.peace at gmail.com> wrote:

> Karen,
>
> I'm surprised by your rhetorical question, "The future of science and
> economics are tied up with the military?" Hasn't warfare always been the
> engine of "progress" and served well "the public good?"  No human endeavor
> has been as successful as advancements in surgery to put a mutilated
> fighter back together.  Where would U. of I be without huge grants from
> merchants of death? We've been collecting the crumbs in the service of
> critical thinking.
>
> Niloofar
>
>
> On Tue, Apr 2, 2013 at 12:05 AM, Karen Medina <kmedina67 at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Several posters were made this evening. One, for example, says: "Do we
>> love our military industrial complex more than our critical thinkers?"
>>
>> Come join the demonstration to protest this speaker, Norman Augustine.
>> Tuesday, April 2, 2013
>> Meet at 3:30pm at the south door to Beckman. The talk begins at 4pm
>>
>> Turns out he is part of the revolving door between places like
>> Loockheed-Martin, the Department of the Defense, Homeland Security, and
>> the Boy Scouts.
>>
>> Why is the University of Illinois, a research one institution, interested
>> in what he has to say? The future of science and economics are tied up with
>> the military?
>>
>>
>> On Sun, Mar 31, 2013 at 11:11 PM, Karen Medina <kmedina67 at gmail.com>wrote:
>>
>>> Former CEO of Lockheed-Martin will tell us how to envision the future of
>>> universities. (see the description of the event April 2nd)
>>>
>>> Want to demonstrate against this? Then meet with a group of people to
>>> make plans: Monday, April 1, 2013 / 7:30pm / Urbana Free Library basement
>>> in the *Satterthwaite conference room*
>>>
>>> -----------
>>>
>>> UIUC Chancellor's final lecture of the year April 2, 4pm, at Beckman for
>>> "The Research University in the World of the Future" series will feature
>>> Norman Augustine, the retired CEO of military weapons maker
>>> Lockheed-Martin.
>>>
>>> He will "discuss the idea that universities have to reconfigure
>>> themselves to meet the challenges of the 21st century."
>>>
>>> Augustine believes "universities have to become more introspective and
>>> aware that their ultimate mission is to serve the public good." I have a
>>> feeling many of us have a very different definition ?of "public good" than
>>> he does.
>>>
>>> ----
>>>
>>> *Engineer and education advocate Norman Augustine is next in the
>>> Chancellor’s speaker series, “The **Research University in the World of
>>> the Future* <http://www.oc.illinois.edu/visioning/series.html>*,” and
>>> will speak at 4 p.m. April 2 in the Beckman Institute auditorium. A
>>> reception will follow in the atrium.*
>>>
>>> Norman Augustine, an acclaimed engineer and the retired chairman and CEO
>>> of Lockheed Martin, was just beginning work on his graduate degree at
>>> Princeton University in 1957 when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the
>>> first artificial Earth satellite.
>>>
>>> The unexpected launch rattled Americans’ post-war confidence and caused
>>> concern that the new technology would soon be used by other nations to spy
>>> on them or initiate attacks from high above Earth’s atmosphere.
>>>
>>> [image: Augustine,Norman__a.jpg]<http://news.illinois.edu/ii/13/0321/Augustine,Norman__b.jpg>
>>>
>>> Norman Augustine
>>>
>>> The corresponding national response heralded a technological research
>>> and development boom at research universities across the nation – funded by
>>> the federal government and corporations – that would lead to the moon
>>> landing, the computer revolution and, eventually, the Internet.
>>>
>>> It also confirmed for Augustine, who had been considering a career as a
>>> forest ranger, his pursuit of a career in the burgeoning field of aerospace
>>> research.
>>>
>>> Fast-forward nearly 60 years and Augustine says the threat of being
>>> overshadowed by the rest of the world is greater than ever – and if
>>> something isn’t done quickly, America’s technological pre-eminence will
>>> become a historical footnote.
>>>
>>> “I’ve had not inconsiderable involvement in issues of higher education
>>> and have become very concerned about America’s competitiveness in the new
>>> global economy,” he said. “We have to take some dramatic steps because what
>>> is at stake is nothing less than the American Dream.”
>>>
>>> But in contrast to the space-race era, the country’s toolbox for making
>>> those fixes today is in danger of being severely under-stocked.
>>>
>>> “Companies used to support research, but today they are expected to
>>> produce results next quarter, not next decade,” he said.
>>>
>>> Meanwhile, the other traditional research funding partners, federal and
>>> state governments, have disinvested from secondary and higher education at
>>> an alarming rate because of the economic downturn, a corresponding drop in
>>> tax receipts and public debate over the role of government and the benefits
>>> of education.
>>>
>>> “Education investment goes hand in hand with having a strong economy and
>>> universities are the key to making the nation more competitive,” he said.
>>> “We have got to enable the development of an educated citizenry.”
>>>
>>> Augustine said universities also have to reconfigure themselves to meet
>>> the challenges of the 21st century. He said universities have to become
>>> more introspective and aware that their ultimate mission is to serve the
>>> public good.
>>>
>>> “The problem is, universities in this country and elsewhere have changed
>>> very little in the last 100 years,” he said. “What they teach has changed,
>>> but it’s still being delivered in basically the same way. We also need to
>>> decide what it is we want our universities to have as their priorities.”
>>>
>>> Change is no longer an option but a requirement, he said, and
>>> competition is coming from every direction – from the online-course
>>> revolution to rapidly improving university systems overseas. He said the
>>> competition stems from students seeking a better education value and from a
>>> growing list of alternatives to the traditional university.
>>>
>>> “Great universities of the past have been generally defined by a superb
>>> faculty and a fine library,” he said. “Today you can carry the library in
>>> your back pocket and access faculty from around the world from your home.
>>> The great universities will survive, but in a different form, and the
>>> lesser universities may not be recognizable a few years hence. Online
>>> education isn’t equivalent yet, but it’s becoming more and more equivalent;
>>> face-to-face teaching and learning have value, but how great is that value?”
>>>
>>> He said higher education’s challenge reaches far beyond campus
>>> boundaries. For example, secondary education needs to focus more on
>>> science, technology, engineering and math if the country is to remain
>>> competitive.
>>>
>>> “Part of the cost of higher education is that many high school students
>>> aren’t prepared when they get to our universities,” he said.
>>>
>>> Eight years ago Augustine chaired a commission studying U.S.
>>> competitiveness that issued a report, “Rising Above the Gathering Storm.”
>>> It recommended significant improvements in K-12 math and science education,
>>> more investment in long-term basic research, strategies to attract
>>> high-tech students and scientists from around the world, and the creation
>>> of programs to create and sustain incentives for innovation and research
>>> investment.
>>>
>>> In a 2011 article in Forbes magazine, Augustine offered some disturbing
>>> statistics about the importance America places on academic excellence:
>>>
>>>  U.S. consumers spend significantly more on potato chips than the U.S.
>>> government devotes to energy research and development.
>>>
>>>  In 2009, for the first time, more than half of U.S. patents were
>>> awarded to non-U.S. companies.
>>>
>>>  China has replaced the United States as the world’s number one
>>> high-tech exporter.
>>>
>>>  Between 1996 and 1999, 157 new drugs were approved in the U.S. Ten
>>> years later, despite growing funding, that number had dropped to 74.
>>>
>>>  The World Economic Forum ranks the U.S. 48th in quality of math and
>>> science education.
>>>
>>> “Innovation is the key to survival in an increasingly global economy,”
>>> he concluded in the article. “Today we’re living off the investments we
>>> made over the past 25 years. We’ve been eating our seed corn. And we’re
>>> seeing an accelerating erosion of our ability to compete. Charles Darwin is
>>> said to have observed that it is not the strongest of the species that
>>> survives, nor the most intelligent, but rather the one most adaptable to
>>> change.”
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> -- karen medina
>> "The really great make you feel that you, too, can become great." - Mark
>> Twain
>>
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>>
>
>
> --
> Niloofar
>
>

-- 
-- karen medina
"The really great make you feel that you, too, can become great." - Mark
Twain
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