The Controversy Surrounding The Idea Of Nostalgia In Higher Education

ostalgia in Higher Education

The discussion surrounding the creation of a dynamic system for revitalizing today's colleges and universities is often mired in the debate over the loss of tradition, the time-honored practices of relatively modern learning institutions. It is no wonder since this is what we have to associate with higher education.

We refer to schools being “steeped in tradition”, as if this means that everything related to the way a college has operated in the past, even if little has changed in centuries, is worthy of preservation. This reverence creates a sense of authority, where schools continue trudging forward as they have always done, reluctant to see that the world around them has been transformed by an explosion of

This has been the approach for the past century or more, and one that served the businesses of that era well. This model has been so successful, and so rarely challenged, that it is no wonder that higher education avoids changing their roles and looking toward the future. The past is known, static and safe; a new approach, although dynamic and better serving, introduces both uncertainty and risk into the equation. It also brings new players to the table – businesses and the community – to have a voice in the

Society wants people who can learn lessons from what has been done in the past and apply that knowledge with a fresh approach to modern problems, and create a new vision for the future.

The real value of higher education is fulfilling this need. The tradition of learning dates back centuries and is about engaging individuals in this type of an exchange of ideas, creating an environment where one develops the skills and thought processes to solve the complex problems of their society. In this way, colleges and universities create innovators who are not given the answers to the challenges of their communities, but the framework to find the solutions and to communicate those ideas to a broader audience.

Nostalgia centers often on the place and many times the loss of the experience; the tradition that we should all strive to protect in education is creating a forum for ideas and developing the talents of the individual. This tradition says nothing about the institution itself, the ivy-covered buildings or the structure of the classroom. If we were to be reflective, most often we would see that tradition speaks to a level of excellence in education, where students succeed in their careers and lives due to their association with a respected school or university who prepared them for the challenges ahead and taught them