The Formation of Thinking
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3384/confero.2001-4562.200616Abstract
In recent years, we have seen examples of how political leaders, such as Bolsonaro in Brazil or Orbán in Hungary, have controlled and restricted the freedom of the university in a way that frightens us and reminds us of the inherent fragility of our own societies. However horrible these political acts are, I would like to claim that there is a danger in letting oneself be hypnotized by those who hold political power and who, through dramatic gestures and authoritarian rule, suffocate free thought. Equally important is to pay attention to the slow and barely noticed political processes in which, through government directives and reforms based on economically motivated ideas about efficiency and employability, officials and authorities limit the freedom of higher education. An example of such a process I would like to scrutinize is how thinking came to be regarded as a generic skill in the Western education system.
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