Ever hear of the "university without walls" movement back in the past century? It raised the possibility that education as we'd known it could step back from traditional ideas about who taught what/who were "appropriate" college students/how class content might be altered. Linked here is a very long unpublished paper that brings together its history, dating from the 1920s through the "glory years of 1970-76" when it was a consortium of colleges, to its eventual demise.
At Portland State, surfing for a second class to take in the Spring term, I discovered a survivor of the UWW idea. "Street Art," caught my attention but what department was "Chiron"? Also the meeting place--XSB--sounded more like a Portland rock band than a classroom building. While I was trying to figure it out, Ron brought home a flyer he'd noticed on a wall at PSU. It was hard to miss.
"That's it!" The mysterious department indicates classes designed and taught by students. Could a Senior Auditor take it? An email to the instructor, brought a polite reply: anyone taking it was expected to participate. What would that mean for me: another "art in the public interest" fling like This Dirt Museum, or promoting Single Payer around the 2004 Republican convention, knitting Condom Amulets?
No. It would have to be something more appropriate to advanced life stage and energy level--a modest proposal from me to you not something outrageous like the equality of women or kitchen composting.
More to come...