I am in higher level education in the public university system. I used to view academia as a source of hope in society, and perhaps a progressive institution in someways, or some kind of source of hope with their supposed focus on science and research. After some years here, this “image” I had of academia has been shattered.
What are your perceptions of academia and research institutions, as Marxists?
I got my degree in maths so there was little possibility for propaganda or manipulation in any of the courses, but that went along with a gaping hole where the funding was supposed to be. For the first few years of my degree, we attended some lectures in a building that was already torn down on paper and hadn’t been renovated in a century; it had water leaking in through the ceiling in three places, one window could not be closed due to a tree growing through it, and the heating had to be turned up to 11 to prevent mould. We finally ended up getting a shiny new building thanks to a local donor who was a maths enthusiast