They said it in September

“Honest politics needs intelligent debate. One of the clearest signs of fascist politics is attacks on universities and expertise — the support systems of discussion and the sources of knowledge and facts.” Jason Stanley, professor at Yale University (The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 2) “I think some day, and soon, I’ll go back to teaching. This is something I think I can do much better than being CEO of Alibaba.” Jack Ma, co-founder of Chinese e-commerce conglomerate Alibaba, in an interview with Bloomberg TV, before formally announcing his retirement (September 7) “I have a Master’s degree, 16 years of experience, work two extra jobs and donate blood plasma to pay the bills. I’m a teacher in America.” Hope Brown, an American teacher, quoted in a cover story ‘Exactly how teachers came to be underpaid in America’ (Time, September 13) “It is almost 65 years since UGC was established to maintain high standards in India’s university system. The performance of the 903 degree awarding institutions reporting to it leaves no doubt that UGC has been a letdown in its primary role… A key reason for the current state of affairs is that politics rules on Indian campuses. If even totalitarian China can concede autonomy to its HEIs and thereby help them succeed, why can’t democratic India?” Times of India editorial ‘Meddlesome UGC’ (September 24) “Although it is hard to fathom what is going on here, it is clear that the government is not allowing itself to be guided by reason. Otherwise, who would introduce a textbook that would render our graduates even more unemployable, or under-employed, than they already are?” Vasudevan Mukunth, science journalist, on AICTE’s proposal to introduce a new textbook for engineering colleges that will discuss the ‘Indian knowledge system’ via a number of pseudoscientific claims (www.thewire.in, September 27) Facebook Twitter LinkedIn WhatsApp